February 18, 2015 - Crescent Meadows Wandering

Title: February 18, 2015 - Crescent Meadows Wandering

 Trail head: Crescent Meadows Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Crescent Meadows/Log Meadows/High Sierra/Trail of the Sequoias/Congress Trail/Alta Trail

Destination: Loop

Actual Destination:

Distance: 8.33 miles ^{1 2}
Start Time: 9:51
End Time: 16:53
Travel Time: 7:01 (1.19 mph)
Moving Time: 4:49 (1.73 mph) ²
Elevation Rise: 1,461' ^{2 3}

Maximum Elevation:

 ¹Others in the group measured 9.2 and 9.6 miles. I am inclined to believe in the additional mileage.
 ²I went about a half of a mile further than most of the group-even though there was some like Steven who I think went farther. My half of a mile was coming back on a couple of occasions.Because of the extra walking, I did hike longer and had more elevation rise, but not terribly significant, maybe another 100' rise and 10 minutes more walking.
 ³I noticed that the GPS starting elevation is 6,326' and ending is 6,736', or about 400' difference. So I suspect the true elevation rise is 1,060'.

Description:
It is a bit foggy today. Saw that one of our hikers has dropped today, so we should be 16 people. We get to Kohl's at 6:50 and a few people are there before us. We quickly grow to the 14 people with picking up two more along the way. As we head out on Hwy 180, the fog is not too bad, but enough to remind me to be cautious. Below Squaw Valley we break out into the sunshine. We make Wuksaki Lodge around 9 and Carl from Visalia is waiting for us there-Rob has picked up Richard along the way. The group makes use of the restrooms and coffee pots before getting to Crescent Meadows.

Picture from Richard

The day begins with it being a bit cool, but clear and looks enjoyable. Apparently we lost somebody between Wuksaki and here. So Sherri is staying around for a few minutes to see if he shows up. It is a little bit before 10 when our boots hit the trail, or should I say the pavement? We tackle the Crescent Meadow trail first. It is paved and we curl around the south end of the meadow-at the end of the hike we will see the north and west part of this trail. Even with it being warm these days, the meadow grass has enough sense to stay dormant until it knows snow won't come again this year. This trail is level and there is an offshoot to Log Meadow.

Tharp's Cabin

As we travel this short segment, I realize that I really wanted the next trail to Log Meadow. But that is ok, nobody notices, except for the comment about are we walking paved trails all the way? This area has many intertwining trails and this will be my constant refrain today, I wonder if I am on the right trail?

Deer in Action - Picture from Richard

Tharp's log cabin quickly comes to us. Many are fascinated by it and so we spend time here. Before we leave, Sherri rejoins us with our last hiker, and they also look into the cabin. But I quickly am about to lose two more people as they take off on the wrong trail. What is this? We go a mile and I am on the verge of losing three people? What kind of a ship am I running? 

Sequoia at Log Meadow

 But we do end up all going along Log Meadow. Some of the prettiest views of Sequoias I see along the edge. Also there is this large root ball towards the south of the meadow which fascinates me each time I pass by. It is at least three times as high as I am, just lying on its side, stark in the meadow.

Rose and Christine

Moro Rock - Picture from Richard

At the end of Log Meadow, we take off towards The High Sierra Trail (HST). But before we meet the trail, we find three deer munching along the side of our trail. This has the effect of gathering us all together to gawk at them. But eventually we move and the deer make way for us. This brings us to looking over the Kaweah River. Some people do not believe that we are seeing Moro Rock; all are amazed at the view. But like the commercial says, there is more to come.

View from Eagle's View

When we go about a third of a mile to Eagle View, the Great Western Divide Kern-Kaweah Divide  comes into play. Many have not seen this view, some this is their first trip to the Sierras and there is jaw dropping reaction of this cannot be. I am glad to be their first guide on this. This view is truly magnificent and so close. Whats more, today is the perfect day to see it. Triple Divide, Steward and Lippincott are all so clearly seen. I show them where the HST goes and some want to continue on, that is until I say that the end is 59 miles from here, Mt Whitney. Maybe another day. Still there are folks looking at those mountains wistfully.

Peaks seen from Eagle View from the PeakFinder application

Sawtooth

So we retreat back to the junction with the Trail of the Sequoias and wait for those still gawking at Eagle's View. And we waited, And waited some more. What can you say, when you give a group of people the visual equivalent of crack, should I expect to tear them away?

If Eagle View is like crack, then the Trail of the Sequoias is methadone. It does not have the siren call of the grandiose view seen a few minutes before, but it has the means to bring serenity to the soul. As we progress along this long stretch of trail, we see the younger redwoods with their un-scarred bark and tall, gangly frames. At the end of the trail, there is the mature sequoias which have reigned over the forests for a couple of millennium. In between, we look and see green and red, plants still dormant, but some manzanita have gotten an early start with an early bloom, maybe errant. Sherri has been leading us and finds a nice, sun-lite area to rest for lunch. We may be going a bit slower than I was hoping, but no one is denying the enjoyment factor of what we are witnessing: the forest in Winter wearing shorts and short-sleeves.

Congress Grove

View from ridge

After lunch our trip continues up slightly to the top of a ridge-this is the literally the high point of the trip, but not the last of the climbs we will be doing. From here we get a last view of the snow-covered mountains to the south of Giant Forest. Then we descend down into the Congress Grove area. Today we will not be going to the General Sherman Tree. Instead we head more west and meet up with the Alta Trail. But even this simple maneuver was  confounded by  people being interested in the Chief Sequoyah Tree and the Congress Grove trees. I guess there could be worse things to be detained by.

But we move on to the final third of our hike, and it turns out the hardest of the day. We start a gentle descent towards Giant Forest, but we will not walk that far. Along the way, we come across some Indian grinding holes, along with a large sheet of granite.  After about a mile and a half we come to a junction. We take the trail to Huckleberry Meadow. This is the start of the first real up-about 300' rise. The first part of the group charge right up. But confession time, I make it about half way up this slope before I need to savor some mountain aire. But it is time to continue on. Sherri is taking up the rear. So we crest the top of the rest and the remainder of the journey is mostly down or flat.

Big Tree - Small People

A few minutes afterwards we come to the remains of the Squatter's Cabin. There is a couple versions of what who the squatters were. One sign says it was a guy who wanted to live up there until he found out that Hale Tharp already owned the area. The other is that this was part of the Kaweah Colony and they were driven out by the park service.

Huckleberry Meadow

After waiting around for a time, I sent most of the people forward, except for Kurt. Sherri's group had not come yet, so Kurt and I went back up the ridge, but did not get far until we came to the last group. We walked down with them. Some folks were pretty tired by now, so I walked with them and everybody else went to the car, about 3/4 of a mile from the cabin. I think this was the first longer hike for some people. Still we hiked the whole thing, going past Huckleberry Meadow and over a small ridge before dropping into Crescent Meadow. When we topped to rest, we saw a bird, I thought it might be a Western Tanager, but not being an ornithologist, or even something remotely close, I think I am wrong.  But it is interesting that going slow, we get to see a lot.

We have one more adventure and that is sometime over the Winter two trees knocked down, blocking the trail. But Steven E and Sherri found the way around it and all got to the cars. A couple of us said, lets eat-always a fitting way to end the day. So we stopped at Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley for some eats. We got home around 7:30 or so, a bit tired, but having enjoyed the day.

Trail Lesson:

It is easier to maintain your energy as you go along, than to regain what you have lost.