Gary-Summer: April 16, 2021 - Merced River Gorge

Friday, April 16, 2021

April 16, 2021 - Merced River Gorge

Title: April 16, 2021 - Merced River Gorge
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Railroad Flat Campground

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking
Trail: Merced River Trail
Destination: North Fork of the Merced, maybe Merced Falls

Distance: 5.93 miles
Start Time: 11:49
End Time: 4:40
Travel Time: 4:51 (1.22 mph)
Moving Time: 3:10 (1.87 mph)
Elevation Rise: 398 ' 1
Descent: 364‘
Maximum Elevation: 1,185'

GPS Tracks

Both GPS’ show divergence from our actual tracks. The Foretex401 showed us going well up the side of the hill to the north of the river, while the 60CSX has us crossing the Merced. Neither was accurate. The distance and the elevation on the 60CSX seems to be about right, so I am using those figures. But both the map and the profile cannot be trusted.

Sherri, Lawrence, and Andrea

Description:

This was a trip we were going to make a few days ago, but as things worked out, it was good to have done it today. Andrea and Lawrence had come over for a couple of days. This was going to be a good day hike. mostly level and as long as we wanted to go. Thursday night we had agreed to get started by 8am. But the car doors closed at 9:15. While it is not forecasted to be too hot, still even the low 70’s in direct sun can be warm. We drove in separate cars to Briceburg and then to Railroad Flat. We arrived at 11:45.

By the way, the “we” includes Korra, our son’s dog who has to work. We start off a few minutes after we arrive. First, there is a BLM gate where vehicles are barred from going down the road. Then over Hall’s Gulch, there is another gate to keep out everybody but hikers from going over the bridge.

Our "friendly" Western Pacific Rattlesnake

I have Korra and she likes to be the lead dog. But she does look back a lot to make sure I am following. If Steven was here, she might be off leash since there are very few people around. But I do not have as good of voice control as he does, so Korra stays on the leash. Besides, I can see her wanting to play in the Merced which might not be a good thing.

For the first ¾ of a mile of our journey is along a road which goes to a house, just below Mountain King Mine. I notice a couple of people at the house and I wave at them and they wave back. There are roses out in front of the road. At first I am thinking they have been planted, but as they stretch along the road, I am not so sure.

Lunch Time

Korra and I get a ways ahead of the rest of our group. I see some interesting stone work and wonder about what the purpose of going down to the river would be at this juncture. I hear a voice behind me saying they are passing. Turning around, I see a family of four. I watch as they pass by, and then the mother, who is last, stops. And exclaims: didn’t you see the snake! Sure enough, there is a snake starting to slither across the trail. From the shape of the head, there is a good chance of it being a rattler. The snake decides he does not want to go across the trail to the mother, so it does a U-Turn and heads back into the grass and rocks. There is a pretty heft set of rattles there. Korra has shown an interest in all of this, but is not pulling too hard. By the time our group catches up, the rattler is gone, so I am left with showing pictures.

Flume-maybe to the Hall Mine or power station

The river has been pretty smooth, but running fast until now. As we travel further down the trail, I notice more drops and rocks in it. This all makes for interesting viewing. At one point Lawrence notices an unusual swirling pattern to the current and wonders if water is coming in from underneath.

After a little while, we find a nice shady place to rest and have lunch-it is closing in on 1pm. The snake sighting has me a bit apprehensive, so I give the area a good eyeballing before we sit down. Pleasant being in the shade.

Stopping point on North Fork of the Merced

But we still have not made it to the North Fork of the Merced, let alone to the falls. So onward we go. The trail is pretty much the same-it is enjoyable. Even Korra seems to be having a grin. It does look like we are getting to the place where a ridge comes down to our level. The trail reaches a place where the old railroad line must have crossed the North Fork and our trail takes off up the Fork. We follow our path down to water level and decide this is a good place to drop our packs and enjoy a pool in the North Fork.

I think by an unspoken agreement that this was a good stopping place. A bit of shade, a bit of water and a nice place just to enjoy. While not high on the epic scenery scale, good places do not need to be. All in all, we lolly-gagged here for about an hour-even Korra felt like resting. (We did talk with a guy who said the falls are about a mile further up the North Fork.) We stayed this way until about 3 when we got roused up and reminded that we needed to walk back.

Merced River

While the trip back was warmer, there was a nice breeze blowing up the gorge. Sherri took Korra on the way back. I found reasons to hang back, like taking pictures and wondering about stuff, like the flume. We see a diversion dam feeding the flume. While still having energy and the legs not tiring, I was glad when we got back to the house above the trail. The heat really felt like it was sapping my spirit. There were a couple of bridges made of iron. I think they must have been hot on Korra’s paws.

Diversion Dam on the Merced

We got back to the car around 4:45. While we were all ready to leave, none of us moved very fast. We stopped in Mariposa at Happy Burger. Seems like it took forever for the order to get filled-I had stayed with Korra in the car-she was content to rest, and so was I. We got back to Fresno a little after 7:00pm. A good day.

Trail Lesson: Always be on the lookout for both the expected and unexpected.

Background

Mountain King Mine. There are three mines in the area: Mountain King, Whiteman Mine (Gold), and Hall’s Mine (Gold). The Mountain King Mine looks like part of the operation was around where the house we see on our hike is. At MinDat web site, there is a picture of the operation by the old railroad. In 1917 there was an event where seven men lost their lives due to suffocation-the power had been shut off to the air pumps and the mine was being worked on. The Mariposa Historical Society has published an account of this.