Gary-Summer

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

January 17, 2018 - Wawona Meadows Extended

Title: January 17, 2018 - Wawona Meadows Extended
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Wawona parking lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Fish Hatchery, Chowchilla Mtn Road, Mt Savage Road, Connector Trail, Wawona Meadow Trail, Ditch bank

Destination: Loop

Distance: 7.84 miles

Start Time: 11:04

End Time: 5:20

Travel Time: 6:16 (1.25 mph)

Moving Time: 5:43 (1.37 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,403' ¹

Descent: 1,187‘

Maximum Elevation: 4,875'

GPS Tracks

¹There is a 4024’ difference between the starting and ending elevations. So the 1,187’ elevation descent is probably accurate than the 1,403’ gain.

Going down to Big Creek/Merced

Description:

Sherri and I did a variation of this hike last Fall and really enjoyed it. If we can, we will cross Big Creek and try to find the Wawona Arboretum. Rose is coming with us so we meet at her place around 9:00am and take off from there. We leave shortly after that, stopping at Judy’s Donuts in Oakhurst.

On the way in, we recognize Ranger Corey from walking with him last June around Wawona Meadow. He does not think Big Creek is easily crossable right now. We shall see. We get to the parking lot before 11 and start our walk at 11.

To start with, we cross 41 by the start of the golf course. Then loop around the end of the course. Mounds of dirt look like something has been digging (golfers on this course can get a mole in one). We come to the old smokehouse/the current golf storage. Then follow a road to Big Creek.

Confluence of Big Creek and Merced

We decide to go down to the fish hatchery first. When we get to the confluence of Big Creek and the Merced River. we look around for a place to cross Big Creek. While it is crossable, none of us want to get our feet wet. So we looked around the area for remnants of the fish hatchery--not much too find.

Balancing log along the Merced

So we head back up to where we have seen a unmarked trail go up. This is the same one as Sherri and I went up a couple of months ago. This trail is is truly a lovely trail. It just does not go anywhere. When we get to a place which is maybe 100 yards before the trial stops, we come to a shelf overlooking Big Creek. After discussing, we decided that this would be a good place to eat lunch.

Lunch Spot

After lunch, we retrace our steps down this interesting trail, back to the road to Big Creek. We follow the road back to the golfers barn. Along the way, there is some interesting moss on rocks. But the thing about these kinds of scenes is that the eye can take in so much more than a camera lens. So the pictures appear without the richness we see. Memories are fragile, but more powerful than fixed images.

Walking back

It is time for more history. We cross over to where Galen Clark's house stood. The problem is, we are wondering if it is in a different spot than where we thought last time. Another trip may give us a third location. But the four Sequoias he planted have not moved, nor has the location of the fruit trees.

We find a road which the golf carts uses. Along here, Rose sees the vertebrates of some smaller animal just laying around. We examine it and then continue on till we reach the Chowchilla Mtn Road.


Galen Clark's Sequoias

Question: Do we go easy, around the regular loop? Or go higher up the slope of Mt Savage? Up we go for our real climb of the day. Surprisingly I feel pretty good going up. I keep up with Sherri and Rose. We get to a split and follow it up to what I call the Mt Savage Road. I think this road must have been an old entry road, but I have not seen document on this.

Our deer

Mt Savage Road crosses across the mountain, somewhat rising. This is not a route with vistas, just the quiet beauty of hiking along a forested road without seeing others. Well almost quiet. Rose and Sherri hear the sound of a coyote calling. And then again. A third of mile later, three or four deer come through the trees. Excitement along a quiet trail.

Gary over a log

Then there is a little notch along the side of the road. That is the trail back down to Wawona Meadows. Another quiet, nondescript trail. The trail is almost all descending. Few people go down it or even know about it. Nice and mellow. A good canopy of leaves overhead, mountain misery around our feet. There are logs we need to go over, a testament to the lack of use of the trail. We see some power lines which follow our trail. The the trail weaves its way around a service road until we get to the bottom and meet up with the loop trail.

Once we get to the loop trail, I think we are ready to head back to the car. The walk continues around the far end of the meadow. When the trail approaches the road, we see the remnants of the flume. I now know what I am seeing. Also I ask if they would like to go back via a level, but overgrown path. Sure. So we follow the flume around till we get the the fire road. From there we descent past the Wawona hotel and down to the lower parking lot, and too.our car

We head on home as Rose’ husband is preparing her dinner. We get home at 7:30, pretty tire. A shower revives us before Sherri and I go out to dinner.

Extra Photo's

Brush in light

Rose and Sherri looking over the Merced

Big Creek

Sherri on Connector Trail

The Vista on the Mt Savage Road

Almost over

Mt Savage

Animals

Interesting moldy poop

Our deer along connector trail

Flowers and Plants

Lichen covered tree

Mossy Log

Monday, January 15, 2018

January 15, 2018 - South Shore Trail

Title: January 15, 2018 - South Shore Trail
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: South Bay parking lot

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: South Shore Trail

Destination: Winchell Cove

Distance: 3.46 miles

Start Time: 11:12

End Time: 1:29

Travel Time: 2:17 (1.52 mph)

Moving Time: 1:18 (2.66 mph)

Elevation Rise: 275' ¹

Descent: 274‘

Maximum Elevation: 606'

GPS Tracks

¹The amount of rise has been modified to reflect that the GPS has a tendency to start at a lower elevation than actual. So I use more the ending elevation to gauge the actual elevation rise.

Description:

This is a repeat of last week’s hike. But this time it is with the meetup group. I do not think I have organized a meetup hike since last June. So in some ways, this is to get Sherri and I back into the swing of doing it. We meet at the Corner Bakery’s parking lot at 10:30am and are off by 10:40 to Millerton State Recreation Area. There are 18 people in all including Sherri and Steven. We unload and I give a little talk on expectations on this trail at the South Bay/McKenzie Point parking area. Then off we go about 11:15.

While the trail is the same as we hiked last Wednesday, the conditions are different.. Today there has been fog and some mist. So the lighting on the lake is a bit more subdued. Also with 16 other people, the dynamics is much more varied.

Cemetery Bound

I walk at the end of the line while Sherri is somewhere in the middle.So I talk some with Leslie, Meera and David-Leslie I have hiked with a lot, but not much recently. So it is good just having a relaxed conversation with her. Meera and David are new to me, so throughout the trip, we talk a bit about interesting trails and best places for ice cream.

Steven overlooking Millerton

When we get to the end of the trail, Nancy, another person new to me, suggests that we continue on to the Winchell Cove Cemetery. I had seen markings on a map, but had not been to the cemetery before. But this is not on what I listed for the hike, so I feel uncomfortable adding it on. Sherri goes with the group to cemetery; I go with Mario and his two kids, and David and Meera back about a quarter mile to a lookout area where we have lunch. By the way, Mario’s kids are amazing-not so much that they are full of energy, but that they are walking happily.

Hikers Procession

On the way back, I fall into a conversation with Cathy and Nancy. With Cathy, she knows a person whom we met on the JMT 4+ years ago. With Nancy, we share a common employer and I used to communicate with her department-but I must be getting older as I could not remember the names of the people. Talking with people has both the good and bad. The good, it makes the hiking go by quickly and pleasantly. The bad? Well, there is a tendency on my part to be interested in what the person is saying rather than the surroundings I am passing through. Nothing bad happened because of this. It is just we got to the parking lot pretty quickly.

By this time, we are back at the cars and say goodbye. It has been a quick hike and not too much different than last week. Or to paraphrase a book title, Same Kind Of Different Hike..

Background

Cemetery Entrance

The Winchell Cove Cemetery contains some of the oldest burials in Fresno County. Soldiers that passed away at nearby Fort Miller were buried at the fort as early as 1852 and were removed to Winchell Cove when Friant Dam was completed in 1941. Burial mounds are visible, but only one headstone remains, that of Francis Steddum. An Eagle Scout project researched and plotted out the over 80 plots, most of which are unidentified. The cemetery is located at Winchell Cove Marina on Millerton Lake above Friant, California. The cemetery is barely noticeable from the marina itself, and can be accessed by a one lane dirt road that dead-ends below it, and by a hiking and equestrian trail that is not very well maintained. The cemetery is fenced in and locked. There is no access to the cemetery itself, but you can walk around the fenced area. From Find a Grave

Monument commemorating work of an Eagle Scout

Also from Find a Grave. There are about 20 named occupants out of the 80 mounds. Only one of the original headstones. Most of the graves are in the 1850-1870's range. But there are two in the 1900, include 1951.

Extra Photo's

Animals

Miniature Volcano's or Ant Holes?

Flowers and Plants

Mushrooms

Friday, January 12, 2018

January 12, 2018 - Big Baldy

Title: January 12, 2018 - Big Baldy
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Trail head: BigBaldy Trailhead

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Big Baldy

Destination: Big Baldy

Distance: 4.28 miles

Start Time: 1:23

End Time: 5:28

Travel Time: 4:04 (1.05 mph)

Moving Time: 2:41 (1.59 mph)

Elevation Rise: 856' ¹

Maximum Elevation: 8,232'

GPS Tracks

¹The GPS shows a climb of 1,236’, but starts at an elevation of 7,223’. The ending elevation is 7,603’ which is what the topo map shows. The difference is 380’ which equates to the rise above. As a note, the GPS shows we descended 1,000’ even.

Sherri and Gary at Trail Head

Description:

So what are we going to do for a hike today? We are going to Grant Grove. But where? We leave Fresno about it 11, still with that question. Also, where is the snow? As we approach the entry station, there is a little bit of snow along the side of the road. Definitely not enough to snowshoe for. snowshoes on for.

I have a short discussion with the entry ranger. He is with the Forest Service rather than NPS and is on loan as a temporary seasonal person.

We decided to see how Big Meadows look. Quail Flat-does not have snow and the Little Boulder Creek Road is barred. On to Big Meadows. A little bit of snow there, but no Winter fun-there is nothing to put snowshoes on for. So on to the Big Baldy trail head.

Park Ridge Lookout

Delilah Lookout

Park Ridge Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout

Buck Rock Lookout and Beyond

Buena Vista Peak

Out and back is less than 4.5 mile, which is just about right for the remaining time. So we put on our boots. Then eat our sandwiches before hitting the trail. Right off the bat, there is a little bit of snow on the trail-maybe an inch and pretty spotty. So we should not have much trouble as a lot of the trail is in the sun.

Looking out over cloud surf

We have had our usual pace-going uphill, Sherri is a lot faster. But when we are on the level or on the descent, I speed up. So the combination is that we are not walking real fast. Just enough to keep warm-it is in the mid-50’s. Once we get out of the shade, the temp is comfortable and we take off a layer of clothes.

At various places along this trail, we are able to look down into Redwood Canyon and over to Redwood Mountain. Buena Vista Peak stands below us. Then following the ridgeline up Park Ridge, I see a speck where Park Ridge lookout is. Cool! It is like, we have been there. Really good to be able to see the ridge lines from 90^oof Park Ridge. it is a different perspective. Such as from the lookout, we are looking straight down the ridge Logger’s Point is on. You sort of lose how far away it is. But from here, we see the whole ridge and see why it is a point.

Buck Rock with Finger Peak and Mt Goddard

Looking beyond these ridges I see McKenzie Ridge and following Pine Ridge, there is a little stick on the north side of the ridge-Delilah Lookout. So far away. When at Delilah, we put our binoculars on Big Baldy, we can pick out individual trees. Fun seeing things in reverse.

There is only one other couple we see on the trail today. I think they came from Sequoia-Montecito Lodge as there is no other cars parked by the trailhead, and I see them right by a trail junction to the lodge. But it does make you wonder as they are heading away from the lodge trail.

Around 3:15 we get to the top of Big Baldy. We spend the appropriate amount of time gawking at the surroundings, about 40 minutes. From here we can see all three of our lookouts as Buck Rock has joined the group. That was a discussion we had-could Buck Rock see Big Baldy-I could not remember, while Sherri thought it could.

North Looking

East Looking

West Looking

Two islands in a cloudy ocean

I should mention the clouds. It was overcast when we left Fresno but once you get out of the Valley, it is pretty clear and sunshiny. Now that we are looking across the Valley, we see an ocean of puffy white stretching as far as we could see. Occasionally we would see an island in the middle of a this ocean. These are the hilltops which normally rise above the Valley, but today they are a set as an oasis in a sea of white.

Sunset coming on the trail

We could stay up here for a long time but it is starting to get late. Sunset should be someplace around 5 so we take off. We stop often to take pictures and to navigate a bit of the small patches of downhill snow. The shadows are lengthening and the light is fading. But we make the car around 5:30, just as the light fails.

It has been a good hike. The question now is, where to eat? Bear Mountain? Instead we decide to see if the restaurant at Grant Grove is open. It is, so we stop here for dinner. Christine serves us-we have had her as our server before. She says that Bear Mountain Pizza is in new owners, the pizza people who used to serve pizza at Grant grove a couple of years ago. We make it home by 8:00pm, tired and ready for a shower.