May 30, 2018 - SEKI Hikes

Title: May 30, 2018 - SEKI Hikes
Hospital Rock: Hike Info : Description 
Moro Rock: Hike Info : Description
Eagle View:Hike Info : Description 
Tokopah Falls: Hike Info : Description 
Big Stump: Hike Info : Description
 Trail Lessons : Background : Flowers and Plants

This was a series of five events-some are too short to really be called a hike-organized by John and Cathey of the meetup group, Central Valley Hiking Group. The idea was to give a sampler along the General’s Highway corridor in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.We started down by Ash Mountain in the southern part of Sequoia, near Three Rivers and ended up at Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley for dinner. A very full day.

Grinding Holes

Trail head: Hospital Rock Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Walked

Destination: Petroglyphs

Distance: 50 yards-No GPS




 

 

Description:

Pictrographs

We got out of the car at the Hospital Rock parking lot and went across the highway. There are a couple of grinding holes close by. Then the pictographs are behind some boulders. My thinking is there must have been some tall Native Americans back in those days. The pictographs are a smeared, but you can make out some of them. The yucca plants and buckeye are in bloom. We followed a social trail up a little ways where we came out onto the highway again with a view of Moro Rock. Back to the cars and off we go. 

View of Moro Rock from Hospital Rock

Unknown to us, there were more pictographs than what we saw.

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Looking east to the Kern-Kaweah Divide

Trail head: Moro Rock parking area

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Moro Rock

Destination: Moro Rock

Actual Destination:

Distance:  0.6 miles No GPS

Sherri climbing up Moro Rock

Description:

The walk itself is not for those who are concerned with heights. The trail immediately rises up the side of Moro Rock, ascending through a series of pathways, stairs, and cracks in the rock as you interweave between the east and west sides of the rock. I take plenty of breaks to gather in the sights, as well a bit of oxygen. On this trail, it is worth doing that since you rise up about a hundred feet per tenth of a mile to a total of 300’. Please admiring the different views of both the Kern-Kaweah Divide and the Central Valley are some of the enjoyable parts of doing this walk.

More of the Kern-Kaweah Divide

From the top, the view is incredible!. It is a mostly clear day-at least the haze has not set in with full force. There are clouds over the Kern-Kaweah, but they just add to the beauty. This is a 360 degree view, from Little Baldy and Mt Sillman in the north to Sawtooth and Castle Rocks in the south; from Alta Peak and the whole slew of Kaweah peaks in the east to Lake Kaweah in the west. Just a good view. Not as crowded as it could be. But it is time to get off the Rock and on to the next hike.

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Trail head: Crescent Meadows

Hike Info:

Type: HikingTrail:

Destination: Eagle’s View

Actual Destination: Eagle’s View and Tharp’s Log

Distance:  2.64 miles  ¹

Elevation Rise:  660'

Descent: 660‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,913'

GPS Tracks-From Google Earth rather than GPS

Group at Eagle's View

 ¹From Google Earth-did not turn on GPS.

Description:

I should have thought and turned on my GPS, knowing this would be a two mile round trip. Since I have taken people here before, John has asked me to lead the way. Not a problem. We circle around the south end of Crescent Meadow after admiring the High Sierra Trail sign and wondering how far should we hike today? 60 miles gets us to Mt Whitney and another 11 miles gets us down to Whitney Portal. Nobody, particularly me, are up to it. So off we go to Eagle View.

Returning from eagle's View

Eagle View is an easy walk along the High Sierra Trail, about half an hour. We climb a ridge. But before we get all the way up, we come across a family whose child has skinned a knee. Being the good former Boy Scout, I offer a band-aid. I dig to get to me First-Aid kit and find that unlike a good Boy Scout, I do not have any band-aids. But Sherri discovers a butterfly band-aid and that satisfies the wounded boy. And off we go.

We go up to the top of the ridge where John asks about where the other trails go to-Trail of the Sequoia’s and Tharp’s Log. And then we are off to Eagle’s View. This view gives an expanded view of the Kern-Kaweah Divide without the crowds Moro Rock provides. Our group enjoys it enough to have another group picture. Then John says lets go over to Tharp’s Log instead of returning back how we came.

Tharp's Log

Log Meadow

So off we go again, back to the junction and we head towards Log Meadow, only a tenth or two of a mile away. Then around the meadow we go. I should say here, as I have often said, we become inured to the beauty around us by the familiarity of seeing something so often. So it can be a real joy to having a person along who is experiencing a mountain trail, a Sequoia Gigantea, a mountain meadow, and a granite dome for the first time. So wonderful to have Patty’s fresh eyes on scenes which I have become accustomed to!

After we reach the end of Log Meadow, we come to Tharp’s Log. Pretty much like we have seen it before. We all are getting a bit hungry, so we do not stop very long here. From this point back to the parking lot, the path is paved. When we get back to the cars, we take off to Lodgepole for a bite to eat.

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Trail head: Lodgepole Campground

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Tokopah Falls Trail

Destination: Tokopah Falls

Distance:  4.27 miles

Start Time: 2:43

End Time:  5:12

Travel Time: 2:29  (1.72 mph)

Moving Time: 2:04  (2.07 mph)

Elevation Rise:  726'

Descent: 562‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,319'

GPS Tracks

Description:

After eating at Lodgepole, we pack into the cars for a short drive into the campground. This getting in and out of the cars has been a bit wearing. Sherri and Lee decide to stay with the vehicles and take a nap for this hike.The rest of us take off for the 2+ miles to Tokopah Falls.

Tokopah Falls

The trail starts inside of the Lodgepole Campground, just across the bridge over the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. It is flowing pretty good. The trail goes up the north side of the River and climbs pretty steadily. It is a busy trail, but not as busy as it will be later on in the summer. We go through a lodgepole pine forest where a combination of grasses, berries and trees grow among the granite. I am towards the last. Not really tired-the legs, not the lungs for a change, are the most affected. Still I am hiking well. Patty and Catherine are before me. We catch glimpses of John, Cathey and Oz in front of us.

Tokopah Falls

At one point I stop and talk with a couple which I found out are naturalists for the Sequoia Conservancy. They are on their day off exploring. We trade information for about five minutes and then are off. By now the rest of the group is waiting for me.

Tokopah Falls

So off we go again and in about ¾ of a mile we get to Tokopah Falls. I think it is running fuller than I have seen it before. This can be a really beautiful set of falls going from the top to the bottom. All of us want our pictures taken here.

Time to go back and I draw the rear guard station-or more diplomatically called the Sweep. Coming in last means that I get to take lots of pictures of what every comes into my eyesight. Which very often I do not do justice to them.

I catch up to John eventually and we talk on the way down. John is thinking we need to hurry before it gets dark. But I say that we still have a couple of hours until it gets dark. So we continue to wander down the path in an unhurried fashion.

Marble Fork of the Kaweah River

When we get back to the cars, John announces we will stop for our final stop at the Big Stump Parking Lot. Ahhh, do we haft to? We are tired! Whine, whine, whine.

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Trail head: Big Stump Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Big Stump Meadow

Destination: Mark Twain Stump

Distance:  1.23 miles

Start Time: 6:02

End Time:   6:48 

Travel Time:  0:45 (164 mph)

Moving Time: 0:39  (1.89 mph)

Elevation Rise:  326'

Descent: 290‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,436'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Big Stump Meadow

It is around 6pm, a bit late for a hike, but it is short and John is truly excited to show us the Mark Twain Stump. But we are told it is only a short ways. So all of us take off down the trail. The operative word is done. Not a lot, but this is the end of the day and we have been in and out of cars a lot. So we get down to the Meadow, we cross the Fallen Giant. log-a huge log which splintered upon impact. Then it rounds around several stumps. As we walk this area, I think of snowshoeing this a  year and a half ago with Betty and Rose. What a difference a layer of snow makes in appearance.

I call this a castle stump

Then we get to the Mark Twain Stump. It is a huge stump and we all climb up the stairs and get on top of the stump with ample room to spare. You can tell from the excitement on John’s face that he really wanted to share the history of this stump, so I am glad we did it. It is a day of sharing wonders and excitement from those younger than I to those older. What at great world we live in where there is so much to share and enjoy.

After the mandatory photo-op, we have our return trip back to the cars. Nothing fancy, just a short mile and a quarter walk. On the way back to Fresno, we order pizza’s from Bear Mountain Pizza. Then back home by 8:30pm.

Trail Lesson:

Just because I am tired does not mean that we should not walk a trail to share someone else’s excitement.

Background

Pictographs vs petroglyphs: pictographs are painted on the rock, whereas petroglyphs are carved into the rock. From the Last Adventurer blog

Hospital Rock. Evidently there is many more pictographs in the area than what we saw. Michael Fuller has a web page which shows these pictographs in more detail.

Mark Twain Stump. This was a 1,350 year old tree which was felled in 1891. It took two mean thirteen days to fall the tree. The purpose? To display its slabs from its 16’ diameter trunk at New York and London museum. From the PBS site on National Parks

 
Flowers and Plants

Buckeye

Yucca Plant

Sequoia Gigantea

Snow Plant

Dogwood

February 18, 2015 - Crescent Meadows Wandering

Title: February 18, 2015 - Crescent Meadows Wandering

 Trail head: Crescent Meadows Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Crescent Meadows/Log Meadows/High Sierra/Trail of the Sequoias/Congress Trail/Alta Trail

Destination: Loop

Actual Destination:

Distance: 8.33 miles ^{1 2}
Start Time: 9:51
End Time: 16:53
Travel Time: 7:01 (1.19 mph)
Moving Time: 4:49 (1.73 mph) ²
Elevation Rise: 1,461' ^{2 3}

Maximum Elevation:

 ¹Others in the group measured 9.2 and 9.6 miles. I am inclined to believe in the additional mileage.
 ²I went about a half of a mile further than most of the group-even though there was some like Steven who I think went farther. My half of a mile was coming back on a couple of occasions.Because of the extra walking, I did hike longer and had more elevation rise, but not terribly significant, maybe another 100' rise and 10 minutes more walking.
 ³I noticed that the GPS starting elevation is 6,326' and ending is 6,736', or about 400' difference. So I suspect the true elevation rise is 1,060'.

Description:
It is a bit foggy today. Saw that one of our hikers has dropped today, so we should be 16 people. We get to Kohl's at 6:50 and a few people are there before us. We quickly grow to the 14 people with picking up two more along the way. As we head out on Hwy 180, the fog is not too bad, but enough to remind me to be cautious. Below Squaw Valley we break out into the sunshine. We make Wuksaki Lodge around 9 and Carl from Visalia is waiting for us there-Rob has picked up Richard along the way. The group makes use of the restrooms and coffee pots before getting to Crescent Meadows.

Picture from Richard

The day begins with it being a bit cool, but clear and looks enjoyable. Apparently we lost somebody between Wuksaki and here. So Sherri is staying around for a few minutes to see if he shows up. It is a little bit before 10 when our boots hit the trail, or should I say the pavement? We tackle the Crescent Meadow trail first. It is paved and we curl around the south end of the meadow-at the end of the hike we will see the north and west part of this trail. Even with it being warm these days, the meadow grass has enough sense to stay dormant until it knows snow won't come again this year. This trail is level and there is an offshoot to Log Meadow.

Tharp's Cabin

As we travel this short segment, I realize that I really wanted the next trail to Log Meadow. But that is ok, nobody notices, except for the comment about are we walking paved trails all the way? This area has many intertwining trails and this will be my constant refrain today, I wonder if I am on the right trail?

Deer in Action - Picture from Richard

Tharp's log cabin quickly comes to us. Many are fascinated by it and so we spend time here. Before we leave, Sherri rejoins us with our last hiker, and they also look into the cabin. But I quickly am about to lose two more people as they take off on the wrong trail. What is this? We go a mile and I am on the verge of losing three people? What kind of a ship am I running? 

Sequoia at Log Meadow

 But we do end up all going along Log Meadow. Some of the prettiest views of Sequoias I see along the edge. Also there is this large root ball towards the south of the meadow which fascinates me each time I pass by. It is at least three times as high as I am, just lying on its side, stark in the meadow.

Rose and Christine

Moro Rock - Picture from Richard

At the end of Log Meadow, we take off towards The High Sierra Trail (HST). But before we meet the trail, we find three deer munching along the side of our trail. This has the effect of gathering us all together to gawk at them. But eventually we move and the deer make way for us. This brings us to looking over the Kaweah River. Some people do not believe that we are seeing Moro Rock; all are amazed at the view. But like the commercial says, there is more to come.

View from Eagle's View

When we go about a third of a mile to Eagle View, the Great Western Divide Kern-Kaweah Divide  comes into play. Many have not seen this view, some this is their first trip to the Sierras and there is jaw dropping reaction of this cannot be. I am glad to be their first guide on this. This view is truly magnificent and so close. Whats more, today is the perfect day to see it. Triple Divide, Steward and Lippincott are all so clearly seen. I show them where the HST goes and some want to continue on, that is until I say that the end is 59 miles from here, Mt Whitney. Maybe another day. Still there are folks looking at those mountains wistfully.

Peaks seen from Eagle View from the PeakFinder application

Sawtooth

So we retreat back to the junction with the Trail of the Sequoias and wait for those still gawking at Eagle's View. And we waited, And waited some more. What can you say, when you give a group of people the visual equivalent of crack, should I expect to tear them away?

If Eagle View is like crack, then the Trail of the Sequoias is methadone. It does not have the siren call of the grandiose view seen a few minutes before, but it has the means to bring serenity to the soul. As we progress along this long stretch of trail, we see the younger redwoods with their un-scarred bark and tall, gangly frames. At the end of the trail, there is the mature sequoias which have reigned over the forests for a couple of millennium. In between, we look and see green and red, plants still dormant, but some manzanita have gotten an early start with an early bloom, maybe errant. Sherri has been leading us and finds a nice, sun-lite area to rest for lunch. We may be going a bit slower than I was hoping, but no one is denying the enjoyment factor of what we are witnessing: the forest in Winter wearing shorts and short-sleeves.

Congress Grove

View from ridge

After lunch our trip continues up slightly to the top of a ridge-this is the literally the high point of the trip, but not the last of the climbs we will be doing. From here we get a last view of the snow-covered mountains to the south of Giant Forest. Then we descend down into the Congress Grove area. Today we will not be going to the General Sherman Tree. Instead we head more west and meet up with the Alta Trail. But even this simple maneuver was  confounded by  people being interested in the Chief Sequoyah Tree and the Congress Grove trees. I guess there could be worse things to be detained by.

But we move on to the final third of our hike, and it turns out the hardest of the day. We start a gentle descent towards Giant Forest, but we will not walk that far. Along the way, we come across some Indian grinding holes, along with a large sheet of granite.  After about a mile and a half we come to a junction. We take the trail to Huckleberry Meadow. This is the start of the first real up-about 300' rise. The first part of the group charge right up. But confession time, I make it about half way up this slope before I need to savor some mountain aire. But it is time to continue on. Sherri is taking up the rear. So we crest the top of the rest and the remainder of the journey is mostly down or flat.

Big Tree - Small People

A few minutes afterwards we come to the remains of the Squatter's Cabin. There is a couple versions of what who the squatters were. One sign says it was a guy who wanted to live up there until he found out that Hale Tharp already owned the area. The other is that this was part of the Kaweah Colony and they were driven out by the park service.

Huckleberry Meadow

After waiting around for a time, I sent most of the people forward, except for Kurt. Sherri's group had not come yet, so Kurt and I went back up the ridge, but did not get far until we came to the last group. We walked down with them. Some folks were pretty tired by now, so I walked with them and everybody else went to the car, about 3/4 of a mile from the cabin. I think this was the first longer hike for some people. Still we hiked the whole thing, going past Huckleberry Meadow and over a small ridge before dropping into Crescent Meadow. When we topped to rest, we saw a bird, I thought it might be a Western Tanager, but not being an ornithologist, or even something remotely close, I think I am wrong.  But it is interesting that going slow, we get to see a lot.

We have one more adventure and that is sometime over the Winter two trees knocked down, blocking the trail. But Steven E and Sherri found the way around it and all got to the cars. A couple of us said, lets eat-always a fitting way to end the day. So we stopped at Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley for some eats. We got home around 7:30 or so, a bit tired, but having enjoyed the day.

Trail Lesson:

It is easier to maintain your energy as you go along, than to regain what you have lost.

June 27, 2014 - Kern-Kaweah River to Colby Lake

Trail straight to Colby Pass

Title: June 27, 2014 - Kern-Kaweah River to Colby Lake

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail: Colby Pass

Destination: Colby Lake

Distance:  7.06 miles ¹

Start Time:  9:08am

End Time:  7:46pm

Travel Time: 10:38 (0.66 mph)

Moving Time: 8:42 (0.81 mph)

Elevation Rise: 3,054'
Elevation Descended: 1,724'

Maximum Elevation: 12.023'

Description:

Morning has broken

Sherri with morning tea

When I woke up, I saw Sherri's eyes open. Pleasant way to start the day. But it also means I slept in a bit. That would be until 6, but then I laid around in bed for another half an hour before crawling out of the bag. Even then, I was the first up. That is OK. Yesterday was a bit hard on us. Today will be a short mileage day, but lots of elevation gain, just a bit more than yesterday. This may be the hardest day of our trip. After today, it is downhill and rolling trails.

Eureka!!! Andrea found the missing Glide from yesterday! All looks well with the world!

The Fisherman

Gary at rest

Ready to go again

We get off around 9. The trail is up, but gradual, at least at the start. Go up a ridge and then across some granite. A good wind is blowing in our faces, but we are warm from our walking. A few puffy clouds in the distance. Even with the wind, the Deet still needs to come out. Still life could be a lot worse. Beautiful scenery abounds. Whitney is seen, along with Muir and Hitchcock mountains to the east. We stop for our first break at a nice set of cascades. I do not think we have gotten into hiking mode this morning. Still a relaxed time.

Gallats Lake

After the cascades, we climb up a ridge and round a point on the other side of the river. Then we see Gallats Lake, or at least where it should be. There is a beautiful, meandering river through a large middle. It would be paradise, except for one thing. The Hunger Games hour has struck again and the mosquito's have come out to torment us. So we do not stop long to ponder and enjoy, only to apply a fresh layer of Deet.

Kaweah's

Gary, Steven and Andrea at rest

Contemplation or tired?

At the end of the "lake", we leave the river. There is a gradual climb until we re meet the river again. But then we start to experience the real Colby Pass Trail. This trail goes up, straight up, relentlessly for what seems like an eternity, but in reality is about 400'. From the lack of switchbacks, I think this trail must have been done on a low budget. Definitely not on a per mile basis. The four Duran's have not caught up with the Millers, but we stop for lunch anyway at a relatively flat length of trail.

Father and Daughter-So Goood!

 Lunch ends-we have some mosquito's attacking again. But in a short ways, there is a 500' stretch of trail straight up. If anything, this is even more wearing on us than the first rise. When we emerge, there is a flat place where a dried up lake exists during certain times of the year. Andrea went back to bring up Sherri's pack-this will be a re-occurring theme throughout the day. It is time for another stop.

Long Hard Climb Up

Now the trail sort of loops around this flat area, at least it is a gentle rise by what we have been doing. But we are up to 11,000' so any rise becomes a bit of  a breathing exercise. Ray comes down from a spot a couple of hundred feet above us and takes Sherri's pack. When we get to Ray's pack, Andrea takes my sleeping bag and pad. Makes a difference, temporarily.

Tarns

Beauty can make a difference between shear agony and the joy of striving for a goal. This may be why many of the martyrs could stand up to the horrendous tortures-they counted the beauty of the heavenly vision more powerful than the pain they were enduring. On our part-nothing so grand as the martyrs, there were a couple blue-green tarns in stark relief to the hard granite around them. Even as we rose on our final assent, we could see the Kaweah's looming as a sharp fortress wall. The Kern drainage in its splendor stretch out before us. But now we had the steepness of the trail with the 11,000'+ altitude. Every few steps requires a great break. With about 300' left, Ray comes down and takes my pack and trots up the pass.; I take Sherri's. A little while later Rachel comes down and takes Sherri's. We are thankful. At the top of this 12,000' pass, we finally stand, tired, worn but successful, thanks to our friends and family. In a lot of ways, this is the high point of our trip.

On top of Colby Pass

  We relax and enjoy our time up here on Colby Pass. Looking south, we see the Kaweah's and the Kern drainage. But Kern Ridge and Kern Point block the view to the east. But looking on the other side of the pass is north and north west of the Kings River. It is this kind of a sight which I most relish from the top of a pass. How the mountains unfold under you with the deep ravines cut in them, making them even more impressive. We could spend a whole afternoon up here. But the afternoon is wearing away and we need to leave our perch up here.

See the pictures below for what we saw.  Then continue to read after the pictures-after all, you do not want to leave us on top of Colby Pass, do you?

East from Colby Pass

East From Colby Pass

South from Colby Pass

South on top of Colby Pass

Southwest from Colby Pass

Colby Lake From Colby Pass

North from Colby Pass

Andrea above us

While going down Colby Pass does not lend itself to the breathing exercises we had going up, there is a certain breathlessness which terror induces. The north side of Colby is a shear drop, significantly steeper than the south. While the trail is better graded, it still is steep. The trail is buttressed with rock retaining wall in several places, with sand and gravel over rock. The steepness with the surface makes for easy sliding, which on a normal trail is just an inconvenience. But on this trail with its 600' shear drop, the results of a slide could be disastrous. Now you couple that with places where the embankment of the trail has given away, making for a pathway of only a foot-width, the nerves get shaken by any chance slide. Sherri and I take this trail down slowly, very slowly. The rest of our group is cautious, but makes it down this treacherous decline quicker.

Steven going down, way down

That is Colby Pass way up there

 Andrea, bless her, realizes that Sherri would have a better time without her pack. So she goes down, drops her pack and gets Sherri's. I suspect she added 500' of ascent to her hike today. 

Sunset at Colby Lake

The three of us pull into camp at Colby Lake around 7:45, tired and ready for nothing-Steven, Ray and Rachel are already there. As soon as I lay down my pack, Rachel and Ray start pitching our tent, and blowing up our pads. Everybody is too tired to eat dinner, so we all share in some split pea soup. We do decide that we would sleep in tomorrow and take three days too come out-we are a day ahead of schedule. By this time, it is dark and we are all ready for bed after this trying, but awe provoking day.

Unknown peak

Trail Lesson:

While hiking is an individual experience, we each can help each other. There are times to accept that help.

Today's Slogan:

In granite we trust; in scree its disgust

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers	Split Pea Soup	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies, CytoMax, Propel, GORP, Bank Balls

 ¹Usually I discount any distance traveled when we go less than  1/2 mph. This is to minimize the GPS wobble-it can be 25' off from its

Kern-Kaweah River

Gallats Lake

Kaweah's

More of the Kaweah's

A Kern-Kaweah cascade

Rachel's Rocks or a Cairn

Trail Up