Gary-Summer: April 2019

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

April 30, 2019 - Williams Peak

Title: April 30, 2019 - Williams Peak
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Hunter Valley Access Road off of Bear Valley Road

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Williams Peak Road

Destination: Williams Peak

Distance: 2.65 miles

Start Time: 9:31

End Time: 12:22

Travel Time: 2:50 (0.94 mph)

Moving Time: 1:47 (1.49 mph)

Elevation Rise: 736'

Descent: 778‘

Maximum Elevation: 3,205'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Let me begin this blog entry with the question, “Why would we travel seven hours to Anza-Borrego for the wild flowers, when we have such a gorgeous display in our own backyard?” Now you get the tone of this blog entry.

Hidden View of Yosemite from car

A couple of weeks ago, Lee asked me if I knew anything about a place outside of Mariposa called Williams Peak? Not personally, but it has been on my list of places I would like to go to. I then gave her the writeups which I knew about and asked if Sherri and I could tag along. Last week, she said that she and another lady, Kathy, was going to go and there was room in her car if we were interested and available. Yep we are.

On the morning of the hike, the weather prediction is a light rain. Do we postpone? Lee is a bit apprehensive about her car on a muddy road, so we decide to take the RAV4 which is on loan back from Rachel. We meet outside of Starbucks which does not have parking available. So Lee and Kathy move their cars to another parking lot and we are off.

Kathy and Sherri at the gate

We go up 9, past Madera, then turn off. We eventually wander through LeGrand and hit highway 140. Then we continue on up until I see a sign waying Bagley, so we take that short cut. It turns out that this shortcut saves a bit of time and is pretty scenic. We come out on highway 49. Now to decide which way to turn. After due consideration, we still need to go a bit more north-about five miles. We get to Bear Valley and turn onto Bear Valley Road. About a mile later, a dirt road called Hunters Valley Access Road presents itself and we travel down that a couple of miles until we find the turn out for our walk.

Dandelion Field

It is a bit windy and colder than expected. Clouds hang over us and stretch off to the high country. As we get ready, I look eastward and am able to spot El Capitan, Clouds Rest and Half Dome. Peak Finder says there are many other of my old friends around as well. But we are now ready to take off.

Now this was a surprise. Flowers are everywhere. We see fields of dandelions, with individual indian paintbrush, sunflowers, and some unidentified purple flowers. Also redbuds and azealia grew along the side of the road. A feast of flowers for the eyes.

Gary, Lee, Sherri and Kathy

And it is a good thing that these flowers were there. While the road to the peak was only about 1.3 miles, we rise up over 600’ to get there. These days, anything more than 500’ rise per mile gives me pause to catch a breath. Or as I am more inclined to do, to take pictures. Hence the flowers come in handy. Fortunately we are on the lee side of the mountain, so we do not feel the wind until almost at the top.

Steps to missing lookout

Now that we are at the top, two disappointments await us, one unexpected. First, because of the clouds creating more cover, we lost sight of Yosemite. I guess that means we will need to go up another day when it is clear. With the forecast of rain, this was expected.

Secondly, where is the lookout? In 1935 a lookout was built on top of Williams Peak. We see the steps leading to the summit, but no building. In 2014 the building was there, but deteriorating. But no sign of any structure now. There is a cargo container, which upon further examination is from CalFire.

Even with the disappointments, we enjoy a meal on top and look around. We are up there for about 45 minutes, even with the cool temperatures and wind. The view is still that good, even with the clouds obscuring the distant views.

View to north with McClure Lake

View to the south

Coming down, the flowers still greet us. But there is not as much need to stop. Even though, we do. The flowers are that enjoyable.

Remains of the Detweillier Fire

We are back to the car before 12:30, traveling back to Bear Valley the same way as this morning. But instead of taking our short cut, we go through Mariposa, hoping to catch the Upstairs Gallery-but it is closed. We had back via 49 and 41, getting to Fresno around 2:15.

I must have been more tired than I thought. Laid down and took a long nap. A good day.

So was it worth the drive for such a short hike? Yes! The flowers are exceptional. But maybe we can dig up another hike in the area to make the two hour trip seem a bit more worthwhile. Maybe around Bagby.

Trail Lesson: Appreciate the beauty you have in your own backyard.

Background

Extra Photo's

Gary among the dandelions

Sherri on the trail

Lee, Gary and Kathy

Lee, Gary and Kathy going to the peak

Looking West

Looking east-on a clear day, could see El Capitan from here

McClure Lake

Gary and Tree

Looking south-east

Flowers and Plants

Unidentified Flowers

Ithuriel's Spear

Western Azealia

Nemophilia

Redbud

Sunflower

Indian Paintbrush

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

April 9, 2019 - Wildflower Chasing

Title: April 9, 2019 - Wildflower Chasing
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Car

GPS Tracks (Google Earth kmz)

Description:

Cligan's Junction

Originally, this was to be an over-nighter to the coast just to unwind. But one thing lead to another, so we decided to look at some wildflowers in the foothills which Wendy had mentioned a couple of days ago. Where we are going is sort of up n the air. The two places which was mentioned was along Highway 245 and along Dry Creek Road.

We left at 10:30 in Steven’s Mercury-he has the Ranger and the Rav4 is in the shop. Off we head east along 180. Sherri would like to go up Wonder Valley, so we cut off at Trimmer Springs Road, then up Elwood. It is a pleasant drive.

We exit out out at 180, just above Squaw Valley and continue on up. When we pass Clingan’s Junction, I tell Sherri about the coffee shop there being recommended by Wendy. So we turn around and Sherri gets a cup of White Chocolate Mocha and just savors it for a long time on our drive.

Maybe Eshom Point

Several miles later, we get to Highway 245. If you are seeking an expedient route, Highway 245 is not that. It is much more rolling with the hills, enjoy each turn in the road and wonder what is next around the corner. Don’t expect to zoom at 60.; 45 seems too fast. This is more like a 25-30mph road. So we enjoyed the ride, looking for the wildflowers which we were told would be along here.

We have been a long this way to Pinehurst before. So beyond that, it is unexplored territory. We see the communities of Badger, Sierra Glen, Cedarbrook and many others from our lookouts at Delilah and Park Ridge. But now driving through them gives much better idea of what we see.

In Badger, we come across a sign for Eshom and Hartland. Since we do not see many wildflowers along our way, lets go and explore a bit more of this area. We make our way around various roads, but mostly Eshom Valley and Whitaker Forest. At one place we see a big long ridge and I realize that is Logger’s Point at one end and Park Ridge at the other. We can barely catch a glimpse of the lookout at Park Ridge.

Close to Eshom Campground we see a sign warning that following Whitaker Forest Road up to its namesake may not be suitable to normal vehicles. We go up a little ways until we see many trees down and make a retreat following a classic seven point turn. We go back and have lunch at Eshom Campground. It is closed and we are the only ones here. A beautiful place.

Park Ridge Lookout

We walk around and wonder about the price of staying her ($25 for a single; $50 for a double spot.) Then we go off exploring more. We go through Hartland-a place I have been hearing about for 50+ years. It is a non-denomination Christian camp, with cabins in the surrounding area. Then we start making our way down. Ranches still play a big part in this area. Several trucks are parked in the road and we see cattle being unloaded for their Spring pasturing.

We are playing a game of trying to identify places we can see from the lookout.. Rounding a corner, I say, I think I see a lookout to the south. It is! Shadequarter Lookout, a de-activated lookout to the south of everything we can see. There has been some preliminary talk about opening it back up again, but I suspect that is a ways away.

Shadequarter Lookout

After winding down several roads, we come to a road called Dry Creek. Remember that is one of the roads Wendy said had wildflowers. So we head south on there. More area where we have not been. And yipee! There are wildflowers. Maybe not the fields of Anza-Borrego, still enough to make one’s heart glad.

We then exit out onto highway 216. From there, past Woodlake and onto Kingsburg. We head north up 99. Once in Fresno, we pick up the Rav4 which was in the shop and drop off the Mercury. I am tired. But there is one more thing to do. There is a seminar with Deborah Blum at Fresno State which I am interested in. So I go there-longer than I expected, about 2 ½ hours before I get back home.