January 15, 2018 - South Shore Trail

Title: January 15, 2018 - South Shore Trail
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: South Bay parking lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: South Shore Trail

Destination: Winchell Cove

Distance:  3.46 miles

Start Time:  11:12

End Time:     1:29

Travel Time:  2:17  (1.52 mph)

Moving Time:  1:18 (2.66 mph)

Elevation Rise:  275'  ¹

Descent: 274‘

Maximum Elevation: 606'

GPS Tracks

 ¹The amount of rise has been modified to reflect that the GPS has a tendency to start at a lower elevation than actual. So I use more the ending elevation to gauge the actual elevation rise.

Description:

This is a repeat of last week’s hike. But this time it is with the meetup group. I do not think I have organized a meetup hike since last June. So in some ways, this is to get Sherri and I back into the swing of doing it. We meet at the Corner Bakery’s parking lot at 10:30am and are off by 10:40 to Millerton State Recreation Area. There are 18 people in all including Sherri and Steven. We unload and I give a little talk on expectations on this trail at the South Bay/McKenzie Point parking area. Then off we go about 11:15.

 
While the trail is the same as we hiked last Wednesday, the conditions are different.. Today there has been fog and some mist. So the lighting on the lake is a bit more subdued. Also with 16 other people, the dynamics is much more varied.

Cemetery Bound

I walk at the end of the line while Sherri is somewhere in the middle.So I talk some with Leslie, Meera and David-Leslie I have hiked with a lot, but not much recently. So it is good just having a relaxed conversation with her. Meera and David are new to me, so throughout the trip, we talk a bit about interesting trails and best places for ice cream.

Steven overlooking Millerton

When we get to the end of the trail, Nancy, another person new to me, suggests that we continue on to the Winchell Cove Cemetery. I had seen markings on a map, but had not been to the cemetery before. But this is not on what I listed for the hike, so I feel uncomfortable adding it on. Sherri goes with the group to cemetery; I go with Mario and his two kids, and David and Meera back about a quarter mile to a lookout area where we have lunch. By the way, Mario’s kids are amazing-not so much that they are full of energy, but that they are walking happily.

Hikers Procession

On the way back, I fall into a conversation with Cathy and Nancy. With Cathy, she knows a person whom we met on the JMT 4+ years ago. With Nancy, we share a common employer and I used to communicate with her department-but I must be getting older as I could not remember the names of the people. Talking with people has both the good and bad. The good, it makes the hiking go by quickly and pleasantly. The bad? Well, there is a tendency on my part to be interested in what the person is saying rather than the surroundings I am passing through. Nothing bad happened because of this. It is just we got to the parking lot pretty quickly.

By this time, we are back at the cars and say goodbye. It has been a quick hike and not too much different than last week. Or to paraphrase a book title, Same Kind Of Different Hike..

Background

Cemetery Entrance

The Winchell Cove Cemetery contains some of the oldest burials in Fresno County. Soldiers that passed away at nearby Fort Miller were buried at the fort as early as 1852 and were removed to Winchell Cove when Friant Dam was completed in 1941. Burial mounds are visible, but only one headstone remains, that of Francis Steddum. An Eagle Scout project researched and plotted out the over 80 plots, most of which are unidentified. The cemetery is located at Winchell Cove Marina on Millerton Lake above Friant, California. The cemetery is barely noticeable from the marina itself, and can be accessed by a one lane dirt road that dead-ends below it, and by a hiking and equestrian trail that is not very well maintained. The cemetery is fenced in and locked. There is no access to the cemetery itself, but you can walk around the fenced area. From Find a Grave

Monument commemorating work of an Eagle Scout

Also from Find a Grave. There are about 20 named occupants out of the 80 mounds. Only one of the original headstones. Most of the graves are in the 1850-1870's range. But there are two in the 1900, include 1951.

Extra Photo's

Animals

Miniature Volcano's or Ant Holes?

 
Flowers and Plants

Mushrooms