L.A Photos

Every time I go down to Lilesville to spend time with Mom I'm constantly taking pictures of her crazy dogs... but then again it wouldn't be the same if I didn't. Just take a look at these goofy dog faces. They're irresistible!

Buster Junior looks as if he is squeezing something out!

Over the last few visits I've noticed this... what use to be a lake.. has dried up a little. Most people don't realize that water holes like this are about 80% of what Lilesville is. As long as I can remember the water went as far back as the trees in the back and started about 20 feet from where I'm standing. There were none of these islands that you see now... just water... very deep water. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these holes were around 100ft deep. Keep scrolling and you will see what I mean.

This side of the water hole is probably the deepest. My friends and I use to swim in this part too. We had a rope tied to a tree to pull ourselves back up out of the water and then we would run and jump off the edge again. It was always a little eire to me knowing that the bottom was so far down. We all knew how to swim pretty good so we never wore life jackets... which is a scary thought now that I think back on it. However, there have been reports of people drowning in some of these water holes. You see, once the draglines reach a certain distance of digging, the water that comes up is always a blue color instead of this greenish color. In fact this water is no where near the pretty blue color. It's almost like tropical waters after the draglines are through digging.

Here is the edge we always jumped off from.

See what I mean about these holes being so deep. You also have to add in the fact that normally where I'm standing should be covered with water. Just judging by looks I would say the water is down about 20 ft. So add that to however deep this part is. Click the photo to enlarge so you can get a better look. The edge is straight down. I have also been fishing in this same hole. Yes.. there are fish in these holes. You will probably think I'm lying to you but the water is very clear at 3 to 4 ft under. We use to watch the fish come right up to the jig in the water.

An old abandoned dragline.

Sadly, as I ventured back down to this ravine I noticed the creek was all dried up. I was a little disappointed because this really is a neat place especially when the creek was going strong. Once we discovered it became more of a hideout so to speak. You can see where the water rounded off this rock over the years into a mushroom look.

This spot has always been one the coolest places to check out. About 15 years ago my cousin
Sean and I camped out at the top of this hill. We were doing some hiking and the next morning this is what we found. Nothing but a bunch of huge boulders but it's just the way they were stacked and the fact that a big creek was flowing at the bottom made this place an icon for us. We hiked out here many of times to jump off some of these rocks.