A Summer Day on Silver Lake
It is a beautiful summer day in the eastern Sierra Nevada and you, your family and a few friends have decided to kayak down the slow, meandering stretch of upper Rush Creek between Highway 158 and the Silver Lake delta. From there you plan to lazily paddle across Silver Lake to the Silver Lake Resort where you will pull up your vessel and maybe enjoy a nice shore lunch or even do some fishing for rainbow and brown trout.
Your trip down Rush Creek is full of surprises. Not only are you struck at the intense beauty of this eastern Sierra landscape, but you are amazed at the amount and diversity of wildlife you encounter along the way. First, your float takes you through a dense brushy maze of tangled willow with long overhanging, slender branches that want to tickle your neck and reach out and grab your paddle. As you navigate this narrow, but deep stretch of the creek, you are startled by the squawking of a black-crowned night heron as it explodes from its day roost in a nearby willow tree. You then notice a belted kingfisher perched on the branch of a tall aspen tree where it searches for its fish prey. You also notice a few brightly colored yellow warblers bouncing among the willow branches in search of insects. Next, you see a male red-winged black bird displaying its bright red shoulder patches as it boldly defends its breeding territory from intruders.
The creek suddenly opens into an emergent marsh with scattered willow and a few aspen trees lining the bank. A mallard duck with six small ducklings in tow swims along the stream bank seemingly unafraid of your presence. However, it is keenly aware of the majestic bald eagle soaring overhead in search of its afternoon meal. You are tempted to pause and feed these ducks the bread from your lunch but know that it is never appropriate to feed wildlife. Further downstream, you encounter a mule deer doe with two small fawns foraging along the streambank. Startled by your sudden approach, they quickly bound towards the nearby willow patch for cover. This commotion alerts the great-blue heron further downstream, which reluctantly launches into graceful flight from its shallow water fishing cove. Just a little further downstream but from deep within the marsh, you hear the loud, descending whinnying call of a sora, a small, secretive water bird from the rail family.
The Rush Creek delta at Silver Lake is not far now, but first you must pass by a large grove of quaking aspen, named so because the leaves of this tall deciduous tree tremble or “quake” in the wind. This grove is strikingly beautiful and alive! You float to the bank, pull your binoculars from your daypack and marvel at the bird diversity present in the tree canopy. Stellar’s jay, western wood peewee, house wren, black-headed grosbeak, western tanager and yellow-bellied sapsucker are just some of the birds you enjoy watching; but you know you still have a way to paddle, so you store your binoculars and continue forth on your adventure.
Before reaching the Silver Lake delta, you must first paddle down a narrow stretch of creek hemmed between a long finger of wetland and the east shore of Silver Lake. The shoreline is rugged, featuring rock outcrops, scattered juniper, lodgepole and Jeffrey pine trees, with a sparse understory of sagebrush and mountain mahogany. Your eye catches the movement of a golden-mantled ground squirrel as it darts up and over a granite boulder. You then see two dusky colored Douglas tree squirrels spiraling around the trunk of a Jeffrey pine as they chase each other up the tree. Higher up in the same tree, a mountain chickadee hangs upside down on a branch in search of insects. Further upslope, a Cooper’s hawk streaks fast and low across the forest floor and then rises abruptly before gently landing on a juniper branch.
Further downstream you encounter an exposed sandbar, noticing that it may be blocking your access to the lake. There are people too, some sitting on the sandbar in beach chairs and some playing with their kids and dogs in the shallow water. They are having fun, and you are happy for them, but this seems like an odd place for a beach! You are glad you are in a kayak because you can easily slip past this shallow reach as you paddle into Silver Lake. However, you are concerned about the decreasing depth of the channel and question whether future generations will be able to navigate to the lake without encountering obstacles due to the expanding sandbar. Afterall, the sandbar was not that pronounced the last time you floated the creek. What is the cause of this sandbar you ask yourself, and is there a way to keep the channel open?
Finally, you reach the open expanse of Silver Lake, with its clear blue water and breathtaking surroundings. More ducks swim in front of your kayak, not just mallards but also green-winged teal, gadwall, and common merganser. The California gull and American coot are abundant and the osprey, a fish-eating raptor, dives for his prey only fifty yards of your starboard bow. The osprey almost disappears for a brief second, then emerges from the water with an 8-inch rainbow trout wiggling in its talons. It must fly fast now to reach its perch in the large Jeffrey pine tree before the gulls can steal its catch.
As you cross the lake to your final destination, lazily drifting in the warm sun, you remember the wildlife you encountered and the magnificent beauty of this incredibly diverse ecosystem. You only observed a small sampling of the local wildlife, knowing that this area is also home to black bear, gray fox, mountain lion, bobcat, raccoon, and many other bird species.
The Friends of Silver Lake (FOSL) is a non-profit organization committed to protecting the natural resources of Rush Creek and Silver Lake. The FOSL is working with resource agencies, NGO’s and local business and homeowners to ensure that the Silver Lake and the Rush Creek delta remain a viable ecosystem capable of supporting fish and
wildlife diversity and a host of recreational activities, including fishing, boating, wildlife viewing and sightseeing. Please visit our webpage Donate — Friends of Silver Lake and help us to preserve this remarkable ecosystem for future generations.
Written by Tim Taylor
