Prospectors never could resist an opportunity to poke around rocks and dirt recently unearthed by winter storms. Could it be the chance of finding a vein of gold? Maybe discovering a dinosaur skeleton? How about buried treasure?
Prospecting is fun and fascinating. but it is also dangerous when the ground is saturated with rain. Slides and cave-ins can be brought on just by climbing around or digging with a shovel or pick. It doesn’t take a big slide or cave-in to bury a person where they may never be found except by another prospector perhaps centuries from now.
In the Old West, prospectors heading out with a fresh grubstake, followed in the wake of major storms. Some were never heard from again, and I’d bet that slides and cave-ins were the cause for such mysterious disappearances.
Swollen mountain streams gouge out ravines. Surface dirt and rocks are spread out on lower ground waiting to be rummaged through by rock collectors and artifact admirers.
Up in the ravines, washouts and slides leave previously unexposed treasures ready to be found. It is highly dangerous ground to be prospecting, however human nature seems to require some intrepid adventure.
Not all ravages of water happen up in the hills. Our gorgeous shoreline also sees plenty of action — sometimes too much action.
I recall better a time decades ago on a stormy winter day when heavy surf swept in on top of super tides and blasted the top out a cave just past the west end of the Goleta Beach parking area.
At first the hole was small, but subsequent waves blew more rocks out the top. Soon the hole grew to become a thunderous blow hole. Larger waves crashed into the depression that had been a cave and shot up 40 feet into the air in a spectacular display of the force of nature.
No sooner did the waves and tide subside, but adventurers were wading into the depression to see what had been unearthed. Some of those folks were caught in the depression and got mildly battered by waves.
Watching from nearby, I kept expecting to see a large wave sweep in and blow out the top with someone riding high on the spout like a cartoon character. The thought was amusing, but the reality of a large wave would have been death.
Please take care out there after these storms and recognize the dangers of prospecting. And I hope you find some spectacular treasures.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
