After spending some time at Twin Cities Hospital as a patient this weekend , I finally recovered enough to see what the Salinas River has been up to in the past two weeks. I discovered what a difference two weeks without rain can make in how full the river is. On March 21, when I made my last river photo walk, the river looked like this. As you can see, it came all the way up to the grass, and the sand in the sandbars is covered, with only the vegetation on top showing.
March 21, 2011-- Salinas River Comes All the Way to the Grassy Bank
Now let’s move to April 12. In the next picture, taken then, we are looking at almost the same spot. You can tell by the trees on the hill in the background. Now we are seeing mostly sand where all that water was in March.
April 12, 2011 -- a Dryer Salinas River River Than on March 21
This picture was taken from the riverbed, meaning that grassy bank in the first picture is behind us. At this rate, I’m afraid that by May we wont’ see much of the Salinas River except for its bed.
I also walked the north end of the Salinas River Trail today and took a lot of pictures from underneath the Niblick Bridge. One thing that touched me was this:
Memorial Cross Under Niblick Bridge
I believe this is for the homeless man who drowned on Feburary 25, in the Salinas River. This was placed against a pillar supporting the bridge and anyone going under the bridge toward the sandbars there would see it. I don’t think a lot of folks go that way, but Mike’s friends probably do. His friends will not forget him.