Water in La Barge Canyon

It was kind of cloudy on Saturday, but not cloudy enough to keep people away from the Renaissance Fair. White Canyon Wilderness was out. I decided to go to La Barge Canyon and see if there was water flowing there. It had been almost a week since it had rained, so I didn't expect more than a trickle of water.

It was pretty warm on Saturday, in the mid to upper 70's. The trailhead parking lot was just about full. I saw a lot of people on the trail. Some were even running (show-offs). They all stayed on the main trail, though. I didn't see any hikers after I took the side trail to the canyon.

Wispy clouds.

Seeing this brought back memories. The water seems higher now.

I've decided that upper 70's is my favorite hiking temperature. If it's colder, I'll still sweat when I'm going uphill and then my arms and ears freeze. If it's in the upper 70's, I won't get cold even if I stop in a nice breeze.

It was a nice day for pictures of the lake.

As I approached the last rise before descending into the canyon, I could hear the water. It sounded like a lot more than a trickle. I got a few pictures before I went out on a rock outcrop that has a nice view down stream.

A fair amount of water.

This is what I heard.

Looking towards the lake.

This is a picture of a lizard (bet you can't find it), but look how clear the water is. It's probably 3 or 4 feet deep here.

I went on down to the stream and stepped out onto boulders in the stream and took way too many pictures because that's what I do around water these days. If I was still in Houston, I'd probably be taking pictures of things that weren't mildewed (if I could find any).

A calm part of the stream.

A not-so-calm part of the stream.

I was kind of wishing I hadn't put off buying some ND filters, but if I had them, I would also have to be carrying a tripod around, and my pack seems to be getting heavier all the time. Earlier today I was in Big 5 and saw a really small shovel I could carry in my pack. I probably should have gotten it. One of these days I'll need it and it will be back there on the store shelf. Anyway, before I got to the canyon, I was thinking that I might see how far up the canyon I could go. As it turns out, I couldn't go far. It wasn't long before I got to a place with water from wall to wall.

This is about as far upstream as I could go.

It was shady here, so I set the shutter speed to 1/10 second and stood verrry still. I should have set the ISO to 100, too. Now I think of it.

I could tell that the stream had been a lot higher, probably during the rain the previous weekend. Some day I'll make it out there during a good storm and get pictures of the rapids. I got pictures of a few flowers on this hike, too. Click below to see all of the pictures, including the flowers, and to find out where that lizard is.

2010_03_06