Exploring San Lorenzo Valley River
2005 May 29
San Lorenzo Valley River Walk
Emily and I, along with Ma, Pa, and Scoob set out for a walk along and in the San Lorenzo Valley River from the Garden of Eden to, ah, well, I'm not sure what the name is but we came out at the largest turnout on Highway 9, about a minute by car north of the railroad track crossing. Testing Em's new shoes was the impetus for the trip although the idea of finding an undiscovered spot in the river was also appealing. The shoes worked great, no secret spots were discovered, and we found that Scoobies resistance to swimming has more to do with selected human company than anything else.
To get to the river we followed the tracks, now only used to take tourists from Roaring Camp to Santa Cruz.
Say, just as we were about to leave the tracks and head down to the river the train came by; wave to the tourists.
The in-the-river portion of the trip started at the Garden of Eden. In this picture, looking downstream, the large swimming hole is to the left and not visible while the sandy beach is directly ahead but hidden behind the rocks.
Just downstream from the Garden of Eden are Ma, Em, Scoob, and Pa.
When possible we walked along the bank of the river.
Sometimes we had to scramble though giant boulders. Em, Ma, and Pa are clustered together near a log at right side of the picture.
This was the best beach/swimming hole we found. As an added bonus it had a seemingly unlimited supply of perfect "skipping" rocks.
After leaving the river we had a glorious walk on a nice path through the redwoods back to a car we left in the pullout off of Highway 9.