mosquitoes as mudding companions
Posted by Zonie on September 30, 2025 at 23:20:54
I had thought the 2025 southeast monsoon was a failure. It was just a late bloomer. One stormy weekend at the end of September put the rainfall for the June 15-September 30 period slightly above normal. Saturday night I was attending my 40th high school reunion and from the venue about four miles from my house, I saw a wall cloud and vivid displays of lightning. The next morning the light of day revealed that the severe thunderstorm had toppled a cactus so that it was leaning over the swimming pool. That afternoon I hacked it to bits with a shovel and used the shovel to put the pieces in a garbage can and hauled them to the main bin. The easiest part was uprooting the stump. I could handle the roots with my bare hands.
Monday morning I went to Reach 11. There were only three cars in the parking lot. I heard shouting from the south trail. I went there and passed a man sitting on a chair and shouting something to nobody. I assume he was making a video. The part I heard as I passed was an unusual revision of a story from Exodus. He said something to the effect that UFO power had caused the Nile to run upstream to carry the infant Moses where he was supposed to go.
After leaving him I soon found some mud puddles in which to stomp. I also noticed the hum of many mosquitoes. Friday's downpours had flooded the mesquite thickets, and I suppose there must have been eggs waiting for that. The sun was hot, and eventually I found a puddle in which to immerse, and it was cooling.
Once I got past the HWY 51 underpass I didn't hear as many mosquitoes, even though there was standing water in the trench by the trail. I continued westward past the HWY 101 underpass and went on a feeder trail that was severely eroded by the recent storms, but there was a lot less mud than I expected, so I turned back. I had encountered a few bicyclists but nobody else.
After returning under HWY 51, I headed north on a muddy trail through the thicket and then crossed a couple arroyos and found a mud hole in which to wallow. The sun had heated it so that it wasn't very refreshing, so I went to a sandy bottomed puddle near the equestrian arena to do a bit of cleanup.
As I headed back, traffic on the trails increased. There was a young man riding his fat tire bicycle back and forth. Then there were some joggers. When I got to the trailhead there were a dozen vehicles parked there. It was a Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock, but it was as busy as if on a weekend. I didn't hear any shouting from the fellow making the video though. I guess he as finished.