An evening walk

Beautiful weather, later sunsets...it's time again to take walks after work along our Downey riverbeds. My favorite is the Rio Hondo riverbed, which has bike and walking trails along both sides. I wasn't the only one enjoying the time, as this father and son pair of cyclists show.

The river path

The foot and bike path along the Rio Hondo riverbed is one of my favorite paths in Downey. Here at the entrance by Crawford Park, this bridge provides a path to both sides of the riverbed.

On the Downey side, the walk to the north takes you past the Rio Hondo Golf Course. On the other side, you pass the Bell Gardens Golf Course, followed by John Anson Ford Park. There are a couple of gates into the park, where you can take a pleasant stroll around its lake and watch all the ducks.

Follow the road before you

I am someone who likes to walk. This path is along side the riverbed by Wilderness Park. While this isn't the most interesting path, it does offer a little more of a view on either side:  Wilderness to one side and the overgrown riverbed to the other.

"It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you." ~ Rumi

Miles to go

I took a walk along the Rio San Gabriel riverbed bike path last weekend, near Wilderness Park. Even though it was a nice day out, the path was still pretty empty. (I imagine it will start getting crowded in a few more weeks, as the days get longer and longer.)

Gazing down the path brought these words to mind.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
but I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep."
~ Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Homelessness in Downey

Looking at this picture, you might think it was of a camping trip in the middle of a beautiful field. It is actually one of the many homeless dwellings to be found in and around the Rio San Gabriel riverbed area of Downey.

In the second picture, you have to look more carefully to see the couple of tents sheltered by the trees.

Seeing these tents and the dozens of others in the area makes me wonder. How did people end up here and what should we be doing in response?

The bridge

This is a bridge over the Rio Hondo riverbed near Crawford Park. On this side, you can walk north next to the Rio Hondo Golf Club, as far as the I5 freeway. On the other side, you can walk to the John Anson Ford Park, where a gate allows access to the park. Either side provides a very pleasant evening walk. Or if you're more energetic, you can ride your bike north past Legg Lake, or south all the way to the ocean at Long Beach.

The power of water

This past weekend when I revisited the riverbed, the scene was quite different from just a week ago. Where there had been a lake was basically now just dirt, and the other side that you see in the picture that had little to no water then, and now is a gushing flow that is moving so quickly I kept my distance.

"Water is powerful, it can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron. Water can carve its way thorough stone. And when trapped, water makes a new path."

Choices

My photo choices seem to reflect a certain amount of poor planning or bad timing these days. My last photo was the reflection that could have been a better picture had I been willing to either sacrifice my Uggs or go home and change my shoes. This picture would have been amazing, had I taken it a day earlier. The day before was an absolutely gorgeous clear day where you could see the significant amount of snow that has fallen in our local mountains against the backdrop of a brilliant, blue sky. But, did I take a picture that day? Unfortunately, no. I had to choose the overcast, murky day - although I did get a peek of blue sky through the clouds.

Here's to making better choices.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

If the shoe fits...

Just a couple hundred feet from yesterday's post, just past the inflatable dam that looks surprisingly like an oversized sea slug, the Rio San Gabriel River turns into the concrete Rio San Gabriel riverbed.

This is the usual state of our local riverbeds. Both this and the Rio Hondo riverbed to our west are lined with concrete for many miles. Water drains into the riverbed from the local storm drains, but after the initial rush, the water gathers in the small channel in the center of the riverbed and leaves the rest of the bed dry for bikes and skateboards. The dead branches are the only sign that water flowed from upstream during the storms.

The shoe? Who knows...

Measuring up

We've written a lot lately about how much it's been raining. Typically, rainfall is measured in inches. But here in the riverbed, the measurement is in feet—almost 7 feet.

Never enter the riverbed

On a typical weekend day, the Rio San Gabriel riverbed is teeming with people—bikers, skateboarders, motorcyclists, even horseback riders.

But we had a bit of rain last night, with more expected in the next couple of days. And the strongly worded warning sign at the entrance (OK, covered with graffiti but still legible) made me stop and think—just how likely, really, is a flash flood? After all, the sky is blue, with hardly a cloud in sight.

Flash flooding occurs when it rains rapidly on saturated soil or dry soil that has poor absorption ability. Many people tend to underestimate the dangers of flash floods. What makes flash floods most dangerous is their sudden nature and fast-moving water. And the source of the water might be a storm that occurs miles away. [Wikipedia]

So for today, anyway, unlike those two bicyclists in the picture, I stayed away from the floor of the riverbed.

Just in case.

Time for a little fresh air

A great way to get some good exercise is to take advantage of one of the riverbed paths we have in the Downey area. Whether you ride a bike or are just out for a walk in the fresh air, we have riverbeds on both the east and west borders of Downey.

On this day, we decided to walk the Rio Hondo riverbed—alongside Treasure Island Park and around the split where the overflow riverbed cuts off. Of course, to follow the overflow branch, we had to enter through a gate that had been cut open. It made for a good afternoon adventure (although the gate at the other end of the riverbed was locked, so we did have to retrace our steps to get out).

One out of every three

About 36% of the US population owns one or more dogs. That's more than one out of every three households. But a walk along the riverbed will definitely skew your impression, where it seems that every backyard has its dog (or dogs) on guard. Some, like this pair, are curious and appear friendly. Others, like a German Shepherd with a loud and constant bark, were intimidating (even if his tail was wagging).

Urban debris

In the "wild," rivers can get blocked by fallen trees. In the city, this riverbed channel is blocked by shopping carts and sofas.

What lies beneath

To continue the winter theme...

The concrete walls of the Rio Hondo riverbed are covered with a variety of vines. In summer, these vines are thick with green leaves that completely cover the concrete. But in winter, most of the leaves fall away, revealing the tangle of branches underneath.

Local island adventure

On the west edge of Downey is a finger of land that is known as "the island," surrounded on one side by the Rio Hondo River and on the other by the Los Angeles River. It makes for a different kind of river walk adventure.

According to Wikipedia, the Rio Hondo was once known as the "Old River," because it was the old course of the San Gabriel River. The Old River School was named for it, and Old River School Road was named for the school. The "New River" is the present course of the San Gabriel River.

Riverbed reflections

Before our riverbeds were encased in concrete, our Downey rivers were meandering creeks most of the year. But in the winter rains, they turned into dangerous rivers that carried away everything in the flood plains that they overflowed. Downey is in one of those flood plains, so it's thanks to these ugly concrete walls that we weren't at risk during the recent rainstorms.

Now that it's been dry for a week, the Rio Hondo River is nearly, but not quite, back to normal. There's still enough water in the riverbed to completely cover the bottom, and to form reflections, whether it's the sky above or the power lines stretching off into the distance.

Back to the riverbed

We took a hike today along the Rio Hondo bike path. After our recent rainstorms, people were enjoying getting out in the sun and its gentle warmth.

We were passed by numerous bicyclists, both individuals and groups. The bike path stretches for 17 miles and passes two Downey parks: Crawford Park, where I usually enter the riverbed, and Treasure Island Park, where we started today.

Twilight

One final shot from my walk last weekend on the Rio Hondo riverbed...It's now a few minutes after sunset. The sun is still hitting the mountaintops in the distance. But down on my level, the light is blue instead of gold, and the grass sparkles in the twilight.

Vines along the Rio Hondo

Along the Rio Hondo riverbed are plants that surprisingly look a lot like grape vines....it made the walking area seem so much more appealing.