Lichen and Light on the Rocks

The Barn Ruin of Highway 20

 

This collapsing barn has been photographed hundreds, if not thousands, of times, situated as it is along Highway 20 a few miles west of Willits. Turnouts on both sides of the road make it an easy stop, but wire fencing prevents honorable visitors from venturing too close. I suspect it was a photographer who planted those daffodils.

Breezy Pastures

A cold, breezy day out in Little Lake Valley set the Old Man's Beard lichen swaying. Then, I spied a sun-bathing black bull in a meadow, with only barbed wire and brambles to separate us.

Late Winter Rain and Windfall

Daffodils in a Winter Garden

Outlet Creek at Covelo Road

After flowing north from Little Lake Valley, Outlet Creek turns eastward on its path to the branches of the Eel River.

Forsythe Creek from the Bridge

Masút Vineyard and Winery in Walker Valley

Masút is named after a Pomo dwelling place once located near here. Founded by a scion of the Fetzer family, they raise organic beef as well as biodynamic wine grapes.

Ridgewood Ranch, Home of Seabiscuit

The ranch where the champion racehorse Seabiscuit retired got renewed attention with the publication of Laura Hillenbrand's book nearly a decade ago. Several historic structures have been preserved, including the stallion barn where Seabiscuit was housed. There is amateur film footage of the artist Tex Wheeler, showing him at work on the original plaster sculpture of Seabiscuit that would be the first step in the process of making several bronzes cast from it. One of those statues is at the ranch.

The herd of white fallow deer are descendants of the original animals purchased in 1949 by Charles Howard from William Hearst, a friend who also had such deer at San Simeon. (R.M. Jurek, 1970, Humboldt State College)

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