Trail head: Dinkey Creek Road, about 8 miles from Shaver lake
Hike Info:
Type: Hiking
Trail:Bald Mountain Trail
Destination:Bald Mountain Lookout
Start Time: 8:39
End Time: 3:05
Travel Time: 6:26 (0.94 mph)
Moving Time: 5:16 (1.15 mph)
Elevation Rise: 2,195'
Maximum Elevation: 7,833'
GPS Tracks
1I had my GPS off for about a third of
a mile before turning it back on after going to the lookout. The
numbers above are reflecting splicing in the missing segment data
from the trip to the lookout. So the numbers should be pretty close.
Description:
 |
| Interesting Rocks | |
It has been about two months since I
have been able to walk with the Mid-Week Meetup group of the
Central Valley Hiking Group. So I am looking forward to this hike. We leave
Eddie's Bakery a little after 6:30am and stop briefly at the
ShaverLake library-just to clarify, not for literary edification. On the
way up there, I realize that I forgot my phone with my maps
information. We shall see if this is going to be a problem.
As we leave the library's parking
lot, the car ahead of me turns the wrong way, missing the turnoff for
Dinkey Creek Road. So I try to catch up to the car in front, but I
could not. So we phone Cathey to have them track down the driver in
front of us. We turn back to try to catch up to the rest of the
group-which we do not.
 |
| Gary on the prowl |
Now we get to my faux pax. The
instructions say to go 8 miles from Shaver Lake or 4.3 miles from the
Dinkey Creek Visitor Center. Evidently I just zoomed right by the
area trailhead-even though there was four or five cars parked there.
After going about 10 minutes beyond, we figure we have gone too far.
On the way back, we see that John is chasing is down. We find the
parking area and the rest of the people. Slightly embarrassing, but
if that is the worst which happens in my life, I will have done good.
Most of the Mid-Week's hikes are more
on the mild to moderate. Not sure how today's hike will be. John asks
me to start off and I quickly find out this will be a hike which will
stretch me. While I charge ahead, my lungs quickly say, “give me a
break.” We are going up steeply. It turns out during the first mile
and a quarter, we will rise up about a thousand feet. During this
climb, the trail is a bit sketchy. Several places where there is
scree and a sharp incline making for loose footing. It will be more
of a concern when we get down.
We have sort of separated out into a
couple groups. About eight folks are pushing ahead with six of us
around me, then John, Cathey and Sherri are with their group making
sure nobody gets behind them. As we have moved up the ridge, the
views start coming into play. This trail is starting to redeem itself
from the early “I am going to be hurt” feeling. Our vistas are
mostly south and east facing. I start to sort out the terrain to see
where we are in relationship to our lookout at
Delilah.
When we reach the top of the ridge,
we take a longer break before starting off again. Within 200 yards,
we hit the off highway vehicle (OHV) road. John P's group has left
pointers about where to head, or maybe it is where they are going. We
follow that for a short distance when I spot some more colored tape,
then a post by what looks like a creek. I tell my group to stop and I
go up this “creek” for a little ways and see blaze mark-this is
really a trail. So off we go.
Sort of a fun little route. Gentle,
just following an abundant number of ducks, or if you prefer cairns.
I really wish I had a map-they give a certain amount of comfort. Then
we climb a low ridge and there is the start of the rock formations
which is going to make this trip interesting. And the best of them
is right in front of me right now. A rock or if we were in Utah, this
formation would be called a hoodoo. Here I am calling it the Mushroom
Rock. Several other interesting formations are near by.
 |
| Getting ones ducks in a row |
After enjoying this sight, we head
down the other side of this ridge-only about a hundred foot drop. The
forest floor is flat for another quarter mile and then our duck trail
climbs rock. Once at the top, we rejoin the OHV road. We get to see
our first view of the
Bald Mountain Lookout. Up to here, when we have
seen the road, I thought my RAV4 would be able to drive it pretty
easily. What I am seeing is pretty steep with at least 8” ledges
for the tires to crawl over-well beyond my car's range. Now I am
feeling some strain going up, but the end is in sight. At the top of
the ridge, we are able to follow the ridge line to tower.
 |
| Bald Mountain Lookout |
The lookout tower itself is in the
process of being rebuilt. It stands about 20-25' off the ground with
two flights of stairs. This leads to a roofed shelter with only 2x4's
for walls. The sides have a wire safety fence. The great things about
this lookout, which I do not get in either Delilah or
Park Ridge is
the ability to see 360 degrees. No trees or close ridges to block the
view. Consequently you get a feeling of vastness and spaciousness. It
looks like we have about a 20 mile visibility with some mist in the
low lands. We can even see
Bear Mountain-the Fresno one, clsoe to Squaw Valley. But I could
not pick out Pine Ridge or Delilah. I thought I could see where
FenceMeadow Lookout was though. By the way, the 20 mile radius of
visibility means we are seeing 1250 square miles. That is a lot of
ground to lookout.
 |
| South and West looking |
 |
| North Looking |
 |
| Kaiser Peak |
Sherri and I eat our lunches on top
of the lookout and try to spot points we know. It is difficult to
figure out where some of the things are without a map and seeing the
back sides of known places. Next time we are up here, bring along a
map.
 |
| Towards Kings Canyon and Goddard |
View from Bald Mountain Lookout from the PeakFinder application
 |
| Starting on the return trip |
 |
| Descending our hill |
Alas, it is time to go. Looking at
the group going down, it looks like a herd of people setting out.
Sort of colorful. I hike for a ways with Rob, Betty, Lee, and a
couple of other people (sorry, feeble memory fails). We get to a draw
and I see ducks at the bottom and know, this is where we turn. The
rest of the horde goes on down the road. As I am about to go with the
rest of our group, I look back and decide to wait for John, Cathey,
Sherri and Lore. After watching so many people miss this turn, I
think it is better to wait so they do not miss the turn.
After a few minutes, guardedly they
come down-down can be just as hard as going up. There was no
decision-this group did not want to go via the road. So down we went
the same way we came up. I briefly was not sure which way the ducks
were leading us, but did not lead us too far astray. We passed by the
Mushroom Rock and its friends and found the road. Seemed it was much
quicker than when we came up.
 |
| The trail leading down the spine of a ridge |
But once we got on that final stretch
of trail going from the OHV road to the parking area, things slowed
down. There was two reasons. First, it seemed like there was a lot
more to take pictures of. And the second, well you remember what was
said that the trail seemed a bit sketchy going up? Well with the
loose scree and the steep slope, we moved very gingerly down for most
of the mile and a quarter. It is not always that one can play hero to
one's wife of 40 years-she knows me too well. But this is an area
which I do well and Sherri appreciates it.
 |
| Our Smoke |
While looking around at the vistas, I think I spot a puff of white smoke. By the time I point it out to Sherri, it has almost dissipated. But then about three minutes later, there it is again. This time Sherri sees it. Without a map, we can only figure what our coordinates are and the general direction. (When we get back home I calculate it probably is in the Dinkey Creek area.)
By going slowly, we all got down
safely. I should tell you a little bit about Bear as she comes into
play on this. Bear is one of the hiker's dog. Pretty well behaved and
friendly and very mature in the ways of the trail. She is also pretty
attached to her owner. Somehow Bear misplaced her owner and about a
half of a mile before the parking lot, we came upon Bear. She seemed
to be pretty appreciative of us walking with her down. But when we
got to the lot, her owner had gone off looking for her. Bear being
the well behaved dog she is, stayed under the owner's car. After
conferring for awhile, we decide that with Bear being so attached and
well behaved and mature, she would stay with the car until the owner
came back. So we headed off to have an after hike meal in Shaver Lake
at the
Pub
and Grub. After awhile, Bear's owner joined us
before we all headed back to Fresno. Not a bad day.
Trail Lesson:
Maximum Elevation: 5,133'
Some trails you hike because of the
destination, others you hike because of the journey. Today's hike is
about the journey. But there is also a bonus. As
Annie Dillard says,
Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense
them. The least we can do is try to be there. At the end of the
hike, we do have our moment of glory.
