This evening I am up in Ojai at the orange grove with Liz, Ethan, and Ron. We went for a walk after dinner to the Riverview Trail Head of the Ventura River Preserve, which is comprised of 1600 acres that are owned and maintained by the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. On the preserve, there are all sorts of hiking trails for hiking, horseback riding, and biking, along with beautiful views, and a river that in non-drought times has places where it’s possible to swim. After the multiple heavy rain showers we’ve had over the past month or so, not only is the river full and flowing but there is a tributary with lots of water in it as well. Over all of the years that we’ve owned our orange grove, I’ve never seen the tributary with any water in it at all. That is until recently, which is the result of the recent onslaught of multiple “atmospheric rivers.” While there have been many problems as a result of so much rain, one of the advantages has been the vast greening of everything everywhere and also the lovely addition of actual water in the nearby river and tributary. That is something to enjoy and celebrate, particularly after such a long stint of drought conditions.

Here are a few photos of the nature preserve and also the nearby Topa Topa mountain range.

The tributary heading south

The tributary flowing from the north

The Topa Topa Mountains

Dusk over the nature preserve

Ron and Ethan (who is asleep)

Len and Liz