Captain's Report Catch-up pt 1 ~ ExGld
Greetings Explorers!
We’ve had a flurry of activities over the last month and a half, and I’ve been a bit delayed in sending out all the various Captain’s Reports. Today is part one, officially submitting the reports for the Tafoni Sandstone and EBMUD expeditions.
Tafoni Sandstone
On April 21st, The Explorers Guild returned to the trails, this time at the Corte De Madera Creek Open Space. Seventeen brave explorers went out in search of three sites of renown: the Tafoni Sandstone, the crash of the Resolution, and the Methuselah tree. The weather did its part and held up beautifully for a long hike, so spirits were high as we set off on the route.
Luck was certainly looking to be on our side as we came across a dozen banana slugs on our journey. In our previous adventures, we’ve noted that these spirits of the forest always indicated good fortune to the troupe that finds them. One slug in particular, Tillerson, caught our eye as it seemed like they were able to snag a luxury apartment in a premium location (framed with moss amongst the redwood trees). All did not seem to be well though, as Berny (a second slug) looked like they were kicked out of Tillerson’s apartment! Despite our various conversations regarding what the housing market must look like for Banana Slugs this time of year and speculations as to why Tillerson was the one left with the apartment, we realized that it wasn’t really of our concern and that we needed to stay focused on our own goals. As a note, Berny assured us that they would be doing alright.
Leaving the Banana Slug suburbs, our pace picked up and quickly we came to the Tafoni Sandstone. We marveled at the complex structure and began theorizing how this stone, which was at one point at the bottom of the sea floor, could have possibly made it’s way all the way to the top of the mountain we were on. Of course we recognized that plate tectonics were no doubt a large part of the equation, though it was Denorae that noticed the stone itself was oddly shaped like a skull. She recalled the species Mermantous Gigantous, the Giant Mermaid for those who are mostly familiar with the references in mythic tomes, and how their bones were filled with holes to help them buoy themselves in water. This did indeed seem like a classic example of a Giant Mermaid skull, and it’s possible that it was dragged to the mountain after it passed as part of the mourning rituals of the local trolls. If this was the case, this would have been a Giant Mermaid of note. Our evidence though was starting to wane and we had to concede that this was likely a mystery for a future outing. We said our goodbyes and made our way to The Resolution.
The Resolution is a plane crash that happened in October 1953. There was a plaque commemorating the space, but along the trail there was also reports of parts of the aircraft still visible. This was a curiosity which piqued our interest, so we decided to descend the trail in search of the pieces. Though the trail was stunning, the manzanitas offered their cool bark to us throughout, the aircraft pieces were actually rather well hidden. Half the troupe were far enough ahead that they missed the parts found by the rear half of the group. For those that did spot them, we took a moment to appreciate the site in contemplation before moving on.
At this point I began to worry about time. The trek to The Resolution brought us down a steep trail (which inevitably required us to climb back up and out of it). By the time we got back to the ridge, I checked my watch and realized we were nearing the end of the time I set aside for this outing. I suggested that those who needed to get back should make their way home, but for those still adventurous, we would make our way to the Methuselah Tree. For those in that second group, I’m so glad that we followed through on this final site. As with so many giant redwoods, it was incredibly inspiring. I, like so many of the other members who went out to visit, just sat underneath it in awe. We recounted all the incredible inventions that humans had made during its lifetime, and the fact that it was still growing just made it all the more impressive. We were slow to leave, and even as we officially left I could feel myself wanting to stay just a little longer. As we said our goodbyes though, we promised to return again in the future, hopefully (and likely) in the Methuselah’s future at that.
EBMUD
As a Captain, I’m never overly certain which adventures will appeal to whom. Scylla and I had been keeping track of the East Bay Municipal Utility Districts offerings and were delighted to see them starting to offer tours of their water treatment plant in the fall of last year. After some back and forth with their staff we finally settled on a weekend date, but without knowing exactly how many would be interested, they booked a secondary group to be there on the same day as us. Well, we probably could have filled out a whole tour ourselves. We originally capped our number to 25, but we got to 32 a week before the event. I figured this was within our margin, so we invited those beyond the 25 but didn’t continue our call to adventure in the days leading up.
On the day of the event, nearly everyone showed up and I could tell the excitement was real. We were informed that we wouldn’t be able to take pictures, but luckily we had a couple of stellar cartographers taking avid notes of everything we saw and discussed. The puns and humor were rampant, but so was our curiosity of the whole system. The sheer volume that this place processed was mind blowing. Our tour guides took care to answer each of our questions.
Tour highlights included, but weren’t limited to: digestion control, the stories of grit treasure hunters, the seed sludge (sold in bulk containers of 80,000 gallons and rated the best in the Bay!), photos of the underground pipes, the fresh cake drop off, restrooms connected straight to the source, and the duck hanging out in the secondary oxygenator (we love a good animal sighting). Honestly as a captain, there was so much going on and so many fascinating facets of the tour that it was hard to keep track of them all. What clearly stood out though was how much everyone enjoyed the experience, it’s all we could talk about as we walked out. We also had a much clearer appreciation of the process and the doody we all have to take care of our infrastructure by limiting what we flush down the drain.
As a final note about this adventure, a big shout out needs to go to Lily and Drew who wrote the Field Guide for this outing. I occasionally still reference it, and when I do, I love the many layers they put into the guide.
Alright, that takes us up to mid May. We’ll have reports for Steeplechase and High Sights soon.
Thanks y’all and semper explorandum explorers!
-Dr Professor