November 5, 2025 - Search for the Muir Snag

 

Title: November 5, 2025 - Search for the Muir Snag

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

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head:  Gate on road 13S50

Trail: SQF Road 13S50 and a segment of 13S31

Destination: Junction with 13S07

Actual Destination:  Beyond the junction and onto 13S31

Distance:  3.43 miles

Start Time: 11:37

End Time:    2:48

Travel Time:  3:10  (1.08 mph)

Moving Time:  2:09  (1.59 mph)

Elevation Rise:  516'

Descent: 551‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,277'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Sequoia and Gary

I get up at 6:30, not knowing what we will be doing today. We had talked about hiking a couple of days ago, but there was no decision. Also there was nothing about going with dogs or no dogs. When Sherri gets up, that is the question. After talking, we decided to go hiking. With the last minute decision, Rachel cannot go, but Steven can. Korra also agrees to go.

When we pile into the car, we have no idea where we are going, we just want to go. Going north is out because of the rain which is going to occur just north of Fresno. So we head east. Three weeks ago, we wanted to look for the Muir Snag, but were stymied by it being hunters being in season. But today there should be little which stops us.

I start driving at 10. We only stop at Big Stump. Then off to the road to the Muir Snag area. We get there about 11:25 and start walking at 11:45. We will be walking along road 13S50 which is just east of Converse Mtn.

 

 I had not found a definitive location for the Snag, but from the description, I am thinking it is about ¾ of a mile up this road. Even if we do not find it, this is a pleasant day to walk this road. The storm to the north has us with clouds overhead, but not much of a breeze. So while not hot, the day is not cold. Just right for walking.

The road goes up, but for the most part, the grade is not bad. I suspect Sherri and I are just out of shape. There are a few divots to allow water runoff which runs across the road. They are easy to cross on foot, but I am sure our Highlander would scrape bottom on some of them.

Steven and I trade leads, as we look high and low for the large, dead Sequoia which Muir found. We see many young living Sequoias, some stumps, but no snag. I made it to the junction with Forest Service road 13S07-Sherri and I hiked that road a couple of years ago, through the Indian Basin Grove.

I wait there for about 10 minutes.Sherri and Steven do not show up, but Korra comes along to check on me. So I head back. I find Steven looking down into where a dry unnamed creek is. When I get to Steven, I see the object of his interest-his Mom. She is about 50’ below the road. She is exploring, looking for the Snag. Steven goes down to join her and I follow a few minutes later. We searched in the area, but no success. 

 

 

 

We wander our way back up, with me about five minutes behind. Once we get to the road, we travel on to the junction. I noted that it looked like if we went around the bend in the road, we might be able to have a better view and that is what we do. While there is a good view, there are some trees which hamper it from being a great view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We find a log and have our lunch at 1:10. I am thinking if I follow this road a little ways further, I might have a better view of Kings Canyon and across the way to Spanish Mountain.. But the road starts to go more on the south side of the ridge instead of the north. I realize that I am walking on road 13S31 which will eventually bring me back to Highway 180. When the road started to drop sharply, I decided I would turn back. Korra has been racing back and forth. I did notice a place which looked like an old road, but it was pretty dug up with logs having fallen across it. Still no great view.

So I make my way back to where Steven and Sherri are waiting. Sherri has noticed a mound beyond Rodgers Ridge. I think it is part of Patterson Mountain. We started back and I noticed a different peak behind the upper part of the ridge. At first I thought it was Kaiser Peak, but after consulting PeakFinder, it looks like it is Eagle Peak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walk back down the road, eyeballing everyplace where Sequoias are, but there is no sign of a massive dead Sequoia. Steven goes down one place, but no joy.Either we are blind or the Muir Snag is someplace else. Still it is a good walk.

A couple of things which we did see. First there was a puffball fungus. These are always interesting. Then there is a little vole right in the middle of the road. A pretty cute little thing.

 

By 2:45 we got back to the car. Steven takes over the driving responsibility. We all are in agreement that stopping at Bear Mountain Pizza is a good idea. We get home at 4:30.

Trail Lesson: Research out where you think you are going to go. Even prepared there are usually surprises.

Background

After we did this hike, Gary went through some files and found a reference that the Muir Snag is on Road 13S55 road, around 6400' elevation.

Extra Photo's

Spanish Mountain

Landslide Prescribed Burn

Steven

Sherri

Landslide Prescribed Burn

Colorful Leaves, Watercolor style

Autumn Leaves

Spanish Mountain

Garlic and Rough Spur

Spur off of Converse Mountain

Burnt trees from the Rough Fire

Steven coming up with Korra and Sherri watching

Steven

Old Sequoia

Animals

Vole

Vole

 

Flowers and Plants

 

Puffball

August 31, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout

 

 Title: August 31, 2025 - Park Ridge Lookout

Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

 

 

 

 Description:

The Masked Lookout

I woke up at 0500 with the skies still dark. In the middle of the night, I noticed I was tasting smoke, so I put on my mask. By the time the light showed enough, there was significant gray from smoke around me. At 0515 I interrogated the lightning database and saw that there was no activity in any of my areas. Looks like there may be possibilities starting Tuesday-I guess I get only smoke, no fun. By 0545 I am out of bed and puttering around. Today is much more relaxed than yesterday morning. I guess I am feeling more rested. I have my granola breakfast, wash up, go downstairs and now I am ready to meet the new day.

I did have time to have my quiet time before going in service. I looked at 1 Corinthians 11. There are several things which seem so old fashion in there about husbands and wives. But Paul also talks about how both were made for each other. It is a good thing to remember that it is a symbiotic relationship, not hierarchical.

 

Smoke down at Grant Grove

 At 0731 I go inservice.I notice that many of the Forest units are on their way to Big Meadows and Buck Rock.Our annual Labor Day weekend event is happening there and the Forest likes to show their support. It is a fun time for all. That is one of the reasons why I volunteer for Labor Day weekends, it gives others a chance to participate and I being the stick in the mud that I am, get to be productive.

Garnet Smoke

By the time I went into service, the smoke had dissipated to a great extent. I am starting to see areas which I need to look over. And this is a good thing. Also the smoke smell has left. Actually by this evening, almost all areas are clear, except to the west, and of course right at the fire.

I am doing my scans when I look over in the direction of the Garnet and I see one of the Erickson tankers. It is flying west down the Kings from behind the area I cannot see. These planes are enough to have a lookout just stop and watch their activity. I watched as a second one emerged from the same area. I think they are trying to protect an area from going over the Kings.

About an hour later, I hear a jet to the south, and there is another Erickson tanker flying north over Buck Rock. But this one did not look like the others-it has more red. But when I get on FlightAware, it says it is another Erickson plane. There must be some really strong concern about what is happening to this fire.

Tanker

 

I fall into a rhythm of scanning, then reading or working on a spreadsheet trying to match fires with lightning strikes. I heard Buck Rock trying to get a hold of Delilah, but there is no answer. I talk with Buck Rock, but he says that Delilah had gone in service this morning. Around noon, Delilah radios me and we talk.. He is getting some visibility. Buck Rock also chimes in and tells Delilah if things get too bad, to go on home. He does stay till the end of his shift.

Air Traffic over Garnet Fire

While I am talking to Delilah, I have visitors-the first time Park Ridge has had visitors in four days. This is a couple from Minnesota. As they leave, another set of visitors comes up. It turns out this is a group of about 20 people from Los Angeles. When it rains it pours.

I have lunch, then do a scan. I notice that there are some people down at the picnic table who are eating. I invite them up. They are four men who are from the Bay Area who are of Indian origin. They listen and are interested in all that I have to say. It helps to have the Garnet Fire as a backdrop to my rambling. They even want to have a picture with me.

When the men leave, four young females who are staying in Fresno, but are from LA come up. Another time to talk. One of the ladies looks like she is dehydrated. I give her one of my bottles of water. I have enough for my needs through tomorrow.

Most of the rest of the afternoon is spent doing lookout things. There were no more visitors. I did sneak in a 5 minute nap. There are reports from the various units which indicate that the fires in the area which I am concerned about are being well taken care of. Some are being called out, others are continuing being in patrol status. Except for the Garnet Fire which continues to be the dominant visual to the north, things are pretty calm around me.

Lots of smoke

 

While the Garnet Fire is the main show, there were 38 other fires from the storms last week. The area is from Kaiser Peak in the north down to the southern border of Sequoia National Park. Most of these we do not have any special concern about as they are well out of my viewing area. Both Eshom and TUU-Look were discovered by Park Ridge. There is another which is on Big Baldy which E42 checks up on-I would think we would have found this one too. Also there are the Fox and Stony fires which are behind Big Baldy’s ridge. The Big fire is in the Big Meadow area and also is warranting attention. Then there is one which we know where it is on Verplank Ridge, but really do not have a visual. We hear Cobra 4 and Yosemite 33 checking up on this a lot. This might be of bigger concern than the rest. All of these we hear about, except for the Look fire which belongs to CalFire.

How Park Ridge Lookout sees the Garnet Fire

Well that is except for the other types of traffic on the radio. There are medical, traffic stops, missing people and leaky pipes. It is enough to keep my ears busy. But it may be from more of a morbid curiosity than involvement by me. In those cases it is better to make sure I keep out of the way than anything else.

Garnet Fire Pyrocumulus

 

I also keep an eye on the Garnet Fire. Not because I can contribute, even though if I did notice something terribly out of place, I would say something. But with my frontal view and all of the smoke, I could not tell too much. Delilah would have a much better view than I would. I just am in awe of the immenseness of the fire. Even this fire is not that large by large fire standards-about 18,000 acres. A 100,000 acre fire I could only imagine-the last three in this general area where this fire is. (By the time I post this entry it is over 30,000 acres).

Today, the Buck Rock Foundation has their annual Labor Day weekend event at Buck Rock. Buck Rock is staffed with volunteers until later on in the day when Mich comes in. When she does, she tries to get a hold of Delilah to see how the lookout over there is doing-it is the closest lookout to the fire and has been enveloped in the smoke. But there is no answer. A bit later, I hear him on the Park’s General Use channel. I let Buck Rock know and she contacts Delilah to straighten out the situation.

Fire and Glow from Garnet Fire

I wedged in my dinner which is just my leftover from Friday. It is filling enough.

Later on I hear Porterville talking with Buck Rock about a smoke being reported at about 21 degrees from her. She spots it at 19 degrees, but across the River in the Park. They do not know if this smoke is an issue or not. This sounds familiar and I look up a few things and let Buck Rock know that it is the Kettle fire which got reported last week. I also give her the coordinates.

The shadows deepen, but I continue to do my scans until I go out of service at 1930 along with Delilah and Buck Rock. After going out of service, I go downstairs, bringing down things which I will not need. It is a bit late for a walk, so I go back up. After getting ready for bed, I talk with Sherri for about an hour and then get to sleep at 2200.

Extra Photo's

Clear view looking southeast towards Silliman

Evening glow on clouds over the Garnet Fire

Mountains outlines against evening sky

April 29, 2025 - Mt Ely

 

Title: April 29, 2025 - Mt Ely
Hike Info : Description :  Background :  Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: Balsom Forebay Parking Lot

Trail:  Balsam Forbay, Dogwood trail, Trail to East Ely

Destination: Mt Ely

Distance:  4.42 miles 

Start Time: 10:37

End Time:    2:23

Travel Time: 3:46  (1.17 mph)

Moving Time: 2:36   (1.70 mph)

Elevation Rise:  890'

Descent: 861‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,930'

GPS Tracks

 

 

Description:

Sherri at start of trip

Rachel has been with us two weeks and we have not been able to go for a hike yet. But today is the day. The question is where to go? The choices which we have narrowed down to are Musick Meadow or Ely Mountain. Which one to go on?

I got up around 5:40. Just did a few things which I needed to get done--at least in my mind they needed to be done. By 9:15, we are all in the car. Fortunately, both of our choices are close to Shaver Lake, so we can discuss it on the way up to Shaver. It was not much of a discussion. We decided to go to Ely Mountain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korra, the snow dog

We arrived there at 10:30 and hit the trail by 10:45. We have done this walk before, but in the evening for a full moon walk last May. The route we follow is an SCE road almost all the way. The first couple hundred yards is an incline. While my legs are OK, I can tell I have not been up at elevation for awhile.

 

 

 

Unknown dome

We drop down to the Balsam Forebay area and enjoy that view of the water. The ridge which Kaiser Peak is on looks down onto the water-it is a ways away. The road then rolls along for a way. Sherri spots a dome-she calls it a Half Dome, but it looks like a full dome. Not sure what it is, but Kerckhoff Dome is someplace in that vicinity.

QR Code for AllTrails

We come to a junction. Fortunately for us, there are two clues. First a little circular arrow points the way and second, there is an AllTrails QR code enlightening us. Sherri interrogates that, but Steven knows the way and leads on. The road leads down a ways and then we start climbing Ely Mountain proper.

 

 

Remember that comment I made about not being at elevation for awhile? This climbing up the road is doing me in and I am quickly huffing and puffing. I walk a ways and then stop and breathe. Sherri thinks that I am stopping to wait for her, but that is only an appearance.

 

 

Eventually we leave the road and get to a high point. It does not look like where we were before and there is not much of a view. I tell them I am going to wander around and look for a good view. Steven takes a lead and we find a trail which leads up to a higher point with the view. This is where we were last year, instead of at noon, it was with a full moon.

We made it there around 12:15 and had our lunch. There was a discussion about whether we have lunch now or save ourselves for pizza later. We have lunch. This is between looking around at the various sights and the clouds hovering overhead, we stretch our time on top of Ely to about half an hour, not that we are in any rush. What can we see? We look right down onto Shaver Lake. Then to the east of the Lake is Bald Mountain-one of the many by that name. Then looking to the northwest, I saw Shuteye. And close to straight north is Kaiser Peak. There is a lot more which we could have identified if I had spent the time to gaze, wonder and figure out. It is still a wonderful view.

I did say clouds didn’t I? Last Saturday I did a presentation on clouds and thunderstorms. You would think I would be at least a semi-expert on the subject and be able to identify the clouds which I am seeing. I am just enjoying the clouds or as Judy Collins says:

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now

From up and down and still somehow

It’s cloud illusions I recall

I really don’t know clouds at all.

The way down is the same up all the way back to the car. One thing which I did not note coming up is that there is still snow on the trail. It is rather patchy and only a couple inches thick in most places. It was pretty firm going up. But coming down the sun has melted a lot of the snow. On the downhill stretches the snow can be a bit slippery. But none of us fell.

We get back to the car about 2:25. There is still a hunger for pizza. We stopped in front of Shaver Lake Pizza and see that it is closed today. But the Pub and Grub is, so we stop in for a bite. We have eaten here before and the waitresses have been friendly. Today is no exception. She tells us she is going to Italy next week and Rachel relays some of her experiences from there. We have burgers which are pretty good and then are on our way. We make 4:30. I think most of us were still feeling the effects of not being at altitude in awhile as we all took time to rest.

Background

Dome. That dome we were seeing is at 354^o , at lat/long of 37.162, -119.258. When plotting this out on Google Earth with a topo map overlay, the dome is called Mushroom Rock.

Extra Photo's

Cloud over Shaver Lake

Balsam Forebay

Steven, Rachel, Friday and Sherri

Rachel and Friday

Sherri

Shaver Lake

Kaiser Ridge

Baldy Mountain

On the way out: Rachel, Steven and Sherri

 Animals

 
 

Flowers and Plants

Manzanita

Snow Plant

Snow Plant