Gary-Summer: August 2023

Monday, August 14, 2023

August 14, 2023 - Drive along Oregon Coast

Title: August 14, 2023 - Drive along Oregon Coast
Hike Info : Description : Background

Hike Info:

Type:Car

Description:

Today is a travel day. I get up once again at 530 to do my lightning report. Once again, this morning’s report is humongous. Seems like all of the Sierra got hit which makes for a long report. But people seem to find it useful, so I continue to produce it. I miss going for a walk with David and only finish up when he comes back from his walk.

At 9, Sherri gets a call from Social Security. We are reaching that age where we will get that income. But apparently Sherri’s case is not straightforward and the guy will need to call her back.

Kevin comes by-it is good to see him. After he leaves, I finish packing the car and we say goodbye to David. We left his place at 10:30. Social Security is to call back around 1, so we need to be in a place which will have cell connection. While the coastal redwoods are beautiful, we are on a mission to have cell connection at 1. We get into Crescent City at 12:30 and find a Burger King. It is very slow. We finish eating by 1:15 and shortly afterwards are on the road again.

Apparently Social Security called around 1:30, but there was no ring tone and Sherri missed that call. She tried to call back immediately afterwards and was not successful.

By this time we had passed into Oregon. I think this Social Security thing is draining on Sherri. She sleeps about half of the remaining trip up the coast. We passed through an area where there has been a recent fire. Hoses still ring the area, but there is no visible smoke. But I cannot find information about it. Shortly afterwards, we came to a construction site. We just miss being the last car through, so we get to wait about half an hour to be let through. But the flagger and us kept each other entertained-her being apologetic. We are just being good natured.

One thing I noticed was the car’s recording of the outside temperature. At times the temperature dips to 64 degrees and then in a couple of miles it soars to 85. This goes on all along the road. Wondering what our campsite will be like?

We get to Florence and Jessie Honeyman State Park at 5:30. The poor student worker has a hard time with us. Evidently Andrea arrived right before us and checked in, We got that straightened out and got to our campsite, 73. Andrea is already there, just starting to get unpacked. It is a joy to see her, even if it has been only a few weeks since she was in Fresno.

After getting the campsite set up with tents pitched and sleeping bags unstuffed and cook gear out, we settle down to the serious business of enjoying each other. None of us are too hungry, so we just have an assortment of peanut butter sandwiches.

We talk some more, then go on an evening walk around the campground. At the far end are a couple of short trails up to the top of the dunes. We climbed them and enjoyed the colors of the sun which had already set. By the time we get down, it is dark going down the trail, but it doesn't bother us. It is sort of enjoyable for me.

And now it is time to get ready for bed. We turn in at 9:30. I finish reading at 10 and turn off my phone. Sherri is still reading when I fall asleep.

Background

Crescent City Burger King. Ordinarily I do not write a review of fast food places. The expectations for the food gets pretty much met. This Burger King did not meet expectations. Fast was not in their repertoire. Then it seemed like almost everything was out. You needed to go up to get your soda/tea refilled instead of from the soda machine and many of the flavors were not available. This is on my list of places not to stop again.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

August 13, 2023 - Eureka

Title: August 13, 2023 - Eureka

Hike Info : Description

Hike Info:

Type: Visiting

Description:

I woke up at 5:30, not sure if I really wanted to wake up or not. Then I remembered all the lightning alerts from last night and decided that I needed to get up and work on my lightning report. It is a good thing I did. It took me a full two hours to produce it.There was that much lightning. By this time, Sherri was up and David had already gone for his morning walk. I had my breakfast. Then after talking for a little while, we got ready for church.

This would be at the First Baptist Church of Arcata. David went to church here when he was in college. The sermon was on Psalm 28. The pastor talked about the need to rely on God during our times of need, I think the music ensemble was meant to inspire more college students, which I am far from being. There is a reason why I stick with First Pres Fresno: the music there is much more in line with what reaches me.

When we got back to David’s house, it was a bit after noon. I am feeling tired, so I take a nap. An hour and a half later I got up. Sherri and David have gone for a walk at Sequoia Park and have already returned.

At least I feel a bit better.We will have an early dinner. David BBQ’s chicken breast in his Traeger and Sherri cooks the Fresno corn. Me? I just loiter around, tagging along with David. The food is good.

After our meal, we went for a walk at Sequoia Park. This is a jewel. The redwoods give a feeling of an old forest inside of a populated area. We walked around for about 50 minutes. I feel pretty good.

When we get back, I take a shower. Then fiddle around with the laptop. We then get on our Sunday family Zoom call. Always good to see our daughters. By the time we get off, it is 8pm. I read for a while. We talk and then David goes to bed at 9 and we start heading to bed at 9:45. Glad we are up here, even though it is a non-eventful day. Just a good day to be with my brother.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

August 12, 2023 - Drive to Eureka

Title: August 12, 2023 - Drive to Eureka

Hike Info : Description

Hike Info:

Type:Car

Description:

We are starting off on our 14 day journey to Andrea’s and Lawrence’s today. We will take two nights at my brother David’s place, then four nights camping along the Oregon coast-two with Andrea, four nights with Andrea and Lawrence; one night with the Rose’s; and two nights at Castle Crag before we make it back to Fresno. Sounds like a long trip.

We finish loading the car a little after 9. The car while not packed to the roof, it is stuffed with some spilling over into the backseat. We say goodbye to Steven who will be here alone for the two weeks. We leave close to 9:30, about half an hour later than I thought.

I start off driving-I actually end up driving all the way. Sherri is pretty tired. She was concerned last night that she had everything we needed. We stopped at Turlock’s rest stop. Then continue on up highway 99. In June we started a similar trip, but got in an accident where we were all OK. When we reach Ripon where the accident happened, I am a bit anxious to get through it, even though I know that all the other times I have driven that area, nothing bad happened. Still, it is a relief to get through.

In that June time, we were discussing stopping in Elk Grove. Today we made it tol Leatherby’s. We stopped to share a sandwich and a sundae. The sandwich was a Chicken Pesto and the sundae a Black&White with touches of tan (carmel). It is a good way to start our trip.

After lunch--it is 1:20, we continued on to Woodland where we filled up with gas. It is 2:10 by now. This should get us to my brother’s in Eureka. At Williams we went off of I-5 and onto Highway 20. There we passed Clear Lake and made it to Highway 101. Our pace picked up, plus it is a lot more of a scenic drive. That is until I need to make use of a State facility in Laytonville. But then it was smooth driving.

We got to David’s around 6:00. David got us a pizza from Babe’s Pizza. It is pretty good, even if it had a few of my undesirable elements to it. Sherri and David enjoyed those things. It is good to have a brother which you can talk with. And that is what we did until 9:30 when I started to nod off.

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

August 8, 2023 - Biledo Meadow II

Title: August 8, 2023 - Biledo Meadow II

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Long Meadow

Trail: Forest Service Roads 5S22, 5S06, 5S05X, 5S05XA 5S48

Destination: Biledo Meadow

Distance: 7.81 miles

Start Time: 9:58

End Time: 4:18

Travel Time: 6:20 (1.23 mph)

Moving Time: 4.48 (1.63 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,388'

Descent: 1,318‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,240'

GPS Tracks

Description:

I am going to get a second chance to go to

Horse at Long Meadow

Biledo Meadow. Today we will try making it to Long Meadow and start there. But first we need to make it all the way there. Steven, Sherri and Korra will be joining me today.

I get up at 5:30-once again, no lightning to report. I finish getting everything ready and have my breakfast. We are to leave at 7:30, but by the time the car starts rolling it is 8:15. First, we stop at Costco for gas. Then I drive straight through to Fish Camp and Goat Meadow. Once again, I turned onto road 5S06-the same road we took Friday. But instead of continuing on 5S06, we take the road to Long Meadow. The drive on this road is a lot better than last Friday. Fortunately we do not meet anybody on this stretch. There is about a mile of road which hugs the side of a ridge and there is not much place to yield to oncoming traffic. At the top is Long Meadow and the place where we will park our car.

Approaching Rainier Creek

Our road, 5S22 junctions with the road we came in on. We spent a while getting ready, while wondering about the camper parked above us, But we did not see the people occupying the camper, but there is some movement. Where we are parked there is not much shade; wonder how warm it will be when we get back”

Sherri crossing Rainier

At the road junction

We start off. Our road has a gentle incline, running along a branch of Long Meadow. I stop often to examine flowers along the road. Not many in the meadow. It is a peaceful scene. That is until we spot a couple horses. The horses are peacefully munching grass in the meadow. There are a group of dogs at the caretakers camp which discover we are walking the roade. Their barking tells us not to doddle here, not that they are chasing us. We just do not want to find out if they will. We also find out that they are not the only domesticated animals in the area-there are a couple of horses grazing in Long Meadow.

Biledo Meadow

We move on, enjoying the forest around us. When we round a small ridge, the road goes on a small decline to Rainier Creek. I think earlier this season, it would have been a problem crossing it. Even now the creek has rocks and sticks for us to walk on. We manage to cross without getting wet.

Then it is about a half of a mile to the junction with 5S06. This is the road Sherri and I tried to drive last week, but decided to stop and explore Mariposa Grove. Once we started up this road, it became evident that we would not have made it very far past the junction, if we could make it even this far. It is steep and rutted. Glad we are walking rather than driving it.

Steven and Korra

We passed a couple campsites. The one we are impressed by is where we turn onto road 5S05X. This campsite is situated on the side of a small meadow. There are some good sized solar panels gathering the sun’s rays; a tent and many other camp equipment. We are wondering who is there. Looks comfortable.

And now we start a good climb. We see the area where we walked on Friday, high above us. Do we need to climb up that? We continue to climb, resting on occasion. We do hear a noise like a vehicle, but not coming up our road it turns out-it is a puzzle to us.

When we come into sight of Biledo Meadow, we decide to have lunch on a log. The map shows a road here, but it has been awhile since it has been used. While we have lunch, we gaze down. There are some buildings which look a bit old. We wonder what they are.

Cone Flowers and Cabin

After lunch we have the option of returning to the road which circles around the Meadow or just drop down into the meadow? Which one do you think we did? On the way down, a vehicle drives through the meadow- I know there is a road down in the meadow, it just is an optical illusion that it is blazing through the grass.

When we get down to the meadow proper, we are plain old gobsmacked! There is a riot of flowers. Is this Spring? Then the old mining cabins set in this scene makes you think there could be a place for this in paradise.

Sherri and the Biledo Greeter

We descend to the road and walk towards one of the cabins. The vehicle is parked a little ways from the farthest cabin. The man and woman are with the vehicle and we say hi to them . And then get into a long discussion about Biledo Meadow. Mark and Jeana are very familiar with it-they have a cabin in Wawona. They indicate that this is the best that they had ever seen Biledo. We find out about some of the cabins. Also the trails of the area, such as one which goes to a mine on the other side of the meadow. They also note that there is a back way into the meadow where most vehicles can drive almost all the way in. We found out that the campsite we were admiring is Joe’s and he has been around for awhile. Then they suggest we go on to the cabin to be greeted by the lone remaining resident. By the way, their vehicle is a snowcat,

Meadow Flowers

Sherri goes on ahead of Steven and I lag behind. There is a surprise awaiting Sherri with the resident laying on a bed, semi-seductively, for the right person. Fortunately, none of us are right for her.

Steven and Korra on a hot road

Approaching Rainier Creek

We wander up the road to the 5S48. This looks like the road which even the Highlander could drive on. Unfortunately for us, it means that there is little overhead tree coverage. So the sun beats down on us and we are feeling the heat. But unlike the trail up, this road is pretty smooth with an eventual downhill bent. When we get to the junction with 5S06, we have a decision, not really much. Do we make a bigger loop or go back down 5S06. I think we have had enough of the sun, so down 5S06.

Someplace along this road, my faithful Asolo boots fail me. The sole on my right boot delaminates. I walk with it flapping until we get where 5S06 crosses Rainier Creek. While Steven and Sherri look at the creek, I sit down and use the duct tape which I had wrapped around my hiking pole. My doctoring job seems to be working, but for how long?

We passed by the junction with the trail where we climbed up to Biledo. Also the campsite we were admiring is now occupied. But we continue on, retracing our steps. I am happy to come to our crossing of Rainier Creek. Once again, we cross Rainier without mishap.

And now it is less than a mile back to the car. We passed by Long Meadow and the barking dogs and are happy to see the glint of our Highlander. My boot repair did hold up. Then it is the long drive back to Highway 41. Carl’s Jr in Oakhurst was calling us hungry hikers before we drove back to Fresno.