Chico Canyon Ranch Blog

So my 60 year old knees and balance made the job of staining and painting the 2nd story of the canyon house too dangerous. Fortunately my 60 year old brain realized this.  Though it took me longer than it should have to realize this. These professional painters made it look easy.  IT IS NOT!!  I did not get any really good photos of them on the ladder working on the highest peak ends.

The water source for the ranch is from a spring about a quarter mile up the little stream that runs below the ranch house and eventually feeds into Big Chico Creek. Actually the water system taps into the spring area of the stream in two places. One place the water flows into a large 4″ diameter white pvc pipe. I refer to this as the Big Pipe. The other place is downstream about 50 yards from the Big Pipe source, and this places feeds a little pipe, 1.5″ in diameter white pvc. I refer to this as the Little Pipe.  Both pipes travel down hill toward the house, in separate routes, and at a spot about 300′ from the house they connect together. I estimate both sources to be on average about 8 gl /min. So together they combine to be about 16 gl/min.

Over the past 4 years I have been marking and creating a trail to follow both pipes path from their source to the house.  Though this process I found where the Little Pipe connects to the Big Pipe by the house, and where the Little Pipe connects to its spring source. I have also built support pedestals where the Big Pipe crosses seasonal water courses and discovered leaks in both the Little Pipe and the Big Pipe.  I still have one important pedestal to build for the Big Pipe and repair a related leak in the big pipe.

Anyway it is nice to have these trails. Not only are they pleasant walks through the forest but the make maintaining and improving the water system much easier.

Below are some photos from last Sunday June 23rd when Juan and I went looking for some problem with the water system, because we noticed the water pressure was just a bit low.  We believe we discovered the cause, and hence the need for another support pedestal.

The old bent up metal pipe is from the previous water system. When we find old pipes and stuff ( which is not very often ) we carry them back to the canyon to dispose of.

This year we have a wonderful crop of apricots.  The hanging shirts are make shift scare crows to keep back the birds a bit. There is a fox that comes nearly every evening to dine on apricots.  They climb right on up the trunk and into the limbs.

Here is the “natural pruning” of a wild plum tree from bear, deer, & birds. Wild no?

 

For the last several years Juan & I have been clearing a service trail along the pipe from the spring head to the ranch. In that process we discovered that there were two pipes carrying water to the ranch not one.  There was the big 4 inch diameter pipe that is the only pipe coming into the ranch.  This is the one that was exposed in a big ravine caused by what must have been a might wash out years ago.  The first year Juan was with us we set to work to fill that ravine, to protect the pipe from exposure, and to make the trail back up the pipe toward the spring head more passable.  Then we headed back up toward the spring head in the direction we figured the pipe followed. It was pretty grown over and the going was slow. I started to take trips of discovery from the spring head back to the Ranch trying to follow the pipe. I know Sarah had done this too. There was a pipe break where it crossed one of two water course ravines. More like a slipping undone at a pipe coupling. So we can sorta force it back together and it seems to last for awhile until the pressure becomes too much or some bear plays with it.  This is definitely on the fix it list but it works for now. I will add some photos in a later post.