Ever since the rock/mud slides along the bike trail near Negro Bar last January, I’ve really been missing my morning walks along the lake shore. I’ve seen a number of walkers and cyclists breeze past the warning signs and the barrier walls seemingly without a second thought, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do the same. I stayed back and shot pictures of the slide from a distance.

But on this particular day I left my house at 5:30 AM and arrived at the barriers before anyone else was around, a few minutes before the sun lifted above the horizon. I had decided this was the day I’d walk past the concrete blocks and get a closer look at the giant boulders and the dirt that had disrupted the daily exercise routines of so many people in this area.

The trail around the barrier:

The bald eagles nested in this tree; the nest sits in a fork on the left side of the tree. Below is a closer view:

The cliffs are still very unstable. As I walked along the paved trail, I could hear the soft patter of dirt slipping from the embankment. According to information from Friends of Lakes Folsom and Natoma (FOLFAN), the work of repairing the bike trail and stabilizing the bluffs may not be complete until sometime in 2018.

To be continued…