March 10, 2014 - Pincushion Peak

Title: March 10, 2014 - Pincushion Peak

Trail head: South Finegold Parking Lot at Millerton State Park

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: San Joaquin River Trail and Pincushion Peak

Destination: Pincushion Peak

Distance:  3.25 miles

Start Time: 7:48

End Time:  10:51

Travel Time: 3:03 (1.07 mph)

Moving Time: 1:42 (1.91 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,188'

Maximum Elevation: 1,601'

Start of Trail

Description:
Another meetup hike with Jerry J-we seem to be going on a few of these these days. We meet at Starbucks in Fresno around 7 and are on the road-There are seven of us-Jerry J, Kate, Brian, Liz, Sherri, John and myself. It is a bi of an overcast day and with the time change, we are treated to a nice sun rice where the clouds turn purple before golden.

Finegold Bay

We drive to the Finegold parking lot at Millerton State Park and start our walk from there. The first mile or so follows the San Joaquin River Trail. Grass is green with the standard oaks for this low elevation level hike-we start around 600' and climb up to 1600'. Tiny wildflowers start to appear, along with poison oak-a bit of the serpent in paradise effect. The rise up gets the heart pounding, but at least there is oxygen to breath. So we take it at a nice easy pace and enjoy the climb.

San Joaquin River

Up the hill

One of the good things is I get an excuse to stop and breath every few minutes by taking pictures and enjoying the sights. To the north of us is Finegold Bay. The San Joaquin curls around so you see it as a serpent. When we get to a saddle, about elevation 1200'. we part ways with the San Joaquin River Trail and continue our way up to the peak. The track narrows a bit and we follow a ridge. There are several "trails" in this area, evidently most going to the same place. A small rock scamper and a climb up a knoll gets us to looking at the final ascent of Pincushion. Probably ascent is a bit melodramatic as at this point we are 150' below the top. 

On Top

We get to the top and spend half an hour or more socializing there. Scenery is nice with the River lazily meander around. Which leads to our conversation going to the hikers favorite topic-food. By the way, I have an answer to one of my favorite questions: Do we eat to hike or hike to eat?  My answer is if it is breakfast, we eat to hike; after hike meal-we have hiked to eat.

The Way Down

We head west off of the peak on our return trip-a different way down. It is through some rock outcropping, where we pick our way through, a bit gingerly. Our descent cuts back across the face of Pincushion, giving a little bit of a Sound of Music effect. As we meet up with a dirt service road, we hear the beef bellowing at us as we invade their boundaries.  The rest of way way back to the cars is just a retreating along the same trail we came up on. An enjoyable morning hike-quick, stimulating and pleasant.