Gary-Summer: January 12, 2018

Friday, January 12, 2018

January 12, 2018 - Big Baldy

Title: January 12, 2018 - Big Baldy
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Trail head: BigBaldy Trailhead

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Big Baldy

Destination: Big Baldy

Distance: 4.28 miles

Start Time: 1:23

End Time: 5:28

Travel Time: 4:04 (1.05 mph)

Moving Time: 2:41 (1.59 mph)

Elevation Rise: 856' ¹

Maximum Elevation: 8,232'

GPS Tracks

¹The GPS shows a climb of 1,236’, but starts at an elevation of 7,223’. The ending elevation is 7,603’ which is what the topo map shows. The difference is 380’ which equates to the rise above. As a note, the GPS shows we descended 1,000’ even.

Sherri and Gary at Trail Head

Description:

So what are we going to do for a hike today? We are going to Grant Grove. But where? We leave Fresno about it 11, still with that question. Also, where is the snow? As we approach the entry station, there is a little bit of snow along the side of the road. Definitely not enough to snowshoe for. snowshoes on for.

I have a short discussion with the entry ranger. He is with the Forest Service rather than NPS and is on loan as a temporary seasonal person.

We decided to see how Big Meadows look. Quail Flat-does not have snow and the Little Boulder Creek Road is barred. On to Big Meadows. A little bit of snow there, but no Winter fun-there is nothing to put snowshoes on for. So on to the Big Baldy trail head.

Park Ridge Lookout

Delilah Lookout

Park Ridge Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout and Beyond

Buena Vista Peak

Out and back is less than 4.5 mile, which is just about right for the remaining time. So we put on our boots. Then eat our sandwiches before hitting the trail. Right off the bat, there is a little bit of snow on the trail-maybe an inch and pretty spotty. So we should not have much trouble as a lot of the trail is in the sun.

Looking out over cloud surf

We have had our usual pace-going uphill, Sherri is a lot faster. But when we are on the level or on the descent, I speed up. So the combination is that we are not walking real fast. Just enough to keep warm-it is in the mid-50’s. Once we get out of the shade, the temp is comfortable and we take off a layer of clothes.

At various places along this trail, we are able to look down into Redwood Canyon and over to Redwood Mountain. Buena Vista Peak stands below us. Then following the ridgeline up Park Ridge, I see a speck where Park Ridge lookout is. Cool! It is like, we have been there. Really good to be able to see the ridge lines from 90^oof Park Ridge. it is a different perspective. Such as from the lookout, we are looking straight down the ridge Logger’s Point is on. You sort of lose how far away it is. But from here, we see the whole ridge and see why it is a point.

Buck Rock with Finger Peak and Mt Goddard

Looking beyond these ridges I see McKenzie Ridge and following Pine Ridge, there is a little stick on the north side of the ridge-Delilah Lookout. So far away. When at Delilah, we put our binoculars on Big Baldy, we can pick out individual trees. Fun seeing things in reverse.

There is only one other couple we see on the trail today. I think they came from Sequoia-Montecito Lodge as there is no other cars parked by the trailhead, and I see them right by a trail junction to the lodge. But it does make you wonder as they are heading away from the lodge trail.

Around 3:15 we get to the top of Big Baldy. We spend the appropriate amount of time gawking at the surroundings, about 40 minutes. From here we can see all three of our lookouts as Buck Rock has joined the group. That was a discussion we had-could Buck Rock see Big Baldy-I could not remember, while Sherri thought it could.

North Looking

East Looking

West Looking

Two islands in a cloudy ocean

I should mention the clouds. It was overcast when we left Fresno but once you get out of the Valley, it is pretty clear and sunshiny. Now that we are looking across the Valley, we see an ocean of puffy white stretching as far as we could see. Occasionally we would see an island in the middle of a this ocean. These are the hilltops which normally rise above the Valley, but today they are a set as an oasis in a sea of white.

Sunset coming on the trail

We could stay up here for a long time but it is starting to get late. Sunset should be someplace around 5 so we take off. We stop often to take pictures and to navigate a bit of the small patches of downhill snow. The shadows are lengthening and the light is fading. But we make the car around 5:30, just as the light fails.

It has been a good hike. The question now is, where to eat? Bear Mountain? Instead we decide to see if the restaurant at Grant Grove is open. It is, so we stop here for dinner. Christine serves us-we have had her as our server before. She says that Bear Mountain Pizza is in new owners, the pizza people who used to serve pizza at Grant grove a couple of years ago. We make it home by 8:00pm, tired and ready for a shower.