Gary-Summer: 2025

Saturday, October 25, 2025

October 25, 2025 - Birthday Hike on the Wawona Meadow Loop

Title: October 25, 2025 - Birthday Hike on the Wawona Meadow Loop

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

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Wawona Visitor Center Parking

Trail: Wawaona Meadow Loop

Destination: Loop

Distance: 3.81 miles

Start Time: 11:58

End Time: 2:33

Travel Time: 2:34 (1.48 mph)

Moving Time: 1:57 (1.95 mph)

Elevation Rise: 388'

Descent: 410‘

Maximum Elevation: 4,271'

GPS Tracks

Description:

I slept in until a little after 7. Today marks the celebration of the Earth surviving 72 times around the Sun with me on it. Sherri is planning out this day. But first she needs to go to the Vineyard Farmer’s Market for some stuff for a party next week.

Rachel comes over a little before 9. By 9:40 we are all in the car-Steven, Rachel, Sherri, Korra, Friday and myself. We have been trying to avoid going into the National Parks during the shutdown. But we have decided to go to Wawona in Yosemite National Park today and hike around the Meadow there.

Autumn Leaves in Wawona

But first, there is some interest in retracing the route I went on Thursday. These were various historical places in the foothills of Madera County. Now mind you, we will not hit all the historic places, probably not even a third of them.

We start by heading north on 41, then head West at Four Corners. Then we turn off to go towards Henley Lake and Raymond. Along this road, I start telling about the various places I learned about: the Adobe Ranch, Minarets/Media, Raymond, the Summit House and the Black Kid monument. Someplace after Raymond, we got off the route I thought we were on and hit 41 again at Corsegold.

That is just as well as I think the others were maybe at the limits of their tolerance for this tour. We went through Oakhurst and then Fish Camp. There is a line at the Park’s entry station. But there is nobody collecting entry fees, so we just chose a station which does not have anybody in it. Rachel drives us over to Wawona where we park, take care of business, and get our packs on.

Wawona in Red

Sherri picked the trail around Wawona Meadow for several reasons. We have not done much hiking lately and this is a nice, scenic walk. Also, the dogs are allowed on it. As an added bonus, even during busy times, this trail has a tendency to be one where you can enjoy a measure of solitude.

Given that, we start our walk. The sky is overcast and the temperature is in the last 60’s. Perfect for hiking. Even Friday is up to walking, or in her case, her little legs are trotting. One of the defining aspects of this day is the Autumn colors. It is that time of year where this area simply shines. The yellows and reds are everywhere. The trail seems like a tunnel through this cave of leaves. It fills you with wonder and awe and reverence for the bit of creation we are walking through.

Gary, Steven and Rachel walking the trail

It is always good to walk with my family on my birthday-yes, I do miss having Andrea with us, but I have a great deal of gratitude that Steven and Rachel make the effort to be with me. I am not forgetting Sherri as I have taken her places which she may have wished she stayed home. We have gone to those places and experienced the awe of seeing the best of this world.

Gary the Photographer

At the far end of the meadow, a bit short of two miles we stop and have lunch. We enjoy the break, not so much needing a rest, but just a break. Even Korra and Friday seem to enjoy this break. Then it is off for the remainder of the trail.

Gary, the birthday boy

This trail is not built for excitement, but for contemplation and discussion. One of the discussions we had was about me hiking solo. Since last May when I fainted, I have been careful about not going out on my own. Even though 7 out of 8 days in the Lookout I was alone. I pondered the wisdom of venturing out solo. Rachel volunteers to go with me whenever I would want to go. To me this is not the reason to hike alone. There is a sense of freedom walking by yourself. A sense of isolation just me and my God. Everyone needs those times and places like that.

Fall Color on Mt Savage

There is no conclusion to this discussion. No yes or no But there is the recommendation that I do things like stretches and things which will improve my balance. Rachel suggested chair yoga.

Wawona, when we get back, is pretty vacant. We have only met about five groups of people on the trail. We load up and head on back home. As we approach Oakhurst, the question is, should we stop for ice cream at Reimers. Unless there is a reason not too, the answer will almost always be yes. Reimers has a new flavor, Ooey Gooey. Most of us have a scoop of this flavor. Pretty good.

Then we get back home. Not sure if it is age or birthday expectations, but I am content to become one with the couch. Steven is making a stuffed pizza for my birthday. Pretty tasty. Then a relaxing shower to end a good day out.

Extra Photo'

Gary, Steven and Rachel in Autumn Colors

Korra, Steven and Rachel

Sherri walking through a tunnel of color

Friday, Korra, Steven, Rachel and Gary

Rachel and Friday

Mt Savage

Wawona Meadow

Rachel

Flowers and Plants

Thursday, October 23, 2025

October 23, 2025 - Historic Trip to the Foothills of Madera County

Title: October 23, 2025 - Historic Trip to the Foothills of Madera County

Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Touring

GPS Tracks

Description:

Today I will be going on an OSHER LifeLine Institute tour out of CSU, Fresno’s Continuing and Global Education department. The tour’s title is It's Monumental History: A Tour of the Madera Foothills and the Raymond Museum. The presenter for the tour is Dan Carrion. Finally the description is:

There’s history in them thar Madera County foothills. Around Hensley Lake, Raymond, Road 600, and Highway 49 are interesting historic sites that mark lumber flumes, stage-coach robberies, gold mining, Indian reservations, and a ceremonial roundhouse. Our guide on this daylong close-to-home adventure is Fresno State Professor Dan Carrion, whose presentations about local history resonate with OLLI members. Dan’s the historian for the Jim Savage Mariposa Battalion Chapter of the statewide historical group E. Clampus Vitus. He’ll guide us to sites marked by the Clampers and the Raymond Museum. We’ll stop for a no-host lunch at the Hitching Post in Ahwahnee. Best of all – it’s a bus tour, so leave the driving to us

Inside the caboose

I get up at 5:30 and find that it is foggy. But there is enough visibility that I do not mind driving. I leave the house at 7:15, driving my Ranger. The bus leaves from Fresno State at 8. The check in starts at 7:30 and I get there right at that time. There are several people on the bus which I know: Nancy, Don, Kaaron and Janet for starters. I grab a seat next to Janet whom I have hiked with before.

Raymond Museum

I have had four classes with the presenter ranging from the Emperor Of San Francisco to Teddy Roosevelt. Each has been enlightening and entertaining. That was one of the reasons why I signed up for this tour, even though bus touring is not really my thing, at least I do not think it will be as this is my first.

We leave Fresno State a few minutes after 8 and head up highway 41 to the Four Corners where we make a left turn onto Madera Road 145. We travel for a ways till we get to the sign saying turn right to go to Hensley Lake. This is Road 33. We took this for a short way with Dan commenting that people mistake this road for the County dump. At the end of the road, we turn right onto Road 400. This is where Dan notes that the Adobe Ranch is located with 45,000 acres of land. To the north of Road 400 is the adobe home, behind a ridge.

Where Roosevelt spoke in Raymond

Raymond's General Stoe

As we travel up 400, Dan talks about how the flume ran from Raymond and was originally planned to terminate in Belinda. But there was a slight rise making that hard, so it ended in Madera, changing the dynamics of the area’s population. He noted that along the flume was a series of tender houses. We passed the site of one of them, the 12 Mile Flume House. Also that when Madera County broke away from Fresno County, there was a site just beyond some hills which was to be the County Seat called Minarets, down Road 406. The name was changed to Media and eventually disappeared.

We take a few more turns down Road 604 past Hensley Dam to Road 600 and then to the Raymond Museum. The Museum is the first stop we have. It is the house of Charles Miller, the first resident of Raymond. The house was bought by Lynn who works in Los Angeles, but loves this community. The Museum is small, but has every nook and cranny field with period pieces stretching from pictures to kitchenware to old furniture. Outside, there is an old granite saw and a hydraulic mining nozzle. My favorite is the old caboose-Raymond used to be the terminus of the railroad, how most people of the era got into Yosemite.

Just a hundred feet away to the north is a flat spot where when Teddy Roosevelt was President started his time in Yosemite with a speech to an unexpected crowd of Raymonites. Dan had done a class on this trip earlier in the semester.

Site of Shay's Blacksmith

Fresno River

Then we are off again-a brief stop two hundred yards up the 600 at the Raymond marker. Dan notes that across the street at the store has the best hamburgers. We then continue on up the road to a series of E Clampus Vitus markers for: The Summit House, The Black Kid, The Yosemite Stage Route, Grub Stake, Shay’s Blacksmith, and Poison Switch, with a nod as we drove by to the old Gertrude School site.

It is now a little after 12:30 and it looks like everybody is getting a bit hungry. Dan has arranged for us to stop at the Hitching Post in Ahwahnee. Now there are about 50-60 people on this trip. Dan has warned the restaurant to expect a large crowd for lunch. There is a single cash register being operated and it looks like a single cook. with someone moving the food to people. You can only guess how long it took us to get served. I was at the end of the line, except for Dan and Rikki. I got my food at 1:45. This definitely threw Dan’s time table off. On the other hand, the food was pretty good-I had a Philly Steak sandwich with lots of fries.

I think Dan probably skipped a couple of stops, such as the Wassama Roundhouse. But we did go up to the Ahwahnee Regional Park where the Ahwahnee Tavern was. Then headed down to the corner of Highway 49 and 41, where the Golden Chain highway terminates. We skipped a couple more places, mostly because of weight and size: Willow Glen and Ecker Ranch. But we do stop in Corsegold, get a group photo at the monument before heading on. Then we turn off of Highway 41 onto Road 415, the Raymond Road. This takes us down to a place called Knowles. Knowles claim to fame was a rock quarry which held a highly valued form of granite called Sierra White.

Then it is time to go back to Fresno. By the time we reach the Fresno State campus it is about 6, an hour after the estimated time. I enjoyed the tour of the foothills, seeing areas which I had not visited and hearing some of the background which I had not heard before. Would I go on another tour? Yes, with the caveat that I would need to be satisfied with not being able to stroll around at leisure, taking in all which an area has, instead of being content to be on someone else’s schedule.

Just a last note. I mentioned that I sat with Janet on this trip. Sherri, Janet and I have hiked together-I think once her husband was along as well. Anyway, when you are with somebody for close to ten hours, you do talk some. And it was enjoyable finding out a bit more about her. Such as both of our families tend to use public transportation when we are in other cities. Or her husband works at Fresno State. Just tidbits like that. Also I got to share a couple of the hikes I had been on which she was interest in. It was pleasant sitting next to her.

Trail Lesson: Even well planned trips will have an element of randomness to it. Just enjoy the journey.

Extra Photo's

Fresno River in its Autumn Colors

Raymond Museum Caboose

Raymond marker

View from Grub Gulch

Clamper Cemetery at Poison Switch

Canary House

Knowles Quary

Saturday, October 11, 2025

October 11, 2025 - Muir Snag, Not Quite

Title: October 11, 2025 - Muir Snag, Not Quite

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Princess Trailhead

Trail: Princess Interpretive Trail

Destination: Loop

Distance: 1.75 miles

Start Time: 2:45

End Time: 3:58

Travel Time: 1:12 (1.46 mph)

Moving Time: 0:52 (2.02 mph)

Elevation Rise: 297'

Descent: 221‘

Maximum Elevation: 5,994'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Today is Sherri’s birthday, an interesting mathematical year, but not a prime number. She never likes me to state those kinds of dates in those terms. That is just how my mind works. She was not forced to marry me.

Start of Trail

When Sherri got up, I fixed her a breakfast of Ranchos Huevos. She appreciated it, even if I made a bit more than she could eat. We did a bit of cleaning up-nothing which was pressing. We had our lunch before we went up to the mountains.

Where are we going? A couple of months ago I saw a reference to Muir Snag. I do not think I had heard of it before. So after doing some research on it, I saw that it was in Sequioia National Forest on road 13S50, which is part of the Indian Basin Grove. This road is on the West side of the grove.

I drove us up to the road. When we found the road, we parked a little ways up the road and saw a white truck a bit further up the road. Being good at mathematics, I put two plus two together and realized that we are still in deer hunting season and that the truck more than likely belonged to a hunter. We did not have an inch of red on us, so we felt the wiser choice was to retreat.

Fortunately, this was close to another trail we like by Princess Campground. Even without the government shutdown, Princess would have been closed already. All which this does is have us walk another ¾ of a mile. We walked from the entrance to the interpretive trail. We have walked this trail a lot. There is a loop which is handicapped accessible and paved with a gentle grade. We take the longer loop, stopping frequently to ooh and ahh.

The impression starts quickly. Across the meadow are groves of aspen, having turned golden. Many pictures are taken of these trees. Then we move on. There is a place where we look down the meadow and across the canyon to some of the mountains beyond. It is a sight which never fails to move me. On the back end of the loop there is more aspen and looking towards Cherry Gap.

We took our walk back at a leisurely pace, getting back to the car about 4. We then drove back down home. Since it is Sherri’s birthday, we go out to eat at DiCicco’s on Nees. A good way to end the day.