April 11, 2017 - Wallace Creek, Carrizo Plains

Title: April 11, 2017 - Wallace Creek, Carrizo Plains
Hike Info : Description : Background :  Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head:Wallace Creek Trailhead

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking : Car

Trail: Wallace Creek Trail

Destination: Monument Boundary

Distance:  2.70 miles 1

Start Time: 3:00 appox

End Time:  5:01   

Travel Time:  2:01 (1.34 mph)

Moving Time:  0:34  (2.38 mph)

Elevation Rise:  326'

Maximum Elevation: 2,500'
 GPS Tracks-Driving
 GPS Tracks-Walking Wallace Creek

 ¹I discovered I had not turned on my GPS when we started. So the recorded tracks is only the return trip, which was 95% downhill. I have doubled the distance from the GPS; used the descent as the elevation rise; moving time is only the downhill. But the start time is a guess.

Description:

This write up will be a bit sparse. Not so much because of the lack of things to see,  but my words will not compare to the pictures. The mileage above is only for the Wallace Creek trail, not the Soda Lake Boardwalk or Overlook.

At the entrance

For several years I had been hearing about the Carrizo Plain and wondered what the attraction was. This year we started to hear that the wildflowers were plentiful and really worth going there. One thing about the Carrizo Plain is it remoteness. It is a three hour drive from Fresno. So did we really want to drive six hours in a day? We decided to do an overnight and take a room in San Luis Obispo. Even that is an hour and 40 minutes away.

We got ready at a leisurely pace-leaving Fresno a touch before 10:00am. Sherri drives down Highway 41 until Kettleman City. I then take over, going down a maze of roads-thankful for GPS’ in this case, including Highway 33, Bitterwater Road, then ending up on Highway 58. We pass a large solar collector field before turning off on Soda Lake Road. Nothing really promising yet on the flowers, but a lot of greenness in the hills. But then after going 6 or 7 miles down Soda Lake Road we reach the Monument boundary. When we paused for a picture we look around and see hills covered with yellow.

This turns out to be the entrance to fields of color. We stop at an Overlook to Soda Lake, There is a parking lot behind the hill, but we park by the road and walk up a dirt road a couple hundred yards. Then climb up the hill which serves as the Soda Lake Overlook. This serves as a 360 degree look around the Carrizo Plain. If nothing else, this is a good first stop just to get one’s bearings. We are able to see Soda Lake in the foreground and the Temblor Range to the east. Then to the south and west is Caliente Mtn. All over the the plain and up the sides of the mountains are blossoming flowers. There is a warning for us though: like the garden a long time again, there is a snake spotted. Somebody said it was a rattlesnake. The 2 seconds of view of the snake I saw made me think it was big.

People on the Overlook

On the overlook

Sherri on boardwalk

From this height, we go down to the level of the Sada Lake. Instead of a bird's eye view, we see the flowers up close. There are Nelder and Ferris Goldfields, along with Purple Owl’s Clove and, of course, California Golden Poppies.  We walk down to the lake on a dirt path. But once there, we walk along a boardwalk for a good third of a mile. The lake on one side and fields of flowers on the other. Nice. We have lunch on a bench. 

Gary on boardwalk

 Now what to do? We decide to go to the east side of the plain to a place called Wallace Creek. To get there, it is off of paved roads and onto dirt, washboard type roads. Except for the vibration, the road is not bad, as long as we go about 15-20mph.  

Wallace Creek is noteworthy because there is an example of fault movement of the tectonic plates. In this case the North American and the Pacific plates. The trail has an interpretive brochure with it-you can get it online. We walk up the trail-a long straight pathway to an embankment. Behind the mound is where Wallace Creek flows, while at least if there was water in it. The creek comes straight down the hillside until this spot and takes a right turn for 30 yards or so. Then continues on down the hill. This right turn is the result of the plate slippage talked about before.

Wallace Creek

But today, that is not the attraction. It is the wildflower fields beyond this point. Not only are their fields of yellow like we have been seeing, but purples, blues, oranges and white. So we climb up all the way to border of the monument. Flowers were covering the hillside. But you can tell that from the pictures.

After we came back to the car, we returned back to the main road and went down to the Visitor’s Center and had our sandwich dinner outside. The Visitor Center is opened for limited number of days. So we sat out on the picnic bench. After we finished our eats, it was time to head over to San Luis Obispo and our hotel-Travelodge. But as we were going down Highway 58, we saw buffalo. Not one, but about a dozen of them. We stopped and gawked for about 15 minutes. The buffalo belong to the Camatta Ranch which also has rents out rooms-maybe the next time we go to Carrizo Plain we will stop there.

It is starting to turn dark and we still have an hour to go to San Luis Obispo. When we get in, it must be around 8:00pm or later. Looks like there is some construction going on. But we are tired and ready for bed. We get our room and go up the stairs. But the room looks like it had been slept in already. So another trip down and we get another room. After reading for a bit, sleep comes quickly.

Background

Wallace Creek. I use topo maps. A lot of times I use older ones because while they may not show the latest development, the land does not change, does it? In this case, when I look at the older 1959 topo maps, the land has changed. Wallace Creek along the fault has moved a great ways, about 420' in the last 3800 years.  When looking at the 1959 topo maps, the creeks show most of the creeks with a straight down. But one creek does not. You can download both an interpretive guide and the Geological Society of America Field Guide for this area.





Extra Photo's

Patches of color

Soda Lake from Overlook

Panorama from overlook

More of Soda Lake

Soda Lake

Wallace Creek

Field of Color

Temblor Ridge

Temblor Ridge

Carrizo Plain

Animals

Lizard

Buffalo

 
Flowers and Plants

Nelder Goldfields

Baby Blue Eyes

San Joaquin Blue Curls

Gypsum Loving Larkspur

Purple Owl's Clover

June 26, 2014 - Kern Hot Springs to Kern-Kaweah River

Title: June 26, 2014 - Kern Hot Springs to Kern-Kaweah River

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail: High Sierra Trail and Colby Pass Trail

Destination:Junction Meadows

Actual Destination: Kern-Kaweah River

Distance: 7.02 miles

Start Time:  8:40

End Time:    6:37

Travel Time: 9:57 (0.71 mph)

Moving Time: 4:14(1.65 mph)

Elevation Rise: 2,824'

Maximum Elevation: 9,581'

Description:

Our camp

Interesting Clouds

 When I got up, there were a few clouds in the sky, some dark. I had noticed early on how diffused the sky looked. Is this a sign of rain for us?  Clouds will be a fascination of today.  But that was not the end of concerns. Sherri pretty quickly found out that she could not find her Glide and her ziploc bag of foot and personal hygiene stuff. This was a cause of anguish, which will last through breakfast. The Glide could not be found.

Sherri crossing Wallace Creek

Kern River

So after breakfast we takeoff, without our Glide around 8:40. Sherri is charging out of the gate and I am not able to keep up. I get brief views down the canyon, but no good shots for pictures. While keeping a good pace, I can tell I am straining a bit at our pace, even though the climb is not bad at all. I finally catch up to Sherri at the Whitney Creek crossing. She had to stop to figure out the crossing. Ray shows his strength and adds a couple of boulders to allow for Sherri to cross. I am impressed.

Gary Crossing Kern River

Then off we go again. Not much rising on this trail, maybe 300' in 2+ miles. We then hit Wallace Creek.  Each of us cross in our own way. I manage to cross on rocks, while Ray and Steven cross on two different logs.  Andrea crosses on the same log Ray does. But Rachel and Sherri wade across. We then decide to have lunch at the Kern River. But before lunch, we pass through Junction Meadow. A backpacker friend of ours had warned us that the Kern could be trouble crossing. We would at least get our feet wet. When we come to the Kern crossing, his prediction is only half true-we do get our feet wet. as we get to wade across the Kern River. We are thankful that the crossing is above the Kern-Kaweah River, also for a dry year making this an easy early season ford.

Up the Kern-Kaweah

We go to the right of the knob

We have lunch at noon, just a couple hundred yards from the ford. Now we turn from the High Sierra Trail to going up the Kern-Kaweah. The first 100 yards is not bad. Then I label this trail as No Trail For Old Men. It is a climb. About 1000' a mile and a quarter. It takes us about two hours to do it. But this is also a trail with benefits. As we ascend, if we turn around from time to time, we see the rest of the High Sierra Trail. This is the part which goes up Wallace Creek, or as Andrea has labeled it, The Ascent From Hell Trail, because of what she did last year and the heat she experienced in Kern Canyon. It does appear to mean not a fun climb, but neither is our present trail.

Kern-Kaweah

Up Wallace Creek with Mr Young and Hale

Kern Canyon

More mountains appear in the east. To the west, we see a little waterfall in the distance between the crack we are climbing towards. The creek actually has a name, Picket Creek.  Even more as we climb we see distinct forms in the east, the daughters think it may be Whitney, but I wonder if it isn't the mountains before Whitney-Young and Hale.

Rachel and Steven descending

Andrea about to go down

We finally get to the top of this climb and have a bank ball break. We need it, at least I do. But what awaits us on the other side? A very steep descent, not long, about 240'. But it is you pick your steps carefully. But we are starting to see more of the Kern-Kaweah Canyon we are to travel up.  There is another rise, but not nearly as steep as before and then we find ourselves at Rockslide Lake.

Rockslide Lake

Rockslide Lake

This becomes a scene from Hunger Games, where everybody seems to enjoy themselves, then suddenly the clock strikes the hour and terror happens. We are walking along, enjoying the sight of the lake. Ray is even fishing spots along this wide spot called a lake; Rachel is filling her water bottle, and my family enjoys a little respite from the steep trail. Suddenly, we are  attacked by swarms of persistent mosquito's. They it's seemed to keep with us no matter how many we killed. Then Deet comes to our rescue! We can then hike in relative peace for a ways, until we start up on the next rise.

Rachel at Rockslide

Picket Creek

While this rise is not bad, after the previous one, we are worn out. Steven and I get ahead of Sherri and Andrea. So I try to do my part and leave them a Hunger Games gift of belly flops. Steven and  I find an ok camp spot at the top of the rise and drop our packs.

Andrea of the mountains

Everybody agrees this is how far we should go, even though I convince Andrea to go with me about a third of a mile more to see if we can find a better one-no. It is windy, which keeps the pests away. But the after dinner conversation is short because of it and the cold. Still is light, a little before 8 when we roll into our beds.

Trail Lesson:

White Phlox

When something is not working right, or I am missing something, or something is broken, work around, or fix what is not correct. But do not fall into despair, but look for the good in the situation.

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

Cloud bank over the edge of the Sierra's

Interesting Clouds to our east

Ray pondering the clouds

What mountain?

What Mountain?