Battle Creek Walk

One of the first things I wanted to do when we bought the Ranch was to walk down Battle Creek. I couldn’t do it right away, but I didn’t wait too long.

We closed in the first week of August. The Dixie Fire was raging, so the first order of business was to do everything we could to clear brush around the main house. With that job done, it was time to strap on my river sandals, grab a walking pole, and hit the water.

I immediately noticed was how much lower the river was than normal. This was in the peak of a historic drought, so we are incredibly fortunate to have this much water. But you can see that it is low. The bowl carved into this granite is normally covered with water.

That said, there was still an incredible amount of water. A couple of spots I had to swim. Here and there, the creek tightens up and the water really moves.

Other spots, the water moved slowly through deep pools. Some of the canyon walls were deep and smooth speaking to tens of thousands of years of water rushing through and cutting slowly through the rock.

Along the way, a great horned owl showed up, leading me further downstream. She would wait for me to catch up and then fly along. My progress was slow. There are many boulders and the fast flow of the current makes for uncertain footing. The owl kept waiting though.

At times, I sat on a rock and just watched the water flow by.

After a couple of hours, I made my way to the swimming hole. Swam awkwardly across and walked up the bank.

— KLM