Gary-Summer: March 7, 2018 - Quail Flat to Weston Meadow

Friday, March 9, 2018

March 7, 2018 - Quail Flat to Weston Meadow

Title: March 7, 2018 - Quail Flat to Weston Meadow
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Trail head:

Quail Flat

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshoeing

Trail: Burton Road, 14S02

Destination: Weston Meadow

Distance: 3.44 miles

Start Time: 11:38

End Time: 2:50

Travel Time: 3:12 (1.08 mph)

Moving Time: 2:12 (1.56 mph)

Elevation Rise: 361'

Descent: 251‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,919'

GPS Tracks

Description:

It has SNOWED! Today is our first opportunity to snowshoe this year. Sherri is all gunho to go out-not sure how my energy level is, though. But only one way to find out.

Oh No! What have I gotten into?

We leave Fresno at 9:30 with Sherri driving. We are not sure where we will be going, but we think one of four places along the General’s Highway: Quail Flat, Big Meadow, Big Baldy or Buena Vista Peak. We sort of would like to do Buena Vista-2 miles with 650’ elevation gain. A stop at Big Stump and drivers change-Sherri does not like to drive when there is a hint of snow. As we go down the General’s Highway, the decision on where to snowshoe is made for us-there are gates across the highway at Quail Flat. So we will snowshoe down the road towards Little Boulder Grove-this is the same one we went down last August to hike the grove. But we will not be doing the 10 miles to get to the grove.

Start of our Trip

We get our snowshoes on and are on the trail by about 11:30. Our route goes down a paved Forest Service road, 14S02, also known as Burton Road. The slope is a gentle down. The forecast said it would be clear and sunny, but we see nothing but overcast. Does not look like rain.

Gary gazing out

Sherri marching on

Nothing spectacular at the start. But occasionally we will see a scene in the distance. Not sure if it is Spanish Mountain or part of the Monarch Divide. We go at a nice pace. But because we are going down, I am not sure how well I will be doing coming back up again.

There a plaque saying this is the site of the Kirkland Meadow Plantation. Looks like it was planted beginning in 2003-lists several donors. Wonder if this is something to be explored?

Gate to Private Property

As we round a ridge, we get our first good look at the ranges across the Kings River. There is a bit better look further on down when we cross an unnamed meadow. Still this is not jaw dropping stuff. But we do start to see Buck Rock and its lookout. This is really good as we do enjoy staffing lookouts associated with Buck Rock.

Unnamed Meadow and mountains behind it

Then we come to Weston Meadow-the road splits the meadow in two. But we thought we would like to follow a split in the road, but then we got to a gate which said private property. After talking about it for a few minutes, we decided to continue to follow our road and find out about the private property later on. That is when we got to Weston Meadow along the road. Pleasant place with a nice fence.

Weston Meadow

Our Route

About a quarter mile later, we found a stump, covered with snow, near a cabin. After clearing off the snow from the stump, we sat down and had lunch of peanut butter and nutella-life is good! We decided, that even though we had only gone about a mile and three-quarters, we felt, or more accurately I felt, it was a good place to turn back.

Buck Rock Lookout

We retrace our route coming in. But I can feel like I am going slower and needing to stop more. Fortunately, there are new views to see-one of the good things about retracing steps. You get to see what you missed going in. Such as at Weston Meadow, there was a young Sequoia tree tucked away at the edge of the meadow. A little later, we came to another ridge and had a really good view of the mountains beyond the Kings River.

Mt Goddard on left in background and Finger Peak to its right

Snow Snail

We got back to the car just before 3. I was tired. But a good tired, also a disturbing tired. Disturbing is that I should not have been so tired with so little walking. But the encouraging part is that I am still out doing it and enjoying it. As we traveled down the mountain, we realized how clear the air was. The comment was made, really wish that when we are in the lookout we had air this clear. On the way back to Fresno,we stopped at Bear Mountain Pizza. it is under new owners, but still the same menu. Might be changing up a bit before summer.

Background

Kirkland Meadow Plantation. Apparently this has to do with restoration of clear cutting done by a lumber company, and then the replanting. There is also a project to thin the forest to restore a more natural balance in the area. As far as exploring, it looks like it is in more of a conjunction with the Sequoia groves in the area.

Extra Photo's