October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough

 

Title: October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough and Stone Corral 
Hike Info : Description : Background 

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

 GPS Tracks - Note: The GPS Dropped the tracks from Fresno State to the first site, the Mussel Slough Tragedy Landmark.

 

Description:

Sherri pondering

OSHER Catalog Description: Presenter: Dan Carrion Historian Dan Carrion, a former Fresno State Theater Department staffer, will guide this adventure, which begins with a bus trip from campus to the Hanford area for the 1880 Mussel Slough shootout site and the cemetery where three people who died there are buried. Next, it’s Hanford's Courthouse Park to explore some sites of interest and have lunch (on our own), possibly enjoying a cold treat from Superior Dairy’s pink truck that’s open while the cafe is being renovated. After a visit to Stone Corral, site of the final shootout of Sontag and Evans, the trip’s historical aspect ends in Reedley, visiting several historical sites, before returning to campus . [Notr: Permission could not be obtained to visit the private property which the Stone Corral is located at. So this did not take place.]

Also see the Background  section for more detail on the various markers.

I got up at 6:00 and did not move very fast, then had breakfast before Sherri got up. I then put the finishing touches on what I am taking. We got to Fresno State by 7:40 and joined the rest of the group going on this trip. The trip is through OSHER. Dan has led these trips to explore the different parts of the Central Valley through the eyes of the area’s history.

 

Mussel Slough plaque

Grangeville Cemetery

Dan at Grangeville Cemetery

Hanford Cemetery

We will be chauffeured on a bus. The “we: is 38 of us. As we go along, Dan starts to give us a background on what we will be seeing and hearing. The theme is, in the 1880’s the railroads were powerful and corrupt. Laws which encouraged them to develop lines through the Valley and throughout California-that would be the Railroad Acts of 1864 and 1866 -allowed railroads to have up to 10 square miles of area within 20 miles of the track they laid down. This meant that each mile which was laid down they got about 20 square miles. Consequently, they were huge land owners in the Central Valley.

 

 

Hanford Cemetery

That was a legit incentive I think. What got twisted is the intention was that the companies could then turn around and have people rent or buy these parcels. The problem is the railroads would change the terms, increasing the rent and sale price by 10 times or more in some cases. This created outrage by some of the settlers, leading to a violent confrontation at Mussel Slough when the railroad tried to evict a settler from his home.

Old Hanford-1926

After learning the details of the Mussel Slough Tragedy, we went on to the Grangeville Cemetery. We got our first bit of excitement as the bus driver tried to maneuver the narrow lanes of the cemetery without going onto the grass or worse, over a grave. He did not, but decided he was not going to go further-the groundskeeper came out to make sure he had not left the pavement. So he let us off while we explored and he worked on getting out of the cemetery-he was successful.

 

 

The reason why we stopped at the cemetery is that five of the eight people who died at Mussel Slough are buried here: Iver Knutsen, Daniel Kelly, Miles Hart, Edward Haymaker and Acrhibald McGregor. The groundskeeper mentioned another person or two which are buried here as well, but not connected to Mussel Slough. The grounds do show the pride of being well taken care of.

We get back on the bus and head to the Hanford cemetery. You guessed it, two more of the Mussel Slough deaths are buried here: JE Henderson and James Harris. We looked around a bit more before moving on.

We are up ahead of Dan’s schedule, so he takes us to old downtown Hanford. I am thinking that around the park and the old jail is the old downtown. But there is an area even older, at West 6th and South Irwin Streets. He shows us where the old railroad station-right beside the tracks. Not where Amtrak runs, but the older freight tracks. Some of the history of Hanford is having its downtown burnt twice as all of the buildings were made of wood. The third time Hanford was built was with brick. He points out an old brick building which fronts 7th St as one of the older buildings in Hanford. This is also one of the favorite watering holes of E Clampus Vitus, the Sequoia Club.

Superior ice cream

We are still up ahead of schedule, but this is a good lunch break, so we head to a local strip mall which has three restaurants close by: Pho Wynn, La Taqueria Pata Salada, or Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Sherri and I chose the Mexican place-did you expect anything else? (I suspect Sherri left alone would have gone to the Pho place.) The meal was hearty, not spicy at all. We will be content for the rest of the day.

Then it is on the Hanford Civic Center Park. You have the old jail there, a replica of the Bastille. Also the Hanford Civic Auditorium, complete with an old World War I canon in front. About 30 years ago, Hanford brought in things to make it more kid friendly, such as a carousel. But what we all flock too, and flock is not an exaggeration is the Superior Diary pink trailer. Sherri and I share a small mint ice cream dish-which is two good sized scoops with some fudge syrup. It tastes good, but I will be glad when the brick and mortar opens up. Somehow, it tastes better over there.

 

Poole Ferry

Sherri had waited in line behind Anita, Dan’s wife. Each shares a love of sourdough baking. Consequently, they both enjoyed each other’s company and promised each other recipes.

Dan gathers us while we are savoring the ice cream and talks about Major James Savage and his relationships with the Indians and settlers of the area. Savage knew how to get along with the natives and would broker when disturbances happened between the two. What he could not remedy was the greed of certain folks who thought that they could take whatever they wanted. This was how the demise of Savage came about as he was shot dead by a judge which he helped get appointed. We will learn more about this later on.

Smith Ferry

Now it is time to reboard our bus and head to the final three spots for this afternoon. The first being in southern Reedley. Here Dan talks about two ferries: Poole and Smith. In our age of dams, bridges and highways, we forget how important and challenging river crossings would be. There is a wide variance in the depth and swiftness of water in the Central Valley. In the late 1800’s a wagon would easily get swept away with all of your goods in an ill-fated river crossing.

There were two crossings close together. One would be pretty accessible during certain times of the year and one was pretty much all year. These were Poole and Smith Ferries. They were competitors with each other, within a mile or two. It was here that Savage was killed. The monument the E Clampus Vitus people put up is a single large granite block with information on each ferry; one on one side of the block and the other on the other side.

After the ferry monument, we went on to a bridge crossing, which substantially replaced the ferries over the King’s River. The bridge was called the Wagon Bridge. This bridge was wooden, but survived several floods until it was replaced in 1929 with a concrete bridge.

Our last stop is at Hillcrest Farms. On the southeast corner, outside of the fence is an E Clampus Vitus memorial to Major James Savage. It has a biography of him on it. I am not sure that this is a special place for Savage. Still he deserves his own place away from other remembrances. He was a man with flaws and of his times-aren’t we all. But he did die while defending a people who were trying to live in peace away from the encroaching white man. He does deserve his own place. [It is noted that there is a second James Savage about half a mile away on private property.]

We got back to Fresno State about 5:15. Derek, our bus driver is appreciated by all 38 of us as he has done a good job of driving us around, sometimes in places which I would guess he wonders why he signup for this. All of us also appreciate the work which Dan did in preparing for this trip.

Sherri and I get back home about a quarter to six, just glad to rest for awhile. Who knew that riding around in a bus all day could be so tiring?

Background

Headstone Symbols: There are common symbols used on many headstones. Sherri and I first came across this when we saw a bookmark at the gift shop at the Atlanta Oakland Cemetery, There are websites which also give an explanation. Here are three of them:

• Stone Letters - Has good pictures

• Merkle’s Monuments - Guide to Common Headstone Symbols

• Memorials - a pretty comprehensive list

Monument References:

• Mussel Slough:

  • California Historical Landmark

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

  • GV Wire

• Poole and Smith Ferry

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

  • Wikipedia on Smith Ferry

  • Kiddle for Kids

    • Smith Ferry

    • Poole Ferry

  • Gribblenation. There is a second entry dealing with Poole Ferry.

• Wagon Bridge

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

• Major James Savage

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

July 19, 2026 - Eureka

 Title: July 19, 2026 -  Eureka

Roadside Flowers

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type:Walking

Description:

When I went to bed last night, I knew there was some lightning to report on. I thought I saw about 15-20 strikes, but they must have been old, because this morning there were only three. Two of them on the upper part of the Middle Fort of the Kings River and one of them just south of Trail Crest. It still took me until 7:30 to finish the report. I think it is mostly a slow lap top.

At 7:30, I had my breakfast. By that time David had come in from this walk. I lounged around for a while. Sherri got up at 8:00. David thinks he will be doing security duty at his church. Sherri and I decided to do YouTube with our church at 10:00. But first, Sherri wants to make a Dutch Brother’s run for some white mocha coffee.

Big Foot Roams the Neighborhood

At 10:05 we start watching the service on First Presbyterian Church. We have been going through Revelation. But this month the various pastors are giving sermons called By the Spirit. Today it is Jon Jo’s turn. I must be tired as I pretty much slept through about 40 minutes of the 60 minutes of church.

Even after church Sherri and I are not active. Finally around 11;55 we went out for a walk. Sherri and I just walked the neighborhood, about 45 minutes worth. When we were almost home, Don and Denise, who live right down the street from David, passed us. They stopped and talked for a while.

When Sherri and I got back, David already had the TV on and was watching the World Cup Finals of Spain vs Argentina. Some people might call this a boring game after all it was scoreless until the early second overtime when Spain scored. Being a former goalie, both David and I appreciated all of the saves the Argentina goalie had. The score against him, he did not have a chance to defend against.

After awhile, David and I went to Safeway and picked up some Tillamook ice cream. After that I laid down for about 45 minutes until dinner. David fixed jambalaya for dinner, then we have our ice cream.

At 6:30, Andrea came on Zoom. Steven was busy with Rachel. We talked for about an hour before Andrea signed off. Then David, Sherri and I read and talked about our 9:30 bed time.

June 30, 2026 - Delilah

 

Title: June 30, 2026 - Delilah
Hike Info : Description : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Lookout

Description:

It was a bit cooler last night than I expected. Still I kept warm, I just kept inside of my bag. While I can sleep with a light on, if I poked my head out of the bag, the moon was still going strong. It probably will be the same tonight.

I do wake up before the sun rises, at 0500. I had checked last night and saw that there was some lightning yesterday, both in my local area and in Stanislaus NF. The local one is outside of my vision. It stretched from the upper Middle Fork of the Kings to east of Florence Lake. The question is how to do the report. Yesterday I realized that the travel laptop I have did not have all of the files which my home computer had. Last night I had decided on how to jerryrig things to get something useful. I was able to get to mostly working and get the information the lookouts needed.

 

Delilah

By the time I was done with the lightning report-I had eaten breakfast while working on the report-it was 0800. I decided to go for a walk before getting into lookout mode. Of course, when in the tower, there is a reflex of looking around and seeing if all is right with the world. I am gone for about 40 minutes, having gone just to the saddle and back. Then I clean up the cab and get ready for the day.

Nothing special to start today off. I started off doing a scan, then took the weather. Nothing alarming with either. At 0930 I go into service with both Porterville and Sierra. Then I look at the fire weather forecast and see who is on in the Sequoia Forest. The “who is on” is what staffing there is around me and most importantly, who the duty officer is on duty. It looks awfully sparse as far as staff in this area. The radio traffic from Porterville at times can have a lot of static. This is one of those times. I have a habit of recording the staffing, so I can play it back and make sure I hear the staffing correctly. Evidently Buck Rock had the same issue as they called me up and I told her what I heard.

 

Smoke in the Valley

When I am at a lookout for more than one day, I try to clean windows. I am able to do Delilah’s windows in a couple of hours, between other duties. Well, after finishing, I still see places for improvement. At 1230 I have my lunch. Then at 1309, I take the weather. Not too much different than this morning, except more breezy. I am hearing on the radio that the duty officer and a work group is gathering at the McKenzie helipad. That is on the road into Delilah. I wonder if they are going to head this way? Am I getting lonely? I do not think so after all the isolation of Delilah is one of its attractions for me.

I do have two 15 minute rest periods, between scans. During my scans, I see a wide variety of land. There is the Valley land, filled with orchards, farmlands, and ranches. We do not report fires in this area. Then comes the foothills, above the Friant Kern canal. For the most part, these lands hold only some interest-the people I know and the history which is part of the land. Then there are the mid-mountains where Delilah is. I have traveled through some of the areas, both in a car and on foot. It is fascinating and not many people go over to Patterson Bluffs, nor into Millwood or any of the places which this lookout is part of. Finally, on a clear day, I can look up the Middle Fork of the Kings all the way to the crest.

And that is where my heart is. And why this train of thought came as I looked over the areas which I love? I wonder if I will ever be able to go back there? It does require strength and endurance, things I am losing. There is a bit of melancholy with that thought. The reason which I love that area is because I have been able to experience it, it became part of who I am. In stories you read about how a hero cannot go home and looks longingly towards the place he cannot return to. I can place myself in the hero’s shoes.

But I am fortunate as I can still do so many things I love to do, such as hike be in a lookout, read, and the plethora of interests I have. Also I have family and friends who love me. I am not despondent, just yearning.

Evening view from outhouse

At 1600, I responded to the lookout check in from Sierra. I spot two smokes, but neither are reportable as they are in the Valley. At 1716, I called up Porterville to say I am overnighting here, my last planned night for a little while. I do have a lot to be thankful for. At 1755 I went out of service with Sierra and Porterville.

Most days after I have been in the lookout all day, I am spent. Not because I am doing anything terribly physical, nor mentally challenging. I think it is because of always being on: listening to the radio and constantly looking out for smoke. Very little real downtime during the day. Yesterday evening, I was spent. Tonight, after finishing up everything, I got right to the business of eating the quiches Sherri had sent me.

98.9% of a full moon

After washing the dishes and putting away everything, I went for a walk. I was thinking I would be about half an hour, but I was gone for over an hour. Wendy and I had a light and fun text conversation. Each of my replies would give me an excuse to pause while going up the hill which is Mount Sampson, not that the road goes over it.

When I returned, I talked with Sherri for about 45 minutes. Since I have waited this long, I think I will wait for the moon to rise. It is to rise at 2119 and be 98.9% full. Maybe not as nice as yesterday, but there will not be clouds getting in the way. By 2140, I am in my bag.

Flowers and Plants

Grove of Dandelions

Milkweed

Foxtail

Google says it is Penstemon, I am not that sure

December 30, 2025 - Snowshoeing along Road 13S77

 

Title:  December 30, 2025 - Snowshoeing along Road 13S77
Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshoeing

Trail head: Cherry Gap

Trail: Road 13S77

Destination: About an hour in

Actual Destination: actual, about a quarter mile before the top of Hoist Ridge

Distance:  1.98  miles

Start Time: 12:50

End Time:     2:44

Travel Time: 1:53  (1.05 mph)

Moving Time:  1:32  (1.29 mph)

Elevation Rise:  300' ¹

Descent: 261‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,983'

GPS Tracks

 ¹There is several different readings on the elevation rise. The 651’ from the GPS is certainly wrong as is the Google Earth calculated rise of 503’. The descent of 261’ is much closer to the truth. The elevation rise from a February 24, 2024 snowshoe to the top of the ridge was 541’. Steven’s watch said in the upper 200’s. The net rise from where we began to where we ended was about 160’. So I think the upper 200’s is the correct figure.

 

Rachel and Sherri at start

 

Description:

Today will be the first snowshoe this season. I do not think we went last season-a combination of being busy, the storms coming through when we were available and it not being too good of a snow year. Rachel is coming with us, but will be coming over after her 9am yoga class which ends at 10.

She gets in about 10:15-I am ready, but Steven and Sherri are still getting things together. We are all in the car with me driving by 10:45-that all includes Korra. Earlier there was some ground fog, but that has dispersed. The drive up is uneventful, except for stopping in Yokut/Squaw Valley for some gas.. We pass the 5000’ elevation sign without signs of snow-this does not look too good.

By the time we get to the Grant Grove entrance station, there is snow. We asked if there was chain control-No.Does he know if there is snow at Princess campground -he thinks so, but has not been there lately. When we pass by McGee Overlook, there is a layer of low overcast above the Central Valley, making it look like an ocean.

 

At 12:15 we get to Princess Campground. The ground looks pretty patchy for snow and whatever snow is on the ground is thin. We quickly decided that around Cherry Gap there was better snow. We retreat back up 180. We will go up Road 13S77-not the Converse Basin Road-that has a lot of exposure to the sun so there is bare ground there. We parked the car a little before 12:30.

Magic Elf on a tree

The first thing we do is get all of our gear together. Years ago my brother gave me some Sorel snow boots. They seemed a bit stiff, so I could not get them on. I am substituting my hiking boots for the snow boots. After having a bit of lunch-peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches, if you must know-we start on our trip. This would be 12:50 start time. Steven is on his cross-country skis, while the rest of the humans have snowshoes on. Korra, of course, is on four leg drive and does not need any assistance on snow. Then again, the snow is deep enough and hard enough that we can easily snowshoe or ski on top of it without fear of hitting ground, probably averaging a foot or maybe a generous two feet.

At 12:51, the first fall of the season takes place. I manage to have my right foot step on the back of the left snowshoe. I had two choices: try to right myself and risk a face plant or try to fall gracefully. I chose the latter. Nothing hurt, except my pride. Wonder if that will be how this day goes.

There are a few spots along this road where you can look across the Kings and enjoy the view. The first viewpoint is OK, but does not make for a good picture since there are a lot of branches obstructing the view. I turn away, walk a few steps and realize something did not feel right. I looked down and saw one snowshoe. Turning around, I see the missing shoe. It quickly gets put on. It will be that kind of day.

The road is a gradual rise. Not many people have been up the road since the last storm. After a hundred feet we see that those who came without being prepared for snow travel have turned back, leaving the only tracks we see being a few snowshoe marks, two cross country ski tracks-Steven’s is one of them, and Korra’s claw and paw marks.

Snow Dog Korra

I keep looking at the views. Spanish Mountain is the dominant view, with some views up the Middle Fork of the Kings, then looking west we can see Rodgers Ridge, where the Garnet Fire started. It is good to be going along this road, even if we have gone up it many times before.

But there are some things which are new. When we come to a little creek, I look at a tree and see what looks like a couple elves with a snow cap on them. In reality, it is a couple of fungi with the recent snow still covering them. From there, the road goes on its final climb up Hoist Ridge. Rachel says that I was charging right up the slope. That is until I looked back and waited for Rachel and Sherri.

When they caught up to me, I saw Korra coming down the slope towards us. Then there is speck way up at the top of the bend. That speck came barrelling down-the speck is commonly called Steven. He stops before he completely passes us by.

I had set a 1:45 turn around time and that is what time it is. We start back. Steven on his skis is quickly out of sight. For us on snowshoes, going down is a lot easier. We made good time going back down the road. There are some different views across the Kings than when we came up. It gives us a few natural breathing places.

We got back to the car at 2:45. Rachel gets a man to take our picture. Then it is time to go back home. Rachel drives us down. We do stop at the McGee Overview to look at the overcast clouds down in the Valley. I spotted Delilah and tried to take a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

We get home at 4:15 and unload the car. We are having the car serviced tomorrow. We have gotten back in time to take the car in. Then it is time to relax, take a shower and partake of leftovers.