Red Car Property: Mudwatch, Sliding Boulder Near Adelbert

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 24, 2017.  A good sized boulder slid down the Red Car Property slope below Adelbert onto the trail, during the series of weekend storms.  (CLick on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 24, 2017.  There used to be a lot more trees on this slope, so it's hard to find comparable photos in my archives showing where the really big rock came from.  The boulder appears to have slid a good 15' downslope then rolled another 10' feet to the edge of the trail. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 24, 2017.  Despite more than 5" of rain Thursday - Sunday, the trail north of the construction fence is walkable.

Note: In 2005, I got stuck in the mud while shooting photos of a mudslide about 50' north of the boulder.  I was standing on the mud when I sunk about 8" into it.  Luckily, I was wearing knee high rain boots.  It was like quicksand.  My foot came out but not the boot.  I had to try to balance on one foot, trying not to slide deeper in the mud, while pulling my boot out of the mud - not easy in the rain. The mud did not want to cough up my boot.  It took me about 20 minutes to extricate myself from the mud. I was on what I thought was the edge of the slide, on the grass, but apparently not.  

Respect the mud.  If you have to go out onto the mud in your yard for repairs, be sure you bring planks of wood or rocks to walk across.  The ground is saturated.