June 14, 2019 - Delilah Lookout

Title: June 14, 2019 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Menu : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Delilah Lookout

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

West Looking with Coastal Range just above the haze

I got up at 0555^*. But we did not get out of the house until 0725, about 10 minutes later than I wanted to. We drove to Delilah without incident, stopping at Davis Road and see that it is open now^**. The road to Delilah seems to be more rutted than it was last month when we drove to the gate. But within the forest, it looks like the road has been recently graded. White Deer Road is now blocked off^***. I wonder what our escape route would be if there is a fire?

North with Mt Nelson and the Three Sisters

Almost all of the time when we get to the lookout, it is pretty clean. But today our initial impression is that everything is in its place and there is a place for everything. This gives the perception of “I had better not touch anything because anything we do will not be at this level of standard.” But we have three days to live in it, so I am sure Mich will have some work to do when she returns Sunday afternoon.

Afternoon Clouds above Spanish Mountain

We go into service at 0930. There is a fire which it seems like everybody has responded to called the Landslide fire. It is over by the Burton Road, 14S02, close to Landslide. It was discovered Wednesday and caused by a lightning strike. Looks like it is 5-10 acres. There was another fire report on Burton road, near Weston Meadow. Wondering if it is the same thing. (Turns out there was also a prescribed burn going on as well). This would keep people occupied all day to varying degrees.

And then we got to listen to P33 try to work out what happened to the gate at Big Meadows. Apparently someone had damaged the lock and it was now hard locking back up again. Then she found vehicles where there should not be. The road had been plowed back to a summer camp at the end of the road. Sounds like P33 had a full day.

 

Sherri with the meal she fixed

But how about Sherri and I? Did we free-load all day? The bottom line-no smokes sighted. But we did work at getting ourselves re-acquainted with being in a lookout after eight months of being out of it. We worked through a bunch of things. How to use the radio--without too much stumbling around. Can we name the areas around us? Where is Lone Pine Canyon near here? (And not the one next to Whitney either. Mich had it in her logs that the FAA had notified Porterville that they thought there was smoke in the canyon.) Or which Blue Canyon should we be interested in (the one near Pine Flat.) This kept us busy, except when one of us was taking a nap.

Delilah

Oh yeah, we also did the regular stuff like taking the weather and scanning for smoke.

When 1800 came along, we had our one little faux pas. I got us out of service to Porterville. But when I started checking to see about Sierra, the radio had gone dead. We quickly swapped batteries and turned on the radio. We then heard Lookouts … Delilah. Right on cue we answered Delilah “Out of Service”. Not too many days end that way.

Gary on evening walk

Sherri had prepared burritos for our meal, with carrots and cucumber. We have a sight which people would pay good money to eat in front of. We are sort of feeling like a king and queen, looking down on the world-literally. The one thing which you would not have to do in a fine restaurant is to wash dishes, but that is what we did.

Afterwards we went down for a short walk and back up to Delilah and got ready for bed. Another thing about this Bed and Breakfast, is the scenic view situated just right for sunsets. Spectacular-sorry no pictures. By 2045, it is time for bed. It is warm enough and only a little wind, so I go out to the catwalk to sleep. Sherri gets the bed. Stars are out and the moon looks splendid.

Background

^*When we are in the lookout, military time is used. Also the speech is in something called “clear text”. Both are to avoid unnecessary radio transmission, removing jargon from speech, and providing clarity of communications.

^**It turns out the gate should be closed. Unknown why it is open. But we were told that another gate about a mile further down was still closed.

^***When I asked about White Deer Saddle Road, I was told that the road was officially decommissioned. Also there is a gate when it reached private property . Unknown if we have a key to go through. Also there are currently trees across the road.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
At home	Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwich, chips	Buritto’s, carrots, cucumber	Chips, Jerky, Jelly Belly

Extra Photo's

North looking with Mt Hoffman and Finger Peak on right

Afternoon Clouds above Spanish Mountain

More clouds

Clouds over Patterson Mountain and up the Wishon drainage

 
Flowers and Plants

Thistle

Thistle

Lily

March 1, 2019 - Burton Road

Title: March 1, 2019 - Burton Road
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons :  Extra Photo's 

Trail head: Quail Flat

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshoeing

Trail: Burton Road

Destination: None

Actual Destination: Just short of Weston Meadow

Distance:  2.89 miles

Start Time: 12:16

End Time:     2:24

Travel Time:  2:07 (1.37 mph)

Moving Time: 1:30  (1.93 mph)

Elevation Rise:  296'

Descent: 219‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,903'

GPS Tracks

Description:

It’s the first snowshoe of the season for us. Sort of pitiful when I am saying this in March. So it will be short trip. Just not sure where to go. But it will be towards Grant's Grove. 



 

Sherri on snowshoes

But first, I need to run an errand to the tax accountant. Then Sherri finished balancing her credit card. Then Steven filled up the car with gas. Oh rats, forgot somethings so a trip back to house. By the time we leave it is 10:30

Steven is driving so I am relaxing. We get to the park entrance and flash our Golden Age card-I love that part of getting old. We decide to go to Quail Flat and down Burton Road.

Burton Road

 We “discovered” Burton Road a few years ago. We went down to the Little Boulder Creek Grove-a fun hike. Then last Winter did this same snowshoe, except starting earlier and going farther. Last Summer the back end was closed due to falling trees, the aftermath of the Rough Fire.

Steven and Gary admiring a view

There are several good things about snowshoeing this road and one annoying thing. The annoying item is that you start by walking down a gentle incline. What’s so bad about that? You are coming back UP the incline. But it is a gentle road to snowshoe, just right for the first of the season. The next item is that not very many people go down it. Next, you catch glimpses of the mountains across the Kings River. Today even saw Mt Goddard-sort of my standard of a good view. Lastly, we saw Buck Rock Lookout.

Mt McGee, Mt Goddard and Clouds

On the later, is a reminder one should look around and enjoy your walk. Going down, we did not catch sight of the Lookout until we had almost reached Weston Meadow. Coming back up, it seemed like Buck Rock was always just a couple glimpses away from viewing. Maybe because I was pausing more coming up?

Buck Rock Lookout in the distance

I had set a 1:00pm stopping time, but in reality it was 1:20 before we did. Sort of what happens with a later start. The concern is that there is a storm coming in later on this afternoon. So I want to get back to the car and heading down the hill before this happens. We can see the ravine where Weston Meadows is, but rather than go down into the ravine, we stop at the top of a small rise. I spy Buck Rock Lookout for the first time on this trip. Maybe it was covered in clouds before? Or I did not stop and notice.

Buck Rock Lookout

The way back is mostly uphill, but not steep. Either I am getting more in shape or this is not that hard-my money is on the later.As alluded to earlier, I was seeing more sights, while definitely breathing more than coming in. Steven must have been feeling more energetic as pretty soon we lost sight of him. The clouds seem like they are hanging a bit lower. We cannot see across the Kings anymore, but Buck Rock is more in view.

Same view as before, but obscured by clouds

About 2:20, we make it back to the car-no storm yet. The last little ways, we sort of had a spurt of energy. Maybe to impress-only ourselves I suspect. As we are taking off the snow shoes, a car pulls up and a guy asks about the snow conditions and road and destinations. Then he leaves.

Steven drives us home. We are all hungry, but decide that going to Fresno to eat sounded more appealing than pizza. So we stop at DiCicco’s in Clovis. I have a meat calzone. Tasted really good after a good first day out.

Trail Lesson:

By trudging on, sometimes you miss moments of beauty.

Extra Photo's

Burnt Area from the Rough Fire

Unnamed meadow off of Burton Road

Looking across the Kings River

Steven and Gary looking over the Kings and beyond

Buck Rock Lookout

Sherri and Steven on the move

March 7, 2018 - Quail Flat to Weston Meadow

Title: March 7, 2018 -  Quail Flat to Weston  Meadow
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's :  Flowers and Plants

Trail head:

Quail Flat

Hike Info:

Type: Snowshoeing

Trail: Burton Road, 14S02

Destination: Weston Meadow

Distance:  3.44 miles

Start Time: 11:38

End Time:     2:50

Travel Time:  3:12 (1.08 mph)

Moving Time:  2:12 (1.56 mph)

Elevation Rise:  361'

Descent: 251‘

Maximum Elevation: 6,919'

GPS Tracks

Description:

It has SNOWED! Today is our first opportunity to snowshoe this year. Sherri is all gunho to go out-not sure how my energy level is, though. But only one way to find out.

Oh No! What have I gotten into?

We leave Fresno at 9:30 with Sherri driving. We are not sure where we will be going, but we think one of four places along the General’s Highway: Quail Flat, Big Meadow, Big Baldy or Buena Vista Peak. We sort of would like to do Buena Vista-2 miles with 650’ elevation gain. A stop at Big Stump and drivers change-Sherri does not like to drive when there is a hint of snow. As we go down the General’s Highway, the decision on where to snowshoe is made for us-there are gates across the highway at Quail Flat. So we will snowshoe down the road towards Little Boulder Grove-this is the same one we went down last August to hike the grove. But we will not be doing the 10 miles to get to the grove.

Start of our Trip

We get our snowshoes on and are on the trail by about 11:30. Our route goes down a paved Forest Service road, 14S02, also known as Burton Road. The slope is a gentle down. The forecast said it would be clear and sunny, but we see nothing but overcast. Does not look like rain. 


 

Gary gazing out

Sherri marching on

Nothing spectacular at the start. But occasionally we will see a scene in the distance. Not sure if it is Spanish Mountain or part of the Monarch Divide. We go at a nice pace. But because we are going down, I am not sure how well I will be doing coming back up again.

There a plaque saying this is the site of the Kirkland Meadow Plantation. Looks like it was planted beginning in 2003-lists several donors. Wonder if this is something to be explored?

Gate to Private Property

As we round a ridge, we get our first good look at the ranges across the Kings River. There is a bit better look further on down when we cross an unnamed meadow. Still this is not jaw dropping stuff. But we do start to see Buck Rock and its lookout. This is really good as we do enjoy staffing lookouts associated with Buck Rock. 

Unnamed Meadow and mountains behind it

 

Then we come to Weston Meadow-the road splits the meadow in two. But we thought we would like to follow a split in the road, but then we got to a gate which said private property. After talking about it for a few minutes, we decided to continue to follow our road and find out about the private property later on. That is when we got to Weston Meadow along the road. Pleasant place with a nice fence.

Weston Meadow

Our Route

About a quarter mile later, we found a stump, covered with snow, near a cabin. After clearing off the snow from the stump, we sat down and had lunch of peanut butter and nutella-life is good! We decided, that even though we had only gone about a mile and three-quarters, we felt, or more accurately I felt, it was a good place to turn back.

Buck Rock Lookout

We retrace our route coming in. But I can feel like I am going slower and needing to stop more. Fortunately, there are new views to see-one of the good things about retracing steps. You get to see what you missed going in. Such as at Weston Meadow, there was a young Sequoia tree tucked away at the edge of the meadow. A little later, we came to another ridge and had a really good view of the mountains beyond the Kings River.

Mt Goddard on left in background and Finger Peak to its right

Snow Snail

We got back to the car just before 3. I was tired. But a good tired, also a disturbing tired. Disturbing is that I should not have been so tired with so little walking. But the encouraging part is that I am still out doing it and enjoying it. As we traveled down the mountain, we realized how clear the air was. The comment was made, really wish that when we are in the lookout we had air this clear. On the way back to Fresno,we stopped at Bear Mountain Pizza. it is under new owners, but still the same menu. Might be changing up a bit before summer.

Background

Kirkland Meadow Plantation. Apparently this has to do with restoration of clear cutting done by a lumber company, and then the replanting. There is also a project to thin the forest to restore a more natural balance in the area. As far as exploring, it looks like it is in more of a conjunction with the Sequoia groves in the area.

Extra Photo's

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Tombstone Ridge

Young Sequoia at edge of Weston Meadow

Snow Snails

Finger Peak

Obelisk and Tombstone Ridge

Mt Goddard  and Finger Peak

 
Flowers and Plants

Sugar Pine Cone

Chinquipin