February 24, 2019 - Corrine Lake

Title: February 24, 2019 - Corrine Lake
Hike Info : Description :   Extra Photo's 

Trail head: Corrine Lake Road

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Corrine Lake Road

Destination: Corrine Lake

Distance:  6.07 miles

Start Time: 12:53

End Time:     3:34

Travel Time:  2:41 (2.26 mph)

Moving Time:  2:09 (2.83 mph)

Elevation Rise:  705'  ¹

Descent: 712‘

Maximum Elevation: 2,541'

GPS Tracks

  ¹The GPS did not register the elevation. The elevation information is from Google Earth.

Description:

Sherri’s and mine first time organizing a Meetup hike since April. So I am a bit apprehensive about doing this event. The route is not an issue-just follow a dirt road. But just doing this. Fortunately it is a small group whom I have hiked with most of them before.

Our path

We go to church, then get ready. We leave our house at 11:05 and get to the parking lot at 11:20. Lori is waiting for us. John, Tom and Daniel shortly afterwards. We wait until 11:40 before leaving-missing one person. The trip up to the trailhead was pretty quick, about an hour. We see Pam parked at the Road 222 and Corrine Lake Road-she had gone up and down the road to Corrine Lake. She wants to only walk the road again, not drive it. A little while later Daniel drives up-he has gone all the way down the road aways. We are missing one other person, but Pam says that that person is not coming because their dog ended up in Emergency. I should say we have four dogs on this hike. They pretty much are well behaved.

It is approaching 1:00pm and we are all ready to move on. The weather is clear and crisp, just right to start walking. We follow a flume along-this flume comes from ManzanitaLake and feeds the PG&E lake we are going to. We will follow it pretty much all the way. Sometimes it hides in the hills or decides to meander away, but it will always come back to us.

North looking

But the meandering is part of the fun of this walk. Green hills, blue skies with a background of white mountains. Good hiking eye candy. Sherri, Pam and I sort of lag behind everybody. On my part, it is comfortable walking. The rolling hills do not seem to tax me too much, unlike a few previous hikes I went on this year.

Most of the way is on dirt road with ranch houses towards the side. I think there is forest service land around us as well. Soon we come to a gate with pavement. This seems like it is PG&E land. The dirt road is a bit easier on the legs, but the paved is still pretty good. The water seems to be moving faster-probably an optical illusion. But we turn a corner and head the quarter mile more to the lake. I make a pit stop at the outhouse by the power station, then join the group at the lake.

Flume

Corrine Lake is small, maybe just slightly larger than a pond. While easy to get to, we are the only ones there today. Nice to spend a few minutes relaxing by the lake, looking out at the snow covered mountains-actually the snow is a lot closer, maybe at the 4,000’ elevation or lower. Restful. Evidently, not all that restful as Pam, Daniel, Tom and John decide to walk around the lake with the dogs.

By the time they get back, it is time to start heading back to the cars. We retreat down the same road we came in on. This time, I am walking with John, Tom and Daniel. Not a fast walk, but one which I can sustain. We talk about different things. Along the way, we admire the work of over-achieving woodpeckers on some fence posts-sorry no pictures. The walk back is just as pleasant as going out.

Bass Lake and ice

We get back to the cars around 3:30. Usually it is a time for an after hike meal. But the only place I know of in North Fork is closed on Sundays. So we all congratulate each other on a good hike and head off towards home.

Well not all of us. Sherri would like to see the iced over Bass Lake, so we go through North Fork and come to Bass Lake through the back way. The northern part of Bass Lake has ice on it. Definitely do not want to be out with skates on the feet-even if I could ice skate. We decide to have dinner in Oakhurst. We choose El Cid and get stuffed. Now it is time to head back to Fresno.

Extra Photo's

View to the east

 

Southwest looking

 

More snow covered mountains

Boots and water

Still more snow

 

Flume

 

More of the flume

Bass Lake

February 6, 2016 - Corrine Lake

Title: February 6, 2016 - Corrine Lake

Trail head: Road 222, out of North Fork

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Road 8S48

Destination: Corrine Lake

Distance:  6.52 miles

Start Time:  9:07

End Time:  12:13

Travel Time: 3:05 (2.11 mph)

Moving Time: 2:38 (2.48 mph)

Elevation Rise: 748'

Maximum Elevation: 2,557'

Description:
Generally I do not like hiking dirt roads, and today's meetup hike is along a dirt road. So we shall see how I like it. We gather at 7:00am in front of Eddie's Bakery, 22 of us; many I know and some will be new to me. Bruce who is leading this hike is new to me, but from my understanding he has a vast amount of experience. Always interested in another person whose brain I can pick.

The hike starts a little out of North Fork, along Italian Bar Road where the Exact Center of California is located-but that is further down the road. Where the road crosses a flume coming from Manzanita Lake. We will come familiar with this flume as we walk today.  We park a couple hundred yards on the Corrine Lake Rd, at a wide spot and take off down the road.

One of those trees

This road turns out to be pretty nice to walk on. We able to hold conversations, many people abreast. The hills are rolling, making for a bit of exercise. Sometimes you get these dirt roads being pretty dusty, but either because we are in winter or the clayishness of the dirt, the footing is firm.

But what makes this hike good is the trees. I am a sucker for oak trees, particularly when they silhouetted against the sky. There is something which makes me just want to gaze at these trees. I cannot say they are stately or awe-inspiring. Maybe it is that they survive and thrive against odds. Whatever it is, they cause me to look and enjoy, and that is what this walk is doing for me, causing me to enjoy these trees.

Flume at our parking area

The road does follow the flume as it flows in and out of hills, or goes under the road and disappears someplace only to reappear again a half mile later. Sort of fun to ponder this and where it comes from (Manzanita Lake it turns out.) . John's and mine ponder picks up the pace when we notice a pumping station along the flume. Why would they have a pumping station? For what purpose? Corrine Lake is a bit higher up than the flume. But if the water is to create electricity, why pump it higher? These life questions one ponders while we are walking.

Speaking of Corrine Lake, we have arrived there. This is a man-made lake, almost rectangular with a pumping station on one end. We can tell where we walk over the penstocks. There is a small point where we can look out over the San Joaquin and where I think the Million Dollar Mile is. We break here at the lake and I pass out my brownies, which are appreciated.

Corrine Lake

Pumping/Powerhouse at Corrine Lae

Ducks on Corrine Lake

 

Across the San Joaquin River

Now it is time for our trip back. Sort of the same walk back. Jeffery, Jerry K and another are picking up garbage as they go along, including an assortment of what may have been balls in a previous life. That gets things into a playfull mood. Before we know it, we are back at the cars.

Walking the Road

Of course, what is a hike without stopping for eats. So we stop in North Fork at a Mexican restaurant called La Cabana. Food was pretty good.  Not quite set up for a large group, but we make do. As we were leaving, Cathey asked about some neighbors of ours. Turns out they are in the restaurant, so I turn around, go in and talk with them for awhile. At this point, one of our hikers discover that her wedding ring's diamond had gotten lose from its settings and was lost. We looked in my car and around the restaurant and could not find it. That set a low tone for our drive back. But we got back to Fresno safe, but a bit tired.

July 24, 2015 - Manzanita Creek

Title: July 24, 2015 - Manzanita Creek

Trail head: Group D, Manzanita Lake Campground

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Manzanita Creek Trail

Destination:  end of trail

Actual Destination: about half of a mile short of the end

Distance: 6.04 miles

Start Time:  9:18

End Time:  11:56

Travel Time: 2:38 (2.29 mph)

Moving Time: 2:26 (2.48 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,350'

Maximum Elevation: 6,914'

Description:
This was not how we planned it. Sherri and I were to go up to my parents, with me taking care of a few things, then heading off to our friends, Dennis and Bonnie in Oregon. Tuesday we got off to a late start and it turned out things at my parents took more time, so we spent all day Wednesday in Mountain View. So Thursday, after getting a late start-see a theme developing? We headed off to Lassen. Our meetup group is coming Friday, so thought we would get a little hiking in Friday, maybe even Thursday.

We stop in Red Bluff for dinner, eating only half of a Mexican meal. Then on to Lassen. On the way, we found out that our friend Margaret and Joe's anniversary party was postponed-she is in the hospital. So we might have an extra day in the park. We got to Manzanita Lake Campground within Lassen. To my somewhat surprise, there was still some vacancies. We finished pitching our tent around 7:30 and met our neighbors, who are from Palo Alto. Got to bed around 9:20.

After packing up to move to Lost Creek Group Campground, we have breakfast-the other half of last night's Mexican dinner. We have time for a morning hike. Right out of our campground is a trail called the Manzanita Creek Trail. Sign says it is 3.3 miles. But is this one way or total? It is an out and back type of trail.

Manzanita Creek

We start going up this trail.  I quickly become infatuated with trying to take a picture of a little seed ball floating around my head. But the camera will not focus on it-only got bleary pictures. That is sort of sad. Why you might ask besides not getting the picture which I wanted? This was the best part of the trail for awhile. For the first mile and a half, I kept wondering, why did NPS build this trail? I did not see anything particularly special about what we were traveling. I can usually find something which interests me, but I must be dead to it.

Pilot Pinnacle

That is until we cross Manzanita Creek. There the meadows start coming into play. This is the first taste of Lassen meadows and I just think they are so fine. From what I hear a little bit earlier, these plazas of green where overflowing with color. Even now there are some whites and yellows.  Also we are surrounded by peaks foreign to us. Such as Loomis Peak on the west ad Pilot Pinnacle directly ahead. Lassen is to the east and Chaos Crags sort of behind us. So there is a reason to hike this.

But now it is time to turn back after what I estimate is 3 miles, about a third of a mile short of the end.  The trip back is quickly done. I travel a little quicker at the end so I can move the car before the noon checkout time. Sherri is not too far behind. We talk for a few minutes with our Palo Alto neighbors before moving on.

As a note, I was talking with a ranger Saturday and we got into talking about backpacking. he was saying that this trail is his favorite place to backpack. You go a little bit beyond the end of the trail and the meadows get more amazing along with the upper altitude scenery.

Meadow along Manzanita Creek

Mt Lassen

We get to Lost Creek Group Campground around 1 and find a place to pitch our tent. We expect the rest of our group to come in around 2 or so, but they only start trickling in around 3. But Sherri and I are content just reading and lounging. Must have been the long travel day yesterday. All in all, we have 35 people in camp. There are choices to be made and we choose to go up Lassen Peak tomorrow. But I know we will be the slow ones. But this encourages others to go ahead and try the people-that is a good thing. Our dinner was a prepackage affair of chicken and pasta. Tasted good-must have been hungry.

Trail Back

Places: CA-Manzanita Lake (Madera)

Place: Manzanita Lake-2,828 (North Fork)   
(37.2454134, -119.5173808)

Description:


Trips:

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References:

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• Sierra Nevada Tourism site on Manzanita Lake
• Willow Creek History: Tales of Cow Camps, Shake Makers and Basket Weavers by Marcia Penner Freedman
• USGS Schematic on the Big Creek Hydroelectric project

Pictures:

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Places: CA-Manzanita Lake (Lassen)

Manzanita Lake-5,863' (Manzanita Lake)  (40.5337931, -121.5682124)
Manzanita Lake Dam-5,863' (Manzanita Lake)  (40.5343255, -121.5683161)

Description:

From GNIS:  In Lassen Volcanic National Park, on Manzanita Creek, bound on the west of Manzanita Chute and on the east by Chaos Crags.

Trips:

• September 2011 - Overnight stay at Manzanita Campground
• July 23, 2015 - Overnight stay with hike
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References:

•  NPS lake trail description
• Wikipedia
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Pictures:

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