January 13, 2026 - Pan Pt Road

 

Title: January 13, 2026 - Pan Pt Road

Hike Info : Description : Animals

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshoeing 

Trail head: Grant Grove Parking Area

Trail:  Panoramic Point Road

Destination: As far as we could by 2:00pm

Actual Destination:  Ridge before going into meadow before big climb

Distance: 2.44 miles

Start Time: 11:56

End Time:    3:16

Travel Time:  3:19 (0.74 mph)

Moving Time:  1:53  (1.30 mph)

Elevation Rise:  655'

Descent: 558‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,067'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Snowshoes on

Today is full of things which we were going to do, but circumstances had us change our minds. Badger Pass is not open yet, except for Nordic activities such as cross-country skiing and Snowshoeing. But this will be a long day as there is a lot of travel. So we needed to get a start by at least 8:00am. But the forecast for that morning is heavy fog. Not good for an early start.

Thin Snow

That means Sherri can sleep in and I get up at my normal time. But where to go? That morning, I suggested going up to find the Muir Snag-our third attempt. Sherri and I are the only ones going. We leave at ten after 10 and make it up to Grant Grove at 11:15. When we get to the road where I think the Muir Snag is, Forest Service road 13S55, we see a long stretch of dirt. Not very promising. We discussed the situation for 30 seconds and decided to move on.

But where to? Several options were discussed. But then we decided to push ourselves and see how far we can go up the Panoramic Point Road

out of Grant Grove. As we went through Grant Grove, we saw a sign for the Manzanita Trail. This also looks promising, but maybe when we have this a bit more thought out. We have not been up it either on snowshoes or with our hiking boots on. So we keep with the plan.

We park at 11:50. It is a pleasant temperature, in the high 50’s. We start our short walk to the road at 12:05. The first thing I noticed was that the tips of my poles were tapping against the pavement. I guess that the snow is only a couple inches deep. This means that we will see patches of bare ground. This is particularly true when we started off as there is a lot of tree covered in the first eighth of a mile. When we moved out of the tree cover, the snow was not much deeper, but at least when it snowed, it could hit the ground.

Gary on the move

We traveled uphill for about 45 minutes. I start off doing good going uphill-might be that I am getting some of my lung capacity back. Not that we are traveling that fast. But at least there is a steady pace. When 12:45 hits, we also come to the top of one of the ridges and spot a good rock to sit on for lunch. That is what we do. Now we are surrounded by snow. But somehow a moth and bee came to visit us. 

 

 

Sherri climbing

We spent about half an hour sitting on the rock before we decided to move on. The road actually gets a bit steeper. And I take several steps and look like I am waiting for Sherri -in reality, I take my time getting my breathing right before going on. This gets to be the rhythm of my ascent.

 I have set a 2pm turn around time and it is five minutes before that when we get to the top of yet another ridge-definitely not the top of Park ridge as that is another 500’ above us. That will be for another day it looks like. Maybe when I can climb further without being breathless.

As much as we are climbing, you would think there would be some scenic vistas. But that is not so. Plenty of greenery as in the pine trees. Just being out here is reward enough.

 

 

 

We do go up a few feet onto a dry log where we have an energy bar. We relax for a while before heading down. Going down is a lot easier. While the incline was steep coming up, it is not bad going down. One thing which we noticed is that there is less snow than when we went up. While there are the same number of bare spots, the bare spots from this morning are larger. Also the snow is not as deep. 

 

 

About 200’ before we came to the gate for the road, we needed to navigate around a bare spot. I do that very successfully, as does Sherri. But as I was about to regain the road, either my snowshoe caught a stick or I stepped on my left snowshoe. Either way, I went down. Nothing hurt, except my pride. We made it down without incident and back at the car by 3:20.

Now the question is do we want to eat on the way down. Do we want to eat at the DNC? Bear Mountain Pizza again? Eat in Fresno? Or eat at home? Sherri has been wanting this shop off of McCall which she heard about on Channel 30 a year ago. She has been calling it her Cuban place. We go there. It is a sandwich shop called Jon Smith Subs. Turns out it is a chain-all the others are in Texas or beyond. We also got fries with our order-a large amount in a medium request. The Cuban aspect of the place? They have a Cuban sandwich. We get home at 5:20

 

 

Animals

January 9, 2026 - Big Meadows Snowshoeing

 

Title: January 9, 2026 - Big Meadows Snowshoeing
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshowing 

Trail head: Big Meadows Snow Parking Lot

Trail: Big Meadow Road-14S11

Destination:  Big Meadow

Actual Destination:  Overlook area 

Distance:  2.41 miles

Start Time: 1:09

End Time:   3:20

Travel Time:  2:11 (1.10 mph)

Moving Time:  1.34  (1.54 mph)

Elevation Rise:  321'

Descent: 300‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,808'

Minimum Elevation: 7,628’

GPS Tracks

Description:

Snowshoe repair

Clint Eastman said it best, “We have a failure to communicate.” Sherri and I have invited both Steven and Rachel to go up to the snow. In our discussion, it was decided to leave someplace between 9:30 and 10. Rachel texted Sherri and I about 8:40 and said that she was not going to be able to go up. It was a little after 10 when I noticed Rachel’s text. About 20 minutes later I find Sherri and ask her if she is ready. She thinks we are leaving between 10:30 and 11. Steven has not seen the text. So the bottom line is that it is 11 before we leave Fresno.

 

 

Trees and snow

We had an uneventful ride up to Big Meadows, maybe except for a discussion on communicating better. We arrived at 12:40. Upon arrival, we had lunch, then took off about 1:00. There were a couple snowmobilers just starting out. Steven takes off on his skis with Korra tagging along with him. Sherri has some issues with her snowshoes and spends a few minutes initiating repairs. Just as we are about to start moving, a couple who originated from Germany comes up with their dog. They were walking and admired that we had the foresight to be on snowshoes. They also did not like sharing the road with snowmobilers. I for the most part have made my peace that as long as they leave us alone, do not chop up our path, then they can have their fun. I still try to go to places they are not at.

 

 

 

 

We start up the road. Not much to comment on as this is just one of many times we have been up this road. But I do spot one nice view looking towards Redwood Mountain. I am stopping often to regain oxygen into the system; Sherri zooms on ahead. When we get to the junction with the Rabbit Meadow loop, we discuss if Steven has taken the loop or gone on to Big Meadow. To me the ski tracks look old. We will go on towards Big Meadow.

Icicles

Sherri and I have a continued discussion about the conversation on the way up. We get things a bit more straightened out. And then it is onward up the road.

I have set a 2:30 turn around time. We get to an overlook where we can look south about 2:15. The view is awesome. With Shell Mountain to the east, Mt Silliman behind it and then some of the snow covered mountains way to the south. I stay out at the point for a while, soaking it all in.

Sherri on the road 

Now it is time to go back to the car. The return trip is much faster than us going out. We kept looking back to see when Korra and Steven would be passing us. Instead we talked to one skier who was going in to get his evening exercise. We warned him that there were a couple snowmobilers coming. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, they came roaring by.

By 3:30, we were at the car. Steven and Korra were waiting there patiently. How did they get ahead of us? You remember those tracks leading around Rabbit Meadow? They were Steven’s. I guess I need to do better in my track reading.

By 3:45, we were ready to leave. Steven and Sherri had already decided on going to Bear Mountain Pizza for dinner. We ordered pizza when we got to Big Stump. It was ready for us when we arrived at 4:25. Then we head down the hill, stopping at the Clovis Costco for gas. Sherri and Steven went in to pick up some stuff for a potluck Monday night. Then we are home at 6:30, in time to watch Jeopardy.

Extra Photo's

Snow doughnut

Looking toward Big Baldy

Sherri on the road again

January 6, 2026 - Hiking the Goat Mountain Trail

 

Title: January 6, 2026 - Hiking the Goat Mountain Trail
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Road 426

Trail: Goat Mountain Trail

Actual Destination:  About a third of a mile below the ridge between north and South Goat Mountain.

Distance:  6.21 miles

Start Time: 10:27

End Time:    3:35

Travel Time: 5:08  (1.21 mph)

Moving Time: 4:14   (1.47 mph)

Elevation Rise:  1,200'

Descent: 1,234‘

Maximum Elevation: 4,419'

Minimum Elevation:  3,550

GPS Tracks

Description:

Bass Lake

Originally we were thinking about doing Stevenson Falls. But when we talked last night about when we would need to leave, we decided that the logistics would not work out. I had noticed a couple of days ago on the Central Valley Hiking Group that a series of hikes our of Oakhurst was posted. I looked at them and say that hiking up Goat Mountain had a real possibility. We probably are not going to make the top as it is a 1,200’, 8+ mile hike-a bit more than either of our conditioning would stand

We had asked if Steven and Rachel wanted to come with us. Neither had the time, so it was just Sherri and I. I busied myself in the morning while Sherri got ready. We got in the car by 9. But before we would travel far, we stopped at Costco for gas-we only had three gallons left. A minor disagreement ensued as I used the wrong credit card. After taking care of that, we head on up towards North Fork. Then onto Road 221, then the Teaford Saddle Road, finally we turned onto Road 426. We traveled less than a mile and found the place to park. We arrived about 10:15 and got on the trail by 10:25.

Sherri on the prowl

 

The first thing we noticed was how cool the temperature is. That is cool, not cold, a great temperature to hike in. With all of the rain over the weekend, there is a lot of moisture on the ground and in the air. The first mile or so is on a service road. At the top of the northern peak of Goat Mountain are some communication towers. The service road gives us a gentle start to our hike. It is generally gently inclined, crossing several seasonal creeks.

This is where I get a bit dissatisfied with the topo map I had downloaded. The map shows that the trail will criss-cross the road for the next couple of miles. In reality, when we turn onto the Goat Mountain Trail, that is the last time we see the road until we return. I think if we went about a half a mile on the road.

The trail now starts to go up at a good clip. Occasionally there will be places where the trail follows the contour lines. This is usually when we get close to a creek. But then it will then go up again, never as steep as last week at Hensley. But unlike Hensley, there is only an occasional very short downhill. We are continually going up. Sherri is doing better at this than I am. I am lagging back while Sherri waits for me.

Gary on flat land

But I keep on plodding along. The trail is enjoyable on this winter day. While there are some evergreen trees, there are more oak trees. There is a smattering of huge manzanita bushes-if they came in trees, that is what they looked like. We see the acorns on the trail along with the remains of the Fall leaves. The brownness of the leaves on the ground ordinarily might lead to dewariness. But today, they seem to be right in place, almost relaxing.

After a lot of huffing and puffing, we reach the junction with the Spring Cove trail. A very short-very short-distance we find a log and have a lunch break. We found some mushrooms right beside us-one large and one colorful. Then to top it off, we spot a bee hovering around. Looks like a honey bee to me, but I could be wrong.

We feel a bit rested after lunch. We decided to go on up the trail another half an hour. When we stop, it turns out we are only a third of a mile and 100’ down from the top-this came to my attention when I plotted our GPS tracks on a map after getting home. While we felt good doing this after lunch walk, Sherri in particular will pay for it later.

You would think going downhill would be easier than going up. For me, that would be true lately. But for Sherri, her ankle is bothering her. And as we go down further, it bothers her more. Nothing sprang or broken-maybe it is just stressed. Still, we go down, a bit faster than when we came up-this is because I was slow going up.

Going up we saw nobody. But coming down, we first saw a woman who went up the slope a lot quicker than I did. Then about ten minutes later two young men came running up the trail. All of these people gave us reason to stop and move off of the trail to give them room to get by. Of course, it is also an excuse for us to get a few moments of rest.

By the time we get back to the road-which turns out it goes to Bass Lake, not a service road to the top-we are feeling tired and ready to get back to the car. I am sure this last little bit must be two miles-in reality about half a mile. But to the car we make it by 3:30.

We decided to eat in Oakhurst. After narrowing down the food we wanted, it is Mexican. Which one will be determined where we come onto Highway 41. Turns out we come out right in the middle of Oakhurst, so Los 2 Carnales Restaurant is the one closest. I must have been concentrating too much about parking as Sherri needed to alert me to a car parked on the other side which I would have run into. I missed it-but this is a wake up call for me to be more aware.

We enjoyed our meal-Sherri with a California burrito and I an enchilada platter. We left the restaurant at 4:50 and headed home. There was a lot of traffic on 41 when we got close to Fresno. It is 5:45 by the time we get home. I lay down for 45 minutes until Jeopardy then take a relaxing shower afterwards. I am ready for bed by 9:30.

 

Extra Photo's

Sherri on the trail

Bass Lake Dam

Bass Lake

Looking past the San Joaquin towards Shaver Lake

Shuteye Peak

Animals

 
Flowers and Plants

January 1, 2026 - Hensley Lake

 

Title: January 1, 2026 - Hensley Lake

Hike Info : Description : Background :  Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head:  Buck Ridge Trailhead

Trail: East side of Hensley Lake

Destination:  Loop

Distance:  5.50 miles 1

Start Time: 8:58

End Time:   1:25

Travel Time:  4:27 (1.24 mph)

Moving Time: 3:19   (1.66 mph)

Elevation Rise:  1,305'

Descent: 1,307‘

Maximum Elevation: 740'

GPS Tracks

 ¹Jerry, our hike organizer, says that other GPS’ have come back as 6.5 miles. Google Earth shows 5.5 miles for the distance. The elevation gain on Google Earth shows slightly less at 1,249’. There is an article in Sierra News Online which has this trail at 6.95 miles. While the Hiking Project as the mileage at 5.9 miles and 570’ gain. AllTrails shows a route which stops about a half a mile short of where we did. That route is 4.7 miles and 505’. I think that elevation gain is low.

Description:

Today is New Years Day. Sherri and I many times will go for a hike, ski or snowshoe on this day as there are not too many people up and about on this day, making it a good time for an outing. Today, I alone have signed up for a Central Valley Hiking Group Meetup hike. It is the first Meetup hike which I have done in five years-as you can see on my blog, I have been hiking many times in the last five years. Sherri did not seem too interested in going on this hike, so it is just me.

When I woke up, a little after 6, there was a pretty good rain coming down. I had my breakfast. Then made sure that my rain gear was in tack-actually, but on my rain rain jacket and pants over my hiking clothes. Then it is off to the Sportsman’s parking lot. I arrived around 7:45. There were some vehicles without people in the parking lot. Shortly afterwards, there is a woman came over and asked if I am part of the Meetup group-yep. I invited her into the car while we waited. Pretty soon Jerry, our hike organizer, comes over. We. talk a few minutes and decide to take my car up as there are no other ducks in the parking lot who are ready to hike.

It is about a 45 minute drive up to Hensley Lake’s Buck Ridge trail head from Fresno. We arrived a little before 9. There we meet Mario. That makes four of us on this adventure: Jerry, Mario, Tau and myself. At the start of the hike, the rain is still falling, but not like it was in Fresno. So I leave on my rain clothes to start with.

Jerry talked about this being a conditioning hike. I quickly see what he is talking about. The trail goes up and over ridges. I would have thought that a more enlightened trailbuilder might have put in the extra effort by gently rounding around ridges where possible. Still, this will get a person’s legs and lungs into shape if they keep at it.

Along the lines of the last thought, the first couple of ridges I do OK with. But then I start wondering about the sanity of signing up for this hike. While the four of us are not setting a torrid pace, it is a bit faster than when Sherri and I hike. Also I can usually count on a few short breaks going up these ascents. Instead, I trudge up the slopes to stop at the top with the trio of hikers waiting for me. But the legs are doing good, it is just the lungs having issues.

The issue is that there is not just three or four of ground oscillations, rather what seems like an endless series of increasing undulations. Jerry thinks there are about 30 of these humps to cross on our trip today. Later on I counted 18 distinct rises on my graph from the GPS. Each one seems like it rises more than the previous-at least on the trip out.

About a third of a mile before the farthest point out, I ask, are we coming back this same way? Jerry reinforces that this is a loop. I can take the hint. But I do recognize that when the others drop about 50’ off the trail for lunch, it is better for me to stay on the trail. This is where we meet the Fresno River, making it at 11:45. I enjoy 15-20 minutes of being alone while the others are below. While eating lunch I text Sherri to say that I have the car and am having lunch at the far end of the loop. I noticed then that my phone screen has a crack on it. Not sure when this happened as I do not remember whacking any rocks. First time I cracked a screen in about ten years..

I am not saying that the others are bad company, far from it. I enjoyed walking and talking with each of them. Jerry is somebody whom I have walked a lot with. We have a similar sense of humor. Mario we have also hiked with before-it seems like Mario has been inflected with our hikes and survived it. Then Tau is both new to the area and the Meetup group. She is a traveling occupational therapist. It was fun finding out about her.

Earlier I had shed my rain jacket since the rain had stopped. During the lunch break, off came the rain pants as well^. The rain had stopped about 20 minutes after we started our hike, so there was no sense hiking in a sweat box. As the day continued, we got a bit more sun, so it was time to shed some of my layers.

On the return trip, we take a lower route than the trip in. The rises are not as steep or high as going in. But by this time, it does not take much for the lungs to need replenishing. Also the legs are starting to feel any climb. At least downhills and levels are gentle to all parts of my body and I can do a little catching up.

I have not said too much about the scenery. Hensley Lake is mostly in the distance. It also has not filled up from the Winter’s storms. So it is not the main attraction. What holds my eyes is the vibrant greenery of the Winter grasses with the outlines of the dormant oak trees. At this time of year, I would come again-hopefully in a lot better shape.

The trip back does not have the steep hills as going over had. But I am lagging further and further behind. Jerry and gang stop for me at the top of each rise. I catch my breath and continue on. I am glad when we reach the trail we came in on. The car is less than a quarter of a mile further. We got back to the car a little before 1:30.

Then it is time to drive back to the Sportman’s parking area to drop off Jerry and Tau. We all agree it has been a good day, even if I did not have the stamina for it. After dropping off the two, I go to Office Max to recycle some ink cartridges. Then it is back home. I arrived home about 3:00. I think Sherri sees how tired I am, takes pity and sends me off to rest.

Background

More of an FYI. There are several reasons why I was struggling going uphills. There was the traditional reason: just being out of condition. But there were a couple medical reasons. Several years ago, I had a couple bouts of an unexplained illness which I was totally fatigued. Each time I partially recovered. Then two years ago I got struck with long COVID. After each of these I have worked to gain some semblance of endurance. I guess that is what I need to work on this year again.

 

Flowers and Plants