John & Anne Wiley

One of the funky old Planet of the Apes flix had a scene with the Statue of Liberty up to her neck in water. Traces of past human activity like that are intriguing for me somehow. Like the Chaco Canyon sites we flew over on a recent Big Adventure. A local example in the making is Matilija Lake at the western end of Ojai Valley.

0654 Matilija Mudflat

Built for irrigation and flood control in 1947, it turns out the reservoir silted up so quickly and completely it’s now just a high mudflat behind the dam with some water on top. They’ve already knocked the top off the dam, and may completely remove it to rehabilitate the watershed upstream. If all the dams our species has built were left alone for a few hundred years, what would remain?

0656 ET Symbols?

Spots like this look like leftover relics of an extinct culture, or maybe plaintive messages to space-faring aliens. Having seen it during Summer, my impression is it’s actually a great RV camping site. Estuary, dune grasses, wide sand, and a long beach just out of frame at the bottom. Close to quaint downtown Ventura, and within walking distance of the harbor. Still, in my imagination it’s enigmatic traces of archeological activity.

What will future generations, cultures and species make of our land use patterns and large construction projects? Is my abstract interest in stuff like this somehow related to the enjoyment I derive from flying over our civilization? How is it that I enjoy flying over both human traces and patterns wrought by wild and natural processes?

As I’ve said before, there seem to be several phases in any flight. They seem to apply to life in general, but are especially clear related to flying the way we do (relatively low and slow). Again, the main phases of a flight are the one you: Daydream, Plan, Take, Remember, and Dream. So our Daydream for today’s flight was to briefly zip up and look past the Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara, and enjoy the fresh snow on the higher Sierra Madre range beyond Santa Ynez Valley. The general Plan was go fairly early, before a predicted wind shift might make it somewhat bumpy. As you’ve guessed by now, the Take was different. Not just in that we left more than an hour after planned, but this rare encounter soon after takeoff.

0704 Ercoupe Encounter

Now if you’re unfamiliar with or uncomfortable about flying in small planes this photo probably freaks you out. Take a deep breath and keep reading. This was cropped from a zoom shot, the cute little Ercoupe was a safe distance from us, and we were both talking to ATC for extra safety. In fact, in addition to Ercoupes being rather rare the really unusual thing about this is that we passed closely enough to get pix like this. Half this distance would have been safe, but most of the time if we manage to spot other “nearby” planes at all they’re several miles away. So already we were having major distinctions between our flight’s Daydream, Plan and Take. Next came another unusual encounter.

0727 Lower & Slower

It’s also fairly unusual for us to spot a helicopter. This guy can fly much lower and slower than we. Not only can such machines hover motionless or move vertically through the air, the FAA allows them to fly half as high above populated areas. Can you tell I’m just a little jealous? 🙂

0772 Distant Thrill

The flight we Remember features this scene, but it looked quite different from this hazy pic. It was crisp, immediate and refreshing. Jameson Lake was brighter green, and the snowy peaks looked much closer. Plus, as always the camera only saw a narrow slice of the 3D surround experience we were enjoying. Soon we’ll sleep, and quite likely Dream the flight. Interestingly, those Dreams of flight never seem to have any sound. Just silent bliss as we dance intimately with the terrain, as if we were the whisper of wind in the trees.

Our thoughts about Dad today are warmed by learning that he’ll be honored for his skateboard pioneering at the next IASC conference.

On a recent flight with friends, I noticed this unusual rock formation (I’m a rock hound!) that stimulated several thoughts.

0634 Rock Shelter

First I wondered what caused the large boulder at the lower-right to break off a large chunk. Had ancient people been involved at all? It seems like a great little shelter. I wondered what it was like there when the recent fire swept through the area, and noticed that the trees near the rock seem to have survived. Just now looking at a closeup of the rock, another thought came to mind.

0637 Traces

Those look like traces of human activity in the boulder at the upper-left. About the right size for acorn grinding holes. So I thought about people sheltering in the big boulder and chatting as they prepared food in the other one. Enjoying the spectacular view of the villages scattered below and the islands beyond. Pausing to watch a passing hawk taking it all in.