Unproductive, But a Pretty Drive.
DesertRat
Posts: 1,791 ✭
Around 11:00 this morning my oldest son and I decided to take a drive up to Lake Isabella which is at the southeastern end of the Sierra Nevada Mtns and about 115 miles north of our home. I tossed the DFX in the car and off we went.
The drive took us up through Red Rock Canyon State Park which has some gorgeous rock formations.
When we finally got to the lake I confirmed recent rumors that the lake was very low due to the current drought. We pulled into a "beach" area where when the lake is full you can always find jet skiers and people camping along the shore. As you can see from the photos below, the water level is indeed down about 25-20 feet. I took out the DFX and figured I'd try my luck around the recent campfire rings on land that would normally be underwater. I ended up with thirty-nine cents in clad, several bolts/nails and about 2 pounds of lead sinkers. I didn't take any photos of the sinkers but was amazed at how large a sinker people are using at a lake. I would have thought the sinkers I was digging to be appropriate for bottom fishing in the ocean but certainly not a lake! This was not a fun place to dig as you can see by all the rock on the shore. The small white dots you see are fresh water clams which littered the shore by the thousands.
It was quite cold up there but that made for clear air and some nice photo opportunities.
We also drove over to the town of Kernville which sits on the Kern River right as it flows into the lake. There is a small park along the banks of the river and I hit that up for a spell but the tot-lot was cleaned out (found only 2 cents) and the park itself is so littered with bottlecaps I didn't dig much there. The sandy beach along the river was so thick with black sand it kept causing the "overload" sign to pop up in my display and by this time it was getting dark, I was frozen and ready to head home.
So while it wasn't a productive day for detecting, my son and I spent some quality time together and the scenery was worth the trek.
The drive took us up through Red Rock Canyon State Park which has some gorgeous rock formations.
When we finally got to the lake I confirmed recent rumors that the lake was very low due to the current drought. We pulled into a "beach" area where when the lake is full you can always find jet skiers and people camping along the shore. As you can see from the photos below, the water level is indeed down about 25-20 feet. I took out the DFX and figured I'd try my luck around the recent campfire rings on land that would normally be underwater. I ended up with thirty-nine cents in clad, several bolts/nails and about 2 pounds of lead sinkers. I didn't take any photos of the sinkers but was amazed at how large a sinker people are using at a lake. I would have thought the sinkers I was digging to be appropriate for bottom fishing in the ocean but certainly not a lake! This was not a fun place to dig as you can see by all the rock on the shore. The small white dots you see are fresh water clams which littered the shore by the thousands.
It was quite cold up there but that made for clear air and some nice photo opportunities.
We also drove over to the town of Kernville which sits on the Kern River right as it flows into the lake. There is a small park along the banks of the river and I hit that up for a spell but the tot-lot was cleaned out (found only 2 cents) and the park itself is so littered with bottlecaps I didn't dig much there. The sandy beach along the river was so thick with black sand it kept causing the "overload" sign to pop up in my display and by this time it was getting dark, I was frozen and ready to head home.
So while it wasn't a productive day for detecting, my son and I spent some quality time together and the scenery was worth the trek.
0
Comments
Later...
I'm glad I haven't experienced black sand. Something tells me it's no fun to detect around.
No rings n' things? Darn. Seeing that lake shore with such a low water level sure puts jewelry in mind, doesn't it?
<< <i>Well, Danny- you pretty much did what I did, on my last post. You might have struck out in terms of finds, as I did, but you got some awesome pictures!
I'm glad I haven't experienced black sand. Something tells me it's no fun to detect around.
No rings n' things? Darn. Seeing that lake shore with such a low water level sure puts jewelry in mind, doesn't it? >>
I had jewelry on my mind the minute we rounded the corner and saw the water level. I hadn't factored in the almost cobblestone condition of the beach making digging a chore and the water level was so low it made it extremely difficult to know where the traditional "beach" was at.
The black sand literally made the sandy beach look black. The Kern is a known placer gold bearing river but the region is so rocky and the river so dangerous (several picnickers die annually here) it is not an easy place to prospect. It does have some of the finest whitewater rafting in the west though.