New Alchemy

Carson Peak in a Storm

The summit of the Sierras in the locale of Lake Tahoe is a gathering place for storms that stream from the west through the Golden Gate in San Francisco. The Bay Area is a kind of funnel for storms that come from the eastern Pacific into the Delta of the Sacramento River. The Sacramento delta drains most of northern California into the ocean off of San Francisco. The Pacific storms that come through this Golden Gate hit the mountains and back up turbulently to the west forming scud clouds and strong winds as they gather the force to scream through the passes. The mountains rake the water out of the storms and deposit it in the form of beneficial snows that provide the water insurance against the yearly drought that is the California water year.

In this image Lake Tahoe is to the left or north and out of the picture but the mountains that ring the lake form the northern wall of the venturi that Carson Pass forms as the storms make their way from the Pacific out into the desert in Nevada. The majestic mountain in the center of the image is Carson Peak named after Kit Carson who led a band of settlers through the pass and across its flanks in the history of the settling of California.  Caples Lake sitting below the peak is one reservoir among many which gather life giving waters that come from the ocean across the Sierras in the short yearly rainy season. These mountain influenced rain patterns are the life blood of California agriculture.