February 2, 2014 - San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Tufted Duck

Title: February 2, 2014 - San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Another meetup group hike, or walks and drive as you may call it. Karol saw Sherri's Facebook post a couple of weeks ago on our brief visit to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge (SLNWR) just above Los Banos. So she scheduled a meetup hike there. There are several units to SLNWR. We will visit to two of them: San Luis Unit and the West Bear Creek Unit. But others include Kesterson, Freitas and Merced areas. SLNWR was a joint development between the National Wildlife Refuge system and several duck hunting clubs. Its mission is to bring back the marshlands which permeated the Valley. Consequently, duck hunting is allowed, in season and today is the last day of duck hunting. SNLWR is not really hiking friendly. There are several auto tour loops in the refuge. But the hiking trails are usually pretty short-about 1-2 miles and very level.

We left Fresno around 7:40 in the morning and got to SLNWR around 9:30. We had stopped at Starbucks on the way.  We paid a visit to the Visitor Center, where we were properly impressed with the exhibits. Then we went for our first walk.

Trail head:  Visitor Center

Hike Info:

Trail:  Upland/Riparian Loop Trail

Distance:  0.91

Travel Time: 0:29 (1.88 mph)

Moving Time: 0:23 (2.37 mph)

Elevation Rise:  43'

Maximum Elevation:  65'

Great Blue Heron

Description:
This first hike, which in reality is more like a nice walk. The sky is cloudy, threatening rain. A nice breeze is blowing, providing a winter coolness to our faces and hands. Right from the get go, we see a blue heron standing across a pond of water. Of course there are ducks paddling along. The trail is very level, stretching in a loop around several ponds. We just enjoy walk and the people. The path is wide, so we get to talk as we walk. A few egrets are on the back side.

Male Tule Elk

Marsh Land

Golden Eagle

When we get back around the loop, we decide to take one of the car tours on this particular part of the complex. The first loop we did is the Wetlands and Waterfowl Route, about 8.5 miles. This was so much better than I thought it would be. First, we see some magnificent male tule elk looking so majestic. After about a mile, we were treated to a golden eagle in the distant.  Swinging east we see all sorts of waterfowl, which is good because it starts to rain. Geese in the distance, snowy egrets along the side of the road, and great blue herons hiding in the rushes, maybe even a few ibis'. Our car was slow, but we enjoyed seeing so many things along the way.

Snowy Egret

 









We ate lunch--pot luck feast style close to the visitor center, under the cover of an information kiosk-love those things.

Then it was back into the cars for the Tule Elk Tour. The route goes the same mile as before, but then swings westward. There is a 10' high barricade, we think to keep the elk in surrounding this tour. Of course, it may be to keep predator's out, such as coyotes, mountain lions and people away. In our car, much of the tour is spent interpreting signs in ways which the creator of them never intended. Lot less birds here and the elk are on the far side of the fields.

After the tour, we traveled up to the West Bear Creek Unit to go on two more hikes.

Trail head:  West Bear Creek

Hike Info:

Trail:  Woody Pond Loop

Destination:

Actual Destination:

Distance:  2.02 miles

Travel Time:  0:43. (2.82 mph)

Moving Time: 0:40  (3.03 mph)

Elevation Rise:   64'

Maximum Elevation:  125'

Description:
 West Bear Creek is several miles up Highway 165 from the San Luis Unit, at least by car. About the time we despaired of finding it, the sign popped up, in fine print West Bear Creek. There is a long drive in to the trail-head, which is at the northeast corner of the auto loop. Thankfully, there is a cinder-block restroom by the trail-head. There are two loops which start here. The first we go on is the Woody Pond Loop, the longer one. The trail is level. While there is not much relief except for the distant coastal range with the clouds and sunshine playing hide-and-seek, there are the birds. Seems like there is more water fowl in this unit than in the San Luis one. but it may be the time of year. We enjoy the conversations around us. Sherri talks a lot with Dennis and some others. I talk with Lee and Caroline, a new meetup group member. Turns out Caroline and Karol understand the nuances of scat. We came across some coyote scat and there was a discussion of the scat. I brought out my scat handkerchief which my brother got me.
 

Trail head:   West Bear Creek

Hike Info:

Trail:  Racoon Loop Trail

Distance: 1.28 miles

Travel Time: 0:29 (2.65 mph)

Moving Time: 0:26 (2.96 mph)

Elevation Rise:  66'

Maximum Elevation:  75'

Description:
Raccoon Loop is the shorter of the two trails. We have lost some of the people who needed to get back to Fresno. But we still have a good group. Enjoyable walk, even got to say farewell to a red-tailed hawk on the way out of the loop.

After our walk, we head back to Los Banos and regroup at Starbucks. Everybody is in awe of what we saw. I suspect this will appear on a few more non-summer time hikes. We make it back to Fresno around 6. One of the people invites the group over for soup. Tasted good and was nice and warming.

For more on the  Woody Pond and Racoon hikes, see Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Best Easy Day Hikes-Fresno. They are hike 17 in the book.