Gary-Summer: March 18, 2017 – Stevenson Creek Falls and Million Dollar Mile

Saturday, March 18, 2017

March 18, 2017 – Stevenson Creek Falls and Million Dollar Mile

Title: March 18, 2017 – Stevenson Creek Falls and Million Dollar Mile

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

Trail head: Italian Bar Road

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Million Dollar Mile

Destination:Stevenson Creek Falls

Distance: 12 miles ¹

Start Time: 9:00am

End Time: 2:00pm

Travel Time: 5:00 (2.4 mph)

Moving Time: 4:15 (2.83 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,220'

Maximum Elevation: 2,365'

¹Another hike without my GPS. So the times, distances and elevations are best guesses based upon experience and my Fitbit. (Yipee-found my GPS, but after this walk.)

Description:

This was the final training hike in a series of five to get ready for the Classic California Half Marathon. The idea behind this one was to walk five hours to the end of the road, to Powerhouse #8 and back. We were to walk about 13-14 miles. But we had a slight problem: we could not go beyond Stevenson Creek Falls. Why you might ask? The Falls were thundering, covering the bridge, making it impassible. So we decided on a different tactic.

We would give our meetup group two options:

Option A: To hike 7 miles round trip from the trailhead to Stevenson Creek Falls and back. Six of our group took this option. This would take 2 ½ to 3 hours.
Option B: To hike the full five hours. We would hike to the Falls, then back. Any remaining time we would hike half of the time back towards the falls, giving us the rest of the time to walk back. Four of us took this option.

So we met at Eddie's Bakery at 7:00am and get off about 7:20-there was repeated visits to the bakery for coffee and pastries. A stop in Prather-the last bathroom before or along the trail. Then take off along some backroads-Audberry Road, Jose Basin, and Italian Bar Road-where our trail starts. The trail is a road which Southern California Edison cut into the mountainside 90 years ago-it is still in use.

Jose Creek

Mill Creek

Bruce is waiting for us at the trailhead. We take our picture, observing the sign that says the road beyond Stevenson Creek is closed. Of course we already knew that. So we started out along the road. Denise and Ken leap ahead-not that this is a race. The rest of us start clumping together walking and talking.

Shortly along the way, we cross JoseCreek-on a bridge built for trucks. Most of the time before we crossed it, there was water, but way down. Today, there are falls above it running full, along with the creek beneath us. After lingering there for a few minutes, we take off up the road.

Inside the adit

Adit Opening

For the next mile we trade off people to talk to. Sherri bounds ahead of me when I ask hiking partners do they know what an “adit” is. None did, so I moved a whole wad of them over to a tunnel and showed them an adit. There was appropriate wondering over the adit-both the size and the purpose. One additional wow factor was the little water dropping 30' in front of the adit.

San Joaquin River

But now we are off again. We start to see the gorge which Stevenson Creek dumps into the San Joaquin. The only thing we are able to see is a bit of white foam where the two combine. But the gorge itself is so deep and the river is at the nadir of the steep V of the gorge. We can look all the way up to mountains which are 8,000' high.

Stevenson Creek Falls

There is a place on this walk where we hit a high point, about 2,300' up which we start a long descent into the place where Stevenson Creek. But you cannot see the creak for most of the way. But there is a point where the road does a right turn and there is the falls. Today, we make the turn and there is THE FALLS!!! It is roaring, kicking water high, creating all kinds of mist and pounding the bridge. There is no way to cross it today.

Note: This video is courtesy of Bill Redando

Roadside view

Mist from top

Then we come along a group of our people. Some wet, some dry. The wet ones went a bit closer and got sprayed on-no one ventured, or should venture, into the actual fall itself. I went further down the road and made a mistake here. Instead of being content with the pictures I had taken, I thought it would be cool to get a different perspective on the falls. All I got was a lot of water on the lens. Fortunately the camera still worked. In a mater of 10 seconds, I was dripping wet from the spray from the falls. Once wet, why go back soon, except the water was cold, like having come off the snow recently. Still enjoyable being experiencing the close roar of the falls.

Art and Gary

Sherri on the road

Water down a rock

Then it is back up the road. Sherri and I now start walking together instead of with others. While we keep a steady pace, we are definitely the last ones. The uphills do take a toll which going down only partially relieve. We stop occasionally to take pictures of plants, redbud and water dripping from rocks. Anything to stop. No place to get lost so cannot stop to do a bit of map consulting.

Lunch Spot

A little before noon, we make it back to the car. Only two-plus hours more of walking. Art and Ken are out taking pictures along the Million Dollar Road. It will be interesting to see the results of their efforts. We find a little spot of grass and flowers for lunch. The normal Peanut Butter and Nutella-the best. Then it is off again to finish up our walk-an hour more in and another hour out. How will we do this for real in two weeks?

Ken and Gary

We return up the road and do another two or so miles up the road. We stop less for pictures, but I feel like our pace is slowing down. So as we approaching the high spot on the road, we see the outflow of Stevenson Creek into the San Joaquin, but not the falls. Since it is 1:00pm, it is time to turn around-we have almost reached the high point for the second time. The good part is that it is now almost all downhill, well most of it. I did notice that our pace seems to have picked up. But not enough to keep Ken behind us. The final third of a mile, he catches up to us and I walk with him back to the car. He is the only one who has done a full two trips to the waterfall. Art, the other one who did an additional time is back at the car waiting for us.

Tired, not looking forward to the drive back. But looking forward to our meal at Velasco's. I have a light meal of a chicken burrito-content. Then it is back to Eddie's to drop off Art and Ken. We get back home around 4:30 to take a shower and enjoy family time.

Background

An adit is an opening cut into the side of a hill or mountain to drain or access something. In the Big Creek project's case, it was to gain access to the tunnel leading through the mountain.

The Big Creek project is a Southern California Edison project dating back to the 1910's. It actually was originally the project of the Pacific Light and Power Company before being taken over by SCE. Its purpose was to harness the San Joaquin River for the use of hydro-power. Since then, the San Joaquin River has gotten the reputation of being the hardest working water in the world. Some links: