October 19, 2021 - Big Stump and Hitchcock Meadow

 

Title: October 19, 2021 - Big Stump and Hitchcock Meadow
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Trail head:  Big Stump Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail: Big Stump and Hitchcock Meadow

Destination: Big Stump Loop

Distance:  3.25 miles  1

Start Time: 11:25

End Time:    2:00

Elevation Rise:  718'

Descent: 604‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,368'

 ¹I forgot my GPS. So this is what is plotted out on Google Earth

Description:

I like to get an early start when I hike, but I think I am out of practice. I did not get out of the house until about 10:15. I got up after 7, then mozied along, trying to figure out what I wanted to do-maybe a bit longer day and go to Yosemite (we are doing this Thursday) or maybe something shorter, like an hour drive to Grant Grove. Grant Grove won.

Crews preparing for a prescribed burn cleared around a Sequoia

But by this time, I listened to my weekly weather webcast and ate my breakfast. I then got myself ready, making my sandwich and filling up with water.. Sherri is up and we talk for a few minutes-she is going up to Dunlap this afternoon for a wine tasting. So I am alone on this hike. As I have said before, I enjoy hiking with Sherri or alone or with friends.

 

Remains of Smith-Comstock Mill

The trip to Grant Grove was uneventful. I asked about Park Ridge Trail at the entry station and got the answer I expected-it still is closed. I got to Big Stump, where I am going to hike, but the gates are closed. But there is a large area right besides it where you can pull off and park. The only other vehicle is a park truck. So I park here and get ready..

I met the electrician who goes with the truck. I make sure that the trail is open. But then we also talked about why the parking lot is closed-the bathroom is non-operable. I knew the bathrooms were not open because the water had been shut off throughout the park. But it is even more. When the evacuation order came through, they shut off the propane which heats the bathroom-makes sense if you are concerned with a forest fire going through the area, you do not want everything blowing up due to propane. Because of the cold, several pipes split. He also said that the bathroom is being hooked up with solar so it will be self sufficient, at least electrically.

I get on my way to do the Big Stump Loop. There is a thin layer of snow on the ground, about an inch or two. Just enough to make me think to be cautious, but not enough to really get me concerned. In other words, I may be my own worst enemy by being oblivious to the hazards the snow can hide or compound. But I did make the whole hike without incident. The snow covering morphs the world into something which is almost mystical. Traveling by myself makes it even more awe-inspiring. Not enough snow to cover, but enough to transform.

Footprints in snow

Of course, anytime you are among the Sequoias, you have a sense of majesty and awe, like being in front of a truly great king. The covering of snow is the white robe of purity around it. This is true of almost any Sequoia from the “young” hundred year olds to the grandfathers of the forest. Even in the destruction of Big Stump, you feel this. You get the feeling of the sense of immense loss of glory. Let me ever lose that sense of glory in my God.

After crossing the meadow, I go across the road by the entrance station. Even in the more frequented parts of Big Stump, I saw only a few footprints in the fresh snow. Now there is only a single set of prints going along my way and the same ones coming back. There is nothing spectacular along this trail. But that may be the attraction. There is nothing to distract me from around my own thoughts. Not that I ignore what is around me, but it brings my own thinking to a sharper level. Also allows me to notice more detail in the “blandness” of the ordinary. And as I look at the detail, there is more sense of wonder. All of this fills my mind, as well as I am conscious of my need-to-breath on the few uphills.

Sawed Tree

 

Speaking of uphill, there is a little offshoot trail with a sign saying “Sawed Trail, 100 yards.” Since I am alone and have not been up there before, I decided to see it. After a bit of huffing and puffing, I come to the tree, obviously, a tree which has been sawed. Or more appropriately named, a tree with a saw cut. Which brings up a could of questions:

• Why were they sawing the tree?
• Why did they stop sawing the tree?
• Why so far up the tree? It is way above my head.

No answers here. And even doing a quick Google scan leaves these questions unanswered. But you get the impression that there is more of a story than just a saw cut on a tree. That is also true of all of our lives as well. We see each human in its packaging. Sometimes the packaging has been damaged and sometimes there was never an attractive packaging in the first place. But each of us have our own story which may be prosaic or painful or enlightening. It just needs to be told.

The footprints disappear on me. I am not too concerned as there definitely is a trail to be followed, even covered by a thin layer of snow. Eventually I get down to the culvert pipe which allows the hiker to go under the road safely. When I come out the other side, there is a sign pointing to Hitchcock Meadow, 0.8 miles. It is only 12:40. So pondering going on over. Sounds like a proposition to consider during lunch.

Leaning Tree

With food inside of me, I text Sherri and Steven to say, I will be doing a side hike down to Hitchcock Meadow. Another place I have not been before. Evidently not a lot of people go this way either. The trail leads me down a slope. The fire crew has been here as well. They have piled up stacks of wood to be burnt.There is a few big trees, one looking like it is giving Pisa’s leaning tower a run for who can tilt the most without falling.

Paw Print

Hitchcock Meadow has signs of old logging as well. A couple of stumps in the meadow are a reminder that logging was down here, not entirely unexpected. I cross a wet spot in the meadow and find a road. I realize this is the same road Sherri and I have walked on from Grant Grove. This is the terminus. But there is another realization. I have been seeing tracks all along in the snow. These have been squirrel, maybe a rabbit and definitely deer. But these new tracks are giving my heart a few extra beats-cat tracks. No claw marks like a coyote and definitely more in the shape of a cat. I scan around to see if I can tell if the cat is still in the area. No sightings. Then I notice the cat tracks are parrelling a set of deer hoof prints. I am thinking the cat is on the hunt.

With that knowledge, I retreat back up the trail. A bit harder going up than down. But that is more the indication that my body is no longer the same body as ten years ago. I get back to the truck. My friendly maintenance man is talking with another worker and we exchange waves in the distance. Then I am on my way home. Just before crossing Mill Creek, I see Sherri on her way to her gathering. Then I make it home around 3:30pm, content and not too tired.

Extra Photo's

Sawed Tree

Stump and a hole

Sequoia