May 15, 2016 - Return from Alder Creek

Title: May 15, 2016 - Return from Alder Creek
Hike Info : Description :  Menu :  Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Camp at Trail Jct at Alder Creek

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail: Alder Creek Trail

Destination:Trail head at Mosquito Creek

Distance:   4.99 miles ¹

Start Time:  9:15am

End Time:  12:30pm

Elevation Rise:   231'  ¹

Maximum Elevation: 6,012' ¹

 ¹Information here is based upon the time going in since I could not find my GPS.

Description:
I slept a bit cold, but not too cold. Lesson to Gary: if you think it will be cold and you are packing a light-weight sleeping bag, be sure your sleeping bag insert is also packed. Enough said on that. I had woken up at 5:54am, by my cell phone time, then rolled over and went back to sleep. When I woke up a half an hour later, Rachel was already climbing out of the tent. This is a new experience for me, being the last one up. I can sort of enjoy it on occasion. But what that says is that I did not get the opportunity to have my quiet time or enjoy a few minutes of solitude. But I was able to enjoy being with my daughter-even better.

Rachel goes back in the bag

We seem to be doing ok in the getting packed up and ready to go department, but when I look at the time it is 9am, about the time I was hoping to leave by-not that we had to leave by then. But this way, it gives my daughter a chance to get back to her place reasonably rested. But now some excitement. Where is my GPS? I had it last night and put it away in my pack. I thought I put it in the lid area, but I cannot find it. We make a good sweep of the area, removing a little bit of litter-not much as it is clean.  Still no GPS.That leaves me with the choice of unpacking my pack or assume it is in the pack someplace as it is no place else. I go with the assumption. We shall see if I guessed right.

Avoiding a creek crossing

Rachel does not want to do the barefoot walk across Alder Creek like we did yesterday. So we stay on the south side of the creek, without a trail. You can tell others have been this way, including Sherri and I several years ago. But then, it was not a savings of time or effort and since that time we have just endured crossing the creek. Rachel is a bit more agile and quicker than her mother so we get around the 3/8 mile area without any trouble, just a bit of climbing.

Once we hit the trail, we make some pretty good speed, even crossing the little creek we did yesterday on some thin logs. That is when I dismounted, I hit a boggish place and sink about 2 inches into some yuckish stuff.

Alder Creek Falls

We come to Alder Creek Falls and rest for  a few minutes while we enjoy a final viewing of the Falls. They are amazing and we have them all too ourselves today. But then we continue on the old railroad bed at a pretty good pace. Towards the end of the bed I can feel that I am not used to the added weight of my boots on my feet. Something I had better get used to.

Coming down from the railroad bed I am now on sandal watch. You know the sandal which dropped off of my pack yesterday. We travel at a good pace-we should since it is 75% downhill. But the boots feel heavy on my feet, so the legs are starting to get a bit sore.

We meet a couple of females where we had a nice little conversation. One of the people is a member of the Central Valley Hiking Group, which is the group I often walk with, and even organize some hikes with. After we finish talking with them, another female comes up and says hi and passes on up the trail. From there it is just continue walking down a trail I have been down several times until we get to the truck.

Sandal Found

But you know the sandal I lost? The CCC people from Greenwood had put it into the back of my truck. Yeah for them! So we through our packs in back and head on to Oakhurst to enjoy an afternoon meal.

We tried going to Southgate Brewery, but the parking lot was full and so we decided to try DiCicco's which we like in Fresno. Here in Oakhurst, it appears that sometimes it is understaffed. But the waitress did not help their cause when she said that she would take our drink order, but would not take our order because she needed to take other people's order first. We convinced her to take ours now and then just put it into the right order. It seemed like the service took forever, like it took about an hour and half to leave the resturant after we arrived. Most of the time, that is ok, but we were ready for home and when we got home, it was nice getting into the shower.

It was really good going out with Rachel. So glad I was able to go with her.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried strawberries. We also had dehydrated Peanut Butter mixed in	Ate at DiCicco's in Oakhurst	Home	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies

Flowers and Plants

Dog Vomit Slime Mold

Hartweig Iris