St. Junipero Serra Statue Decapitated and Doused with Red Paint

Vandals target St. Junipero Serra statue at Santa Barbara Mission.

At Serra’s canonization ceremony Pope Francis said, "Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.”

 From: LA Times

Saint Junipero Serra Statue Vandalized at Mission San Fernando

 

Some argue Serra is not the saint the Catholic Church paints him out to be. Instead, they claim he used California Indians and destroyed part of their culture.

From:  http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/08/17/junipero-serra-statue-vandalized/

Carmel River from the Esquiline Rd. bridge, Feb 2017

"There was no way to anticipate what happened this winter, the confluence of last summer’s Soberanes Fire that denuded hillsides in local watersheds and created masses of dead wood and loose soil, a four-year drought that had slowed river water flow to a relative trickle, and the four-storm series that hit this winter capped by a “bombogenesis,” or mini-cyclone, that sent water rushing down the untested channel at thousands of cubic-feet per second. That combination of circumstance may have increased Carmel River flows and their impact by up to 30 percent."
From: Monterey Herald 
Picture by Vern Fisher from: Mercury News

Flood Warning for the Carmel River

"The National Weather Service canceled a flood warning for the Carmel River on Tuesday morning as the river dropped below its flood stage.

The Carmel River crested at 9.99 feet, below its forecast of 10.5 feet and under the moderate flood stage of 11 feet but above the minor flood stage mark of 8.5 feet."

From: Monterey Herald
Picture From: San Clemente Rancho

Always Trembling With Fear of the Lash

"The Indians at the missions were very severely treated by the padres, often punished by fifty lashes on the bare back. Any disobedience or infraction of the rules, and then came the lash without mercy, the women the same as the men... We were always trembling with fear of the lash."
-dictated in 1890 by Lorenzo Asisara, born at Santa Cruz Mission in 1819.
From: Bad Indians
Picture from:SF Magazine

California Newts Begin Their Long Trek Back from the Vernal Pools.

It's that time of year again when the California Newts begin their long trek back from the Vernal Pools. 
For the next few months they will be crossing Carmel Valley Road in the Hastings area - please watch out for them if you're traveling by; already there are many on the road which have been run over.

From: Hastings

With Dam Gone, California River Comes Back to Life

Carmel River flows in January were the highest they’ve been since 1998. That’s due to winter storms which soaked the Carmel Basin with 25 inches of rain since the first of the year.

From: KQED

Pinnixa Galliheri Rathbun Crab. Miocene Age. Carmel Valley, CA

The Miocene Epoch was 23.03 to 5.3 million years ago.  Two major ecosystems made their first appearances: kelp forests and grasslands. In North America, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges formed.

From: UCMP 
Picture From: Kozmic Dreams

San Clemente Dam reroute blasted a gorgeous ridgeline in half & destroyed acres of oak woodland

Instead of implementing a plan for the safe and controlled release of sediment to feed downstream riparian zones, wetlands and the nearshore environment, this plan capped the accumulated reservoir sediment in place and rerouted the creek around it.
The reroute blasted a gorgeous ridgeline in half, destroyed acres of oak woodland, and eliminated a long reach of the sediment-buried Carmel River. This shortened the overall length of the river and bombarded the lower reach of the smaller, adjacent San Clemente Creek tributary with the full force of the Carmel River mainstem.

From: damnation
Picture from San Clemente Dam Removal

Jacks Peak

Jacks Peak Park has much to offer the outdoor enthusiast. Almost 8.5 miles of trails wind through cathedral-like forests and to breathtaking ridge top vistas. The Skyline Trail traverses the summit of Jacks Peak and features fossils from the Miocene epoch.
From: Jacks Peak

The Santa Lucia Preserve includes all of Rancho San Carlos

The Santa Lucia Preserve includes all 20,000 acres of Rancho San Carlos, which dates from 1857.

From: Santa Lucia Preserve

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo

Cholom was baptized "Fructuoso de Jesus" at Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo in 1785. His father was recorded as Patricio Jose Solol Cholom of Echilat, baptized by Padre Junipero Serra.

Picture From: Costanoan Rumsen
From: Bad Indians by Deborah A. Miranda

Before the Mission, it had been the village of Echilat

"Fructuoso de Jesus Cholom-Real grew up to serve as mission alcalde. With his wife, Yginia Maria Yunisyunis, he received one square parcel of land during secularization in 1835, called El Potrero de San Carlos. He lived on this land until his death in 1845. The land had been Carmel Mission's pasture, but before the mission, it had been the village of Echilat."

From: Bad Indians by Deborah A. Miranda
Picture From Santa Lucia Preserve

Rana Creek Ranch

"Rana Creek Ranch is known as a historic piece of land that dates back to the 1834 Spanish Land Grant, which followed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when California joined U.S. territory. Carmel Valley specifically can be traced back to the Spanish expeditions."
From: Forbes

Rana Creek Ranch

"Carmel Valley was settled 2,000 years ago by the Esselen and Costanoan Rumsen tribes. The Spanish built a mission here in 1771, then parceled off enormous ranches to private owners by way of land grants. Today, Carmel Valley is still home to many cattle ranches, some encompassing thousands of acres."
From: NYT
Picture from: Rana Creek Ranch

Heavy rain and winds drenched Carmel Valley

Coastal Monterey County bore the brunt of heavy rain and winds over the weekend, which drenched Big Sur and Carmel Valley.
From: Monterey Weekly

Carmel River January 2017

The Carmel River approached 9,000 cubic feet per second early Monday and threatened to flood the mouth of the Valley but ultimately remained below flood stage.
“It was a very active event, lots of road flooding and a lot of trees down and sink holes developing”

From Monterey Herald 
Picture from San Clemente Rancho