September 21, 2018 - Needle Dump Road

Title: September 21, 2018 - Needle Dump Road
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background :  Extra Photo's : Animals

Trail head: Road from South Boundary and Azalea Trails

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Road

Destination: Needle Dump

Actual Destination: Beyond to Highway 180

Distance:  1.74 miles

Start Time: 3:05

End Time:   3:59

Travel Time:  0:53 (1.97 mph)

Moving Time:  0:48 (2.17 mph)

Elevation Rise:  328'

Descent: 73‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,416'

GPS Tracks

Description:

A busy day with lots of activity. But most of it interesting. I got up around 6:30 and read for a while. Then at 9:30, went to our OSHER book group where we talked about A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Pretty good book and a good discussion. By the time we got out, it was 11:00. So we packed the truck and got off by about noon.

We get up to Grant Grove and decide to eat lunch/dinner before we go on a hike. We stop at DNC. Lately it has been pretty good. But today, it seems exceptionally slow and the food is just OK. A bit disappointed. But we are seated next to some people from back east who are up here overnight before they move on. We supply a couple of things. But SEKI is not a park which is easy to do in just a couple of hours. Not a whole lot to see from the road, particularly if you have limited mobility. So we give them a few places, but it will not unlock the splendor of the park.

Our first view of the needle dump

But we need to be moving on since it is after 2:00pm-actually getting close to 3. So it will have to be someplace short. We would like to get to Delilah Lookout by 5:45 so we do not meet the person who is up there on a narrow road.

In the lookout-either Park Ridge or Delilah-we have heard about a place called the Needle Dump. But we have not ever been there. This is a place which is essential a slash pile for the Park around Grant Grove. That way shrubs and stuff cutaway in the area can be burnt safely. Looking at some maps, I know approximately were it is. But today we will have a visual on it.We go and park where we usually start the Azalea Trail. But instead of crossing the road, we go past a gate and down a road. Shortly the South Boundary Trail heads off to the right, but we continue on the road.

Slash pile of brush

Deer in hiding at the needle dump

The road is somewhat paved and I wonder if this was the old highway. After a half mile, we see a pile of wood chips. There are other big piles, like scrapped up asphalt.or wood chips. Also there is some brush stacked up, waiting to dry. You can tell in places where burning has taken place. When we see smoke in this area from Delilah, we now know what it looks like. On we continue around the east side of the area-which has a couple of roads and probably encompasses about three football fields. Our road continues on down and then turns into a single track trail. Eventually it winds up at the Highway 180 at a sign saying S7172, whatever that means. I cross the road, to see what is on the other side. While there is a faint path, I am not sure that it isn’t a game path. I come back and we come return back to the Needle Dump. After wandering around the area, seeing old bear boxes, old dumpsters, concrete fire rings and the like, we return back to the car. It is four now and we decide to continue to Delilah rather than any new short hiking.

Smoke from the Horse Fire

We should be about an hour away from Delilah. 15-20 minutes down HIghway 180 and then cut off at Millwood Road for a 45 minute drive over 9 miles. As we are coming down 180, we see smoke ahead and below us. As soon as we could, we pull off to the side of the road and do two things. First, call Delilah to make sure they know about it so they can report it, and then take some pictures. Delilah just heard the call out of our folks to help work on the fire. Delilah says the fire is right around Snowline Lodge. Kathy has gotten done talking with her about the situation. We continue on down. Right at Millwood, we get a good view of the location. It is on the horseshoe bend before you get to the Lodge. Evidently the fire is being cause by a truck, pulling a horse trailer. The incident is called the Horse Fire.

More Smoke from the Horse Fire

Now onward to Delilah. Across from our turnout is the road to Delilah, so we go ahead and take it. We quickly lose sight of the smoke from the Horse Fire as we climb up and go around a ridge or two. Our conversation turns to the coming day as well as wondering what we will find at Delilah-most of the time it is quiet, but at times we come in and there is a board full of fires going on which may affect us.

 

Mt Hoffman and Fingr Rock

We pass by Sequoia Highland Camp-all is quiet there and then into Forest Service land. this is noted by a cattle grate and a road gate which is open until the lookout is closed up. When we round a curve, about a half of a mile into FS land, we see something unusual: A tree has fallen across the road. The trunk is at least a foot and a half, and maybe two feet wide. We call up Delilah to apprise her of the situation, also Kathy. I wonder if I could pull it off the road with the road and truck. But under the truck is not very promising-not many places to tie onto. Then Delilah calls up and says that Engine 32 is coming up. They have been released from the Horse Fire.

Engine 32 (E32) to the rescue

We wander back down to a clearing so that E32 can get by us. We expect them to be here in a half an hour or so. In the meantime, we look at the area we are able to see from Delilah in a different perspective. You can see the cut Sampson Creek makes-from Delilah, you cannot tell where the creek is; or the spurs/ridges from Spanish Mountain are a lot more definite. Some mean come up in a jeep. They are looking for hunting spots, but are a bit discouraged that there is a tree across the road. We talk some and they know some of the same people as us from Sequoia Lake.

Cutting up our fallen tree

Along comes E32. We Fall in behind them-they said that was good. When we get to the tree. Terry, the head of E32 gets out and another guy gets out with the chain saw. At first I thought it was three guys looking at one person cutting the log. But then I realized that the three were looking to make sure he was safe. It took about 20 minutes to cut up the log and get it out of the road. Afterwards, Josh, the drive takes E32 up the road-to the junction with the closed Delilah Springs Road. There they turn aside and Sherri and I wave, thank them and continue on to Delilah.

The lookout at Delilah is happy to see us. She is ready to leave and we are ready to haul our stuff up to the tower before it gets dark. Since we ate dinner at Grant Grove, we feast on peanut butter sandwiches before laying out for bed. It is dark by 7:30. I decide I will sleep inside. Stars look good and after today, I should sleep well.

Trail Lesson:

Situational Awareness: Be alert to what you are doing, where you are out, and your surroundings, no matter how often you have done it before.

Background

The situation

While all which happened on this day was an adventure. There is one thing which I need to keep in mind. That is, “what could happen?” If you look at a map, you will see the the Horse Fire was right below the turn off to Delilah. How Pine Ridge slopes, the first could easily have gone one of two ways:

• Down into the gully and then up Pine Ridge, directly at the Millwood/Highway 180 Jct. This would have cut us off from coming out of Delilah, if we needed to.
• The second is that it could have gone up the ridge behind Snowline Lodge. If this had happened and had happened fast, we would have been right in the path of the fire. Delilah Road is on top of Pine Ridge, just on the north side of it. We would never have seen the fire coming directly at us until too late.

What we found out later with the log blocking our way to Delilah, there was no way we could have outrun the fire. So a little bit more thought and probably asking more experienced people before going in would have been the wiser course of action.

Extra Photo's

Looking down at Sampson Creek

Spanish Mountain the the ROugh Spur area

Animals

One of our Hawks

Deer at Delilah-deer season started the next day