Mail Call & Drought

What an interesting day! We took a ride to downtown Paicines (pictured above) where the post office is located in the back of the store and restaurant. We picked up our box of mail and decided to check out some local roads.


We followed Cottonwood Road miles and miles back into the hills. We crossed over 7 gravel washes and stopped to take pictures along the way. Waaaaay back in the hills, Doug noticed a truck coming up behind us rather quickly. So, he pulled over to let it pass and it stopped right next to us. It was a couple of local ranchers who wanted to know if we were ok. We assured them we were and got to visiting about the area and themselves. The older man told us he had lived in that canyon for all of his life and they had just celebrated his mother's 99th birthday. She had also spent her entire life in the valley.

They had a truck load of pumpkins and I asked what they were for. It was feed for their cattle. They explained they are in the middle of a two year drought and will probably be selling off much of their stock. There is little grass for the cattle and feed is so expensive that it's better to just sell the cattle. It seemed sad to me, but they were very pragmatic about it. I'm sure this isn't the first time in the last hundred years that there have been droughts. Fascinating interlude in our day.

We turned around and traversed another road in the other direction. Doug found a dirt road that led up a mountain. His curiousity got the better of him and up we went. The road wound in a S pattern up the hill, getting steeper and narrower the farther we went. We had no idea where it would come out but kept driving slower and slower. If someone had come down the hill a little too quickly, we would have been pushed off the edge and down the mountainside. I started to get very nervous and Doug pulled over in a wide spot to decide if we should keep going.

I walked up the road a ways to see what was around the next couple of curves and Doug took pictures of the scenery below. What a view! Just as we decided to try to turn around and head back down, we heard a vehicle coming down the road. It was a big pickup truck and the owner was as surprised to see us standing in the road as we were to see him barreling down the hill.

He stopped and answered our questions about the road. It turns out that the road ended about a quarter mile further up at his ranch and a winery. Another very interesting guy. He has lived on the mountain all of his life. In fact, his name was Harlan and we were on Mt Harlan Rd. It had been named for his family many years ago. His family used to own 4000 acres between the mountain and past the Thousand Trails where we are staying. Now there is just a ranch at the top of the mountain.

After a nice visit, we turned the Jeep around (carefully) and drove (carefully) back down the hill. It is so much fun meeting and visiting with local people. Such a sense of history.