December 18, 2024 - San Francisco, Legion of Honor

 

Title: December 18, 2024 - San Francisco, Legion of Honor

Hike Info : Description : Background :  Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: Point Lobos&46th St Bus Stop - Lands End Visitor Center

Trail: Coastal Trail, Camino del mar

Destination:  Legion of Honor

Distance:  2.1 miles

Start Time: 11:41

End Time:     1:10

Travel Time:  1:45 (1.20 mph)

Moving Time: 1:10   (1.80 mph)

 

Elevation Rise: 568 '

Descent: 236‘

Maximum Elevation: 392'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Mel's Breakfast

I got up after 7:30-was I that tired or was the room so dark that it lulled me into sleeping later? Whichever way, I was pretty rested up. I wrote a few cards before Sherri rolled over and started reading. While she got herself together, I visited the post office and deposited them. We went to breakfast about 9:20.

Breakfast was at Mel’s Drive-In across the street from us. It is a 50’s style place. First time we have been here. I had a ham & cheese omelet with a side of hash browns. Sherri had a French toast combo. Both good and filling.

We decided to take the bus to Lands End and walk the Coastal Trail to the Legion of Honor. We left the hotel about 10:50 to catch the bus on Lombard. We soon get on bus 28. It takes us over to the Golden Gate Bridge center and loops back around through the Presidio. When it gets to Geary, we get off and ride 38R to the end of the line-that would be 46th and Pt Lobos Ave, only a couple of blocks from Lands End.

Sherri up to Memorial

We first visited the gift shop at Land’s End. Lisa, a volunteer, talks with us about various things. While talking with her, I get the feeling we might be under-dressed, that is for the weather. Neither of us brought a coat and there is a cool breeze blowing out here. She confirms that. Oh well.

We did not buy anything. We start our walk going along the Coastal Trail. It is a trail which one day will stretch from at least the Mexican border to the Oregon border. Yesterday we walked another small section. This section follows the trolley bed of a train Sutro laid over a hundred years ago. A lot of the trail is level, except for getting up to that level.

 

 

 

 It is enjoyable walking about the trees with the ocean on one side and a hillside on the other. There are some stairs to start off with, but we ignore them. One set would go all the way down to Point Lobos. But we are on a mission and will not be distracted. We need to get to the Legion of Honor by 1:30. Onward we go.

 

There is one distraction. Another set of stairs goes up to the memorial for the USS San Francisco

. We take these stairs up to the memorial. There is something moving about reading the history of this ship and how it and the USS Atlanta turned the battle of Guadalcanal around. Without it, the Japanese next invasion attempt would have been Australia. We spend about 15 minutes before we descend the stairs again.

We continue on getting views of the Golden Gate and its bridge. The sun has come out illuminating it. There is the automatic lighthouse on Mile Rock marking a safe passage through the Golden Gate. It is glorious to view across the way into Marin. Being behind the hill, there is not much sun nor much wind. As long as we keep moving, we are comfortable.

There were some more stairs on the Coastal Trail just to the west of Eagle Point. Evidently part of the trail had slid off of a cliff and the trail was rerouted over a ridge. The stairs were long and we stopped several times for breath while those younger than us seemed to bound up them. Then on the other side of the ridge, more stairs down.

China Beach

Sherri sees an interesting building, which to me looks more like a railcar barn. But after looking at a map, we realize that this maybe an area called Playland. I have a memory of my Dad taking me here. But I may be mistaking it for a different place. But when we got home, I looked at a map of San Francisco and came to realize, that the buildings we were seeing was around China Beach-so I do not know what the buildings are. We shortly came to El Camino Del Mar. This dissects part of the Lincoln Golf Course. There is a path along it which climbs up the hill to the Legion of Honor.

Memorial for Peace

Before we enter the Legion of Honor, there is the Memorial for Peace-I think it must have been donated from Japan. Then we made it up to the parking lot and stopped at a bench commemorating Russians who died during World War II-I do not see it noted on any of the maps. We ate lunch on the bench then entered the Legion.

The Legion of Honor is having an exhibition of Mary Cassatt at Work. Around the time when our first born was first with us, we visited the Huntington Library and saw a Cassatt painting called Breakfast in Bed. We fell in love with it. I got Sherri the poster for Christmas. Other Cassatt stuff saved me when I came short of Christmas gifts for Sherri.

The exhibition is in the basement and has its own entrance. Just as we got there, we joined a docent led tour which was just starting. I found out later we should have signed up for it. Oh well, it was interesting. I do not have a background in the painting arts, I learned a lot about materials and technique from the docent. Also about what Cassatt wanted to do with her paintings and the way she created emphasis. I think the techniques are interesting, but it does not add to my ability to be interested in a picture or not. It was a good thing to have gone over.

 

 

 

Woman in a Loge

We spent about two hours at the exhibition. I am not sure that I liked any of the pictures better than our original one which we fell in love with.There were some which resonated with me. Such as the Woman in a Loge, Children Playing on the Beach, and Maternal Caress.

Children playing on the Beach

Breakfast in Bed from the Huntington Library's web site

After viewing the Cassatt exhibition, we saw some ancient porcelain pieces. None really struck awe in me. I am wondering if I am just getting tired. Then we went upstairs to the Rodin collection. This is the largest collection outside of Paris. Lots of statues. There are pieces from his Gates of Hell. I wonder what the full piece would have looked like.

We are a bit tired after Museuming for two and half hours. We decided that there is much more to see here and we definitely are not going to see it all. About 4, we left and walked about 15 minutes down to the bus stop. But not before noticing that the Legion of Honor is the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway. A while back, the OSHER book club read a book by Amor Towles by that same name. It resonates.

We get to the bus stop and the bus comes along pretty quickly. This is bus #1 which we ride to the Park Presidio Blvd and pick up 28. But not before thinking we might get killed in an accident. A car in the middle lane decided to make a right turn into where we were walking across the crosswalk. So he moves over and comes to a stop in front of a car going 45 mph. Fortunately everything worked out. I think I would have hit him if I was driving.

We get back to our room at about 5 and rest for a bit. Sherri takes a nap and I read some. Then off to Amici’s for dinner. [As a note: a week later, I looked up this Amici’s and it is permanently closed] We share a salad and a large cheese ravioli plate. Good and satisfying. By the time we get back to our room, it is 7:30. We read and rest more, take a shower and go to bed.

 

 

Background

Mel’s Drive-In. This is a 50’s style diner on Lombard St, right across from our hotel. My wife had a French Toast Combo and I had a Ham and Cheese Omlette. They both taste good and were very filling. The service was great-it seemed like every five minutes there was someone who came by to fill up my wife’s coffee cup.

Extra Photo's

China Beach

Coastline

Entrance to the Bay

Legion of Honor

Golden Gate Bridge

Memorial of Peace

Memorial of Peace

 

 

May 30, 2018 - SEKI Hikes

Title: May 30, 2018 - SEKI Hikes
Hospital Rock: Hike Info : Description 
Moro Rock: Hike Info : Description
Eagle View:Hike Info : Description 
Tokopah Falls: Hike Info : Description 
Big Stump: Hike Info : Description
 Trail Lessons : Background : Flowers and Plants

This was a series of five events-some are too short to really be called a hike-organized by John and Cathey of the meetup group, Central Valley Hiking Group. The idea was to give a sampler along the General’s Highway corridor in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.We started down by Ash Mountain in the southern part of Sequoia, near Three Rivers and ended up at Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley for dinner. A very full day.

Grinding Holes

Trail head: Hospital Rock Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Walked

Destination: Petroglyphs

Distance: 50 yards-No GPS




 

 

Description:

Pictrographs

We got out of the car at the Hospital Rock parking lot and went across the highway. There are a couple of grinding holes close by. Then the pictographs are behind some boulders. My thinking is there must have been some tall Native Americans back in those days. The pictographs are a smeared, but you can make out some of them. The yucca plants and buckeye are in bloom. We followed a social trail up a little ways where we came out onto the highway again with a view of Moro Rock. Back to the cars and off we go. 

View of Moro Rock from Hospital Rock

Unknown to us, there were more pictographs than what we saw.

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Looking east to the Kern-Kaweah Divide

Trail head: Moro Rock parking area

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Moro Rock

Destination: Moro Rock

Actual Destination:

Distance:  0.6 miles No GPS

Sherri climbing up Moro Rock

Description:

The walk itself is not for those who are concerned with heights. The trail immediately rises up the side of Moro Rock, ascending through a series of pathways, stairs, and cracks in the rock as you interweave between the east and west sides of the rock. I take plenty of breaks to gather in the sights, as well a bit of oxygen. On this trail, it is worth doing that since you rise up about a hundred feet per tenth of a mile to a total of 300’. Please admiring the different views of both the Kern-Kaweah Divide and the Central Valley are some of the enjoyable parts of doing this walk.

More of the Kern-Kaweah Divide

From the top, the view is incredible!. It is a mostly clear day-at least the haze has not set in with full force. There are clouds over the Kern-Kaweah, but they just add to the beauty. This is a 360 degree view, from Little Baldy and Mt Sillman in the north to Sawtooth and Castle Rocks in the south; from Alta Peak and the whole slew of Kaweah peaks in the east to Lake Kaweah in the west. Just a good view. Not as crowded as it could be. But it is time to get off the Rock and on to the next hike.

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Trail head: Crescent Meadows

Hike Info:

Type: HikingTrail:

Destination: Eagle’s View

Actual Destination: Eagle’s View and Tharp’s Log

Distance:  2.64 miles  ¹

Elevation Rise:  660'

Descent: 660‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,913'

GPS Tracks-From Google Earth rather than GPS

Group at Eagle's View

 ¹From Google Earth-did not turn on GPS.

Description:

I should have thought and turned on my GPS, knowing this would be a two mile round trip. Since I have taken people here before, John has asked me to lead the way. Not a problem. We circle around the south end of Crescent Meadow after admiring the High Sierra Trail sign and wondering how far should we hike today? 60 miles gets us to Mt Whitney and another 11 miles gets us down to Whitney Portal. Nobody, particularly me, are up to it. So off we go to Eagle View.

Returning from eagle's View

Eagle View is an easy walk along the High Sierra Trail, about half an hour. We climb a ridge. But before we get all the way up, we come across a family whose child has skinned a knee. Being the good former Boy Scout, I offer a band-aid. I dig to get to me First-Aid kit and find that unlike a good Boy Scout, I do not have any band-aids. But Sherri discovers a butterfly band-aid and that satisfies the wounded boy. And off we go.

We go up to the top of the ridge where John asks about where the other trails go to-Trail of the Sequoia’s and Tharp’s Log. And then we are off to Eagle’s View. This view gives an expanded view of the Kern-Kaweah Divide without the crowds Moro Rock provides. Our group enjoys it enough to have another group picture. Then John says lets go over to Tharp’s Log instead of returning back how we came.

Tharp's Log

Log Meadow

So off we go again, back to the junction and we head towards Log Meadow, only a tenth or two of a mile away. Then around the meadow we go. I should say here, as I have often said, we become inured to the beauty around us by the familiarity of seeing something so often. So it can be a real joy to having a person along who is experiencing a mountain trail, a Sequoia Gigantea, a mountain meadow, and a granite dome for the first time. So wonderful to have Patty’s fresh eyes on scenes which I have become accustomed to!

After we reach the end of Log Meadow, we come to Tharp’s Log. Pretty much like we have seen it before. We all are getting a bit hungry, so we do not stop very long here. From this point back to the parking lot, the path is paved. When we get back to the cars, we take off to Lodgepole for a bite to eat.

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Trail head: Lodgepole Campground

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Tokopah Falls Trail

Destination: Tokopah Falls

Distance:  4.27 miles

Start Time: 2:43

End Time:  5:12

Travel Time: 2:29  (1.72 mph)

Moving Time: 2:04  (2.07 mph)

Elevation Rise:  726'

Descent: 562‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,319'

GPS Tracks

Description:

After eating at Lodgepole, we pack into the cars for a short drive into the campground. This getting in and out of the cars has been a bit wearing. Sherri and Lee decide to stay with the vehicles and take a nap for this hike.The rest of us take off for the 2+ miles to Tokopah Falls.

Tokopah Falls

The trail starts inside of the Lodgepole Campground, just across the bridge over the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. It is flowing pretty good. The trail goes up the north side of the River and climbs pretty steadily. It is a busy trail, but not as busy as it will be later on in the summer. We go through a lodgepole pine forest where a combination of grasses, berries and trees grow among the granite. I am towards the last. Not really tired-the legs, not the lungs for a change, are the most affected. Still I am hiking well. Patty and Catherine are before me. We catch glimpses of John, Cathey and Oz in front of us.

Tokopah Falls

At one point I stop and talk with a couple which I found out are naturalists for the Sequoia Conservancy. They are on their day off exploring. We trade information for about five minutes and then are off. By now the rest of the group is waiting for me.

Tokopah Falls

So off we go again and in about ¾ of a mile we get to Tokopah Falls. I think it is running fuller than I have seen it before. This can be a really beautiful set of falls going from the top to the bottom. All of us want our pictures taken here.

Time to go back and I draw the rear guard station-or more diplomatically called the Sweep. Coming in last means that I get to take lots of pictures of what every comes into my eyesight. Which very often I do not do justice to them.

I catch up to John eventually and we talk on the way down. John is thinking we need to hurry before it gets dark. But I say that we still have a couple of hours until it gets dark. So we continue to wander down the path in an unhurried fashion.

Marble Fork of the Kaweah River

When we get back to the cars, John announces we will stop for our final stop at the Big Stump Parking Lot. Ahhh, do we haft to? We are tired! Whine, whine, whine.

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Trail head: Big Stump Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Big Stump Meadow

Destination: Mark Twain Stump

Distance:  1.23 miles

Start Time: 6:02

End Time:   6:48 

Travel Time:  0:45 (164 mph)

Moving Time: 0:39  (1.89 mph)

Elevation Rise:  326'

Descent: 290‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,436'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Big Stump Meadow

It is around 6pm, a bit late for a hike, but it is short and John is truly excited to show us the Mark Twain Stump. But we are told it is only a short ways. So all of us take off down the trail. The operative word is done. Not a lot, but this is the end of the day and we have been in and out of cars a lot. So we get down to the Meadow, we cross the Fallen Giant. log-a huge log which splintered upon impact. Then it rounds around several stumps. As we walk this area, I think of snowshoeing this a  year and a half ago with Betty and Rose. What a difference a layer of snow makes in appearance.

I call this a castle stump

Then we get to the Mark Twain Stump. It is a huge stump and we all climb up the stairs and get on top of the stump with ample room to spare. You can tell from the excitement on John’s face that he really wanted to share the history of this stump, so I am glad we did it. It is a day of sharing wonders and excitement from those younger than I to those older. What at great world we live in where there is so much to share and enjoy.

After the mandatory photo-op, we have our return trip back to the cars. Nothing fancy, just a short mile and a quarter walk. On the way back to Fresno, we order pizza’s from Bear Mountain Pizza. Then back home by 8:30pm.

Trail Lesson:

Just because I am tired does not mean that we should not walk a trail to share someone else’s excitement.

Background

Pictographs vs petroglyphs: pictographs are painted on the rock, whereas petroglyphs are carved into the rock. From the Last Adventurer blog

Hospital Rock. Evidently there is many more pictographs in the area than what we saw. Michael Fuller has a web page which shows these pictographs in more detail.

Mark Twain Stump. This was a 1,350 year old tree which was felled in 1891. It took two mean thirteen days to fall the tree. The purpose? To display its slabs from its 16’ diameter trunk at New York and London museum. From the PBS site on National Parks

 
Flowers and Plants

Buckeye

Yucca Plant

Sequoia Gigantea

Snow Plant

Dogwood