Those not familiar with the controversy surrounding the Matilija Dam, the Ventura River and the beaches around the Ventura rivemouth can check out this link for a primer,
http://matilijadam.org/
Over the last month or so, I've been helping my son Carlo work on a school project about the Matilija Dam. We had done lots of research and book work, learning about the Matilija/Ventura River ecosystem, coastal erosion, dam building and dam busting. Last Sunday he and I broke out of the house and drove up to Matilija Canyon for a little investigating/exploring in the field and to collect some images and video for a presentation at his school. Of course we squeezed in a little climbing too (Duh).
We started the day by hiking up the North Fork of Matilija Creek which is several miles above the dam. We thought it would be neat to get some footage of the creek where presumably the steel head trout would come to spawn if the dam ever comes down. This is a really easy hike up the creek and we made quick time to the North Fork camp passing many parties on the way up. We walked straight through the camp and down to the creek to shoot some video of the the running water and pools. After we got our pictures and video, Carlo helped me scrub down an 8 foot boulder near the creek. Ive had a look at this bad-boy before but never touched as it was filthy and covered in cobwebs, nothing a little TLC couldn't fix. The problem is a little overhung with a blank lower face and some pockets up high topping out with heel hook and a half mantle. I ended up breaking a hold on the top of the boulder, which sat my ass down for a minute, but I sent the problem after a couple more tries. After scouting some other boulders just downstream of the North Fork camp, we rolled it up and chugged back down to the trail head and The Endurance.
Our next stop was at the dam itself. This would prove to be a bit of a challenge as the dam is technically "off-limits" and trespassing is forbidden. Of course, Ive never let that sort of thing hold me up before but with Carlo present I would have to play this one just right. I anchored the ship in a not so obvious place down on the 33 so as not to attract the unwanted attention of the authorities and we approached the dam from an old service road on the reservoir side. I didn't have to explain much to the boy, he seemed to be hip to what was happening and was an board for the misdemeanor. I don't know what I was worried about, hes the son of a Sespe hardman, we move fast, we move light, we move silent....like ghosts in the landscape, now you see us...now you don't. We worked our way down to the waters edge and found the remains of the upper 30ft of the dam that already been removed and discarded on the reservoirs eastern shore. After collecting a couple of small pieces for show-n-tell we climbed the southeastern side of the dam to the old control station. From that vantage point we could see the base of the dam and the very enticing swimming holes that have flooded the now useless spillway. We took our pictures, shot some video and shook the spot. I think Carlo reveled in his juvenile lawlessness, cause he seemed pretty stoked that we achieved our objective with out any trouble. Uh-huh!
http://matilijadam.org/
Over the last month or so, I've been helping my son Carlo work on a school project about the Matilija Dam. We had done lots of research and book work, learning about the Matilija/Ventura River ecosystem, coastal erosion, dam building and dam busting. Last Sunday he and I broke out of the house and drove up to Matilija Canyon for a little investigating/exploring in the field and to collect some images and video for a presentation at his school. Of course we squeezed in a little climbing too (Duh).
We started the day by hiking up the North Fork of Matilija Creek which is several miles above the dam. We thought it would be neat to get some footage of the creek where presumably the steel head trout would come to spawn if the dam ever comes down. This is a really easy hike up the creek and we made quick time to the North Fork camp passing many parties on the way up. We walked straight through the camp and down to the creek to shoot some video of the the running water and pools. After we got our pictures and video, Carlo helped me scrub down an 8 foot boulder near the creek. Ive had a look at this bad-boy before but never touched as it was filthy and covered in cobwebs, nothing a little TLC couldn't fix. The problem is a little overhung with a blank lower face and some pockets up high topping out with heel hook and a half mantle. I ended up breaking a hold on the top of the boulder, which sat my ass down for a minute, but I sent the problem after a couple more tries. After scouting some other boulders just downstream of the North Fork camp, we rolled it up and chugged back down to the trail head and The Endurance.
Our next stop was at the dam itself. This would prove to be a bit of a challenge as the dam is technically "off-limits" and trespassing is forbidden. Of course, Ive never let that sort of thing hold me up before but with Carlo present I would have to play this one just right. I anchored the ship in a not so obvious place down on the 33 so as not to attract the unwanted attention of the authorities and we approached the dam from an old service road on the reservoir side. I didn't have to explain much to the boy, he seemed to be hip to what was happening and was an board for the misdemeanor. I don't know what I was worried about, hes the son of a Sespe hardman, we move fast, we move light, we move silent....like ghosts in the landscape, now you see us...now you don't. We worked our way down to the waters edge and found the remains of the upper 30ft of the dam that already been removed and discarded on the reservoirs eastern shore. After collecting a couple of small pieces for show-n-tell we climbed the southeastern side of the dam to the old control station. From that vantage point we could see the base of the dam and the very enticing swimming holes that have flooded the now useless spillway. We took our pictures, shot some video and shook the spot. I think Carlo reveled in his juvenile lawlessness, cause he seemed pretty stoked that we achieved our objective with out any trouble. Uh-huh!
Finally we had a look at the creek below the dam. Actually, we started at the Ojai Quary which is technically on the Ventura River, above its confluence with the Matilija but who cares, the fish cant swim up that creek either beacause of all the rubble trundled down from the Quary (Ah...sorry bout that fishes). Carlo and I got got busy on a little wall across from the Retrofit Boulder that I've been developing, focusing on the left hand side near the bridge. Even though it still needs quite a bit of work, I managed to get a nice pump after 45 minutes of pulling. Its gonna clean up real nice.
Afterwards, we walked up to the Cable Cars fish ladder for some pics and we also checked out another boulder sitting in the creek just down stream form there. Cable Cars is full of trash(as it always is) and graffiti and is currently fenced off, which doesn't appear to be much of a deterrent for the "foos" that keep going there. The CC boulder has one highball route I call The DamDamBoom, which goes at V2 but has a very nasty landing over some shallow water and pillow sized boulders. Yeah, climbing IS dangerous.
We started to lose the sun after a while and the temperature dropped so we rolled it up and headed for home. After a couple of stops on the river in Ojai and Foster Park we were gifted with an awesome sunset near Ventura. Not to miss an opportunity to shoot a beautiful central coast sunset, we diverted to the north on PCH and pulled up to Emma Wood to watch the sun drop. Absolutely spectacular.
