Cataract Falls on Mt. Tamalpais, part 1 of 2

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photo by Donald Kinney

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a bit of rain on Tuesday. It is good news because we are way behind on our seasonal rainfall totals, but I'm sure we need a lot more to bring our reservoirs up to optimum levels.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Kinney Creek was a delight on Tuesday. Yup, I was out there in the rain getting soaked, trying my best to keep my camera dry with a towel. I surmised the flow wasn't going to last long after the rain stopped, thus a need for an immediacy. Code 3 as the cops would say; lights and siren...



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photo by Donald Kinney

But this set of photos is from the major creek and falls in the area--Cataract Creek which flows all year to one extent or another. The liveliness of these falls and the fullness of the creek surprised me when I visited Wednesday, one day after our big day of rain. Mount Tamalpais often astonishes me!


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Kinney Creek -- an unusual flow in June

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, maybe I've just forgotten, but seems like rain in June is exceptionally rare 'round these parts. But we did get a smattering, quite a dousing in fact.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Enough to get the creeks flowing--almost seemed like January once again. Oh yeah, did I tell you that I have a creek named after me?  I sure do... Named it myself. No signs yet, and you certainly can't find it on a map,
but it is right there, along the Fairfax-to-Bolinas Road. Believe it or not!


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a sign of peace -- is blowin' in the wind

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photo by Donald Kinney, taken June 23, 2013

How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.



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photo by Donald Kinney, taken December 24, 2012

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.



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photo by Donald Kinney, taken February 6, 2011

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.                 Listen to Dylan sing it


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Mt. Tamalpais -- swaddled in foggy clouds

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photo by Donald Kinney

The skies couldn't have been any more moody and ominous than they were on Sunday. And since rain is highly unusual in June in California I think we all were taking the weather report with a grain of salt. Promises, promises.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And some interesting clouds floated over on Monday. On Tuesday we got just enough drizzle to dampen parched vegetation make roads somewhat slick.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Prayers answered...  More drizzle and perhaps some actual rain is coming.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This photo is not new--I snagged it October 11, 2012 on the outskirts of our tiny town of Fairfax. I just found out today that it was chosen to be hung, along with three others, in the Marin County Fair photo exhibition and competition. Wish me luck. And dear God, if you're still listening...


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far end of Rodeo Beach

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photo by Donald Kinney

Some day I'm going to make some inquiries and actually find out how Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands got its name... But until then I suppose I'll just have to appreciate Rodeo Beach for its beauty, variety, and bag-of-tricks.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Nearby yellow cliffs seem happy to oblige... When I arrive late in the day and point my camera in just the right direction I can sometimes find gold.



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photo by Donald Kinney

One little stream... Seepage from cliffs not more than a few yards distant.


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misty mornings in Nicasio, California

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photo by Donald Kinney

While MOST folks like to wake up to a bright sunlit day with nary a cloud in the sky, I prefer my mornings to be moody and dramatic. A little storm is coming in on Monday--they've PROMISED...



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photo by Donald Kinney

But I don't always have to rely on general weather conditions. Not to far from where I live is a large man-made lake in the Nicasio Valley, big enough to send etherial vapors skyward when conditions of temperature and humidity fall with a certain range.



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photo by Donald Kinney

So, while most of Marin County has been "enjoying" bright and cloudless mornings recently, I've been heading out to Nicasio, oh so early, with fingers crossed for a bit of drama. I snagged the top photo on Thursday, and the lower two on Saturday morning. MY idea of a great way to start a day...


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Mark di Suvero -- man of steel

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photo by Donald Kinney

Okay, before I get cynical I'd better let the signboard do the explaining:

Di Suvero often incorporated cast-off industrial objects in his work. Here, three round sea buoys are suspended from a diagonal I-beam. Their forms are echoed in the cluster of circular discs that joins the arrangement of diagonal beams that extend outward, up, and back to varying degrees depending on the viewer's position, In the context of the work's delicately balanced asymmetry, the buoys read as a nautical reference and as a guide, modeling the lightness and buoyancy to which even di Suvero's most imposing sculptures aspire.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Okay... Who can I dis first--di Suvero, or the person at SF-MOMA who wrote the text for the signboard? Oh hell, but who am I to judge? I'm just a lowly photographer without any credentials in "art appreciation", and besides--I will have to admit having loads of fun shooting these massive sculptures.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Ah, but come on... Who is fooling who? I suppose these eight steel mis-mashes succeed in echoing the nearby Golden Gate Bridge, but while our beloved GGB has a bit of grace and style, all I see here is a confused mess that ONLY can be explained by the chief wordsmith at SF-MOMA.
More "info" on di Suvero and these constucts at sfmoma.org/disuvero.


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oh, deer

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photo by Donald Kinney

We seem to have a plethora of deer here in our tiny community of Fairfax,



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photo by Donald Kinney

and while some residents should be careful where they plant their flowers,



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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm guessing the deer think the colorful smorgasbord must be just for them.



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photo by Donald Kinney

But they are SO much fun to watch. Each year there is a different social situation, and this year Mama Deer and her two fawns have been spending a lot of time in my yard--when they aren't visiting neighbors with slightly more appealing vegetation.

The top photo is new, however the others are not. The "thin" image was taken at China Camp, but the others were snapped through my window.


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protection of the Coho Salmon habitat -- a heated feud

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photo by Donald Kinney

In one corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have the S.P.A.W.N. organization who favor stringent restrictions on development, and in the other corner we have the San Geronimo Valley Stewards who are concerned about their property values taking a nose-dive. Both organizations have been slugging it out for years, and both are genuinely concerned about environmental issues, but the animosity between the two groups is currently at the boiling point.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The most recent debate took place on Tuesday in a packed meeting with the Marin County Board of Supervisors where a final vote was supposed to take place, but was postponed when it became clear that the county planning staff needed to come up with a better and more realistic approach that would meet the needs of property owners as well as the fish.

Translated into practical terms--the Board of Supervisors realized that they would be negotiating a string of costly lawsuits for years if they didn't come up with a more workable and realistic plan.



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photo by Donald Kinney

So, here's the deal--the Pacific Ocean is in really bad shape from pollution and over-fishing. The Lagunitas Creek (San Geronimo Creek is a tributary) has seen populations of the spawning Cohos diminish dramatically in the past several decades. Newly hatched "smolt" spend one year here in the creek, then make their way out to sea where they spend two years before returning to spawn in the exact spot where they were hatched.

In 2005 the mighty Lagunitas and its tributaries was dealt a severe blow with heavy floods that did heavy damage to the spawning cycle and numbers of returning Cohos took another hard hit--reducing their numbers to an estimated 300. But this year the experts say the number has increased to 500, which is still a far cry from the many thousands that spawned here 100 or so years ago. My fingers are crossed that the population of Cohos will continue to increase. Hopefully, the Marin County Board of Supervisors and the two feuding organizations will finally hammer out a plan amicable to all, and supportive of a major Coho Salmon comeback in the future.



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photo of spawning Coho Salmon (from January 2012) by Donald Kinney


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Fort Point at the Golden Gate

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photo by Donald Kinney

Long before the entrance to San Francisco Bay was known as the "Golden Gate", and long before the United States bullied its way to victory in the Mexican-American war, Spain had established a defensive position, Castillo de San Joaquin at this strategic spot between bay and sea.

Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, gaining control of the region and the fort, but in 1835 the Mexican army moved to Sonoma leaving the castillo's adobe walls to crumble in the wind and rain. In 1848 U.S. forces, including Captain John Charles Fremont, Kit Carson and a band of 10 rag-tag followers fearlessly "captured" the empty castillo and disabled the cannons.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Following the United States' victory in 1848, California was annexed by the U.S. and became a state in 1850. Of course, the Gold Rush of 1849 caused rapid settlement of this area. Military officials soon recommended a series of fortifications to secure San Francisco Bay.



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photo by Donald Kinney

In the mid-1930's some designs for the Golden Gate Bridge called for Fort Point to be demolished, but a plan was worked out where this bit of history could be preserved under a massive arch on the south end of the bridge.


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morning antics of the sun

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photo by Donald Kinney

Saturday morning brought a soft stream of gentle light over Nicasio Valley.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Struggling but determined, the sun broke free of dark and ominous clouds.



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photo by Donald Kinney

But not before managing to put on a free-form show of warm luminosity.


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look, up in the sky...

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photo by Donald Kinney

SUPERMAN - from the 1940's:
Look, up in the sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's Superman!
Faster than a streak of lightning,
More powerful than the pounding surf,
Mightier than a roaring hurricane,

This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, the man of steel, Superman. Possessing remarkable physical strength, Superman fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice, disguised as a mild mannered newspaper reporter Clark Kent.



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photo by Donald Kinney

SUPERMAN - 1960's version:
Faster than a speeding bullet,
More powerful than a locomotive,
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's Superman!
Superman, Man of Steel, Superman.

Superman, rocketed to earth as an infant when the distant planet of Krypton exploded, who disguised as Clark Kent, a mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and freedom, with super powers far beyond those of ordinary mortals.


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morning at Nicasio

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photo by Donald Kinney

Luckily, the heavily inhabited cities of Marin County are to the east, strung-out along dreadful "Highway One-oh-One" on the other side of these hills.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And if a photographer arrives early, the work-bound drivers who use these narrow roads as a racetrack and freeway detour can be avoided.



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photo by Donald Kinney


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variety at China Camp Village, on San Pablo Bay

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, here is the mighty but beached fleet of China Camp. Two boats are still afloat; Frank Quan's shrimp boat, and the "Zero-Two" -- an old dinghy Frank sometimes uses to reach his boat.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This pier has had a few repairs over the years, but in one form or another it has been here since the late 1860's when China Camp--first known as "Wa-Jen-Ha-Lio"--became a bustling town of immigrants netting Bay Shrimp, while being kept out of mainstream jobs. Discrimination was the law.



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At low tide I was able to skirt around the perimeter of the point near the village where I found a treasure-trove of artful rock on the low cliffs.


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