June 14, 2022 - Buena Vista Peak

 

Title: June 14, 2022  - Buena Vista Peak
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Buena Vista Parking Area

Trail: Buena Vista Peak

Destination: Buena Vista Peak

Distance:  2.11 miles 

Start Time: 12:43

End Time:    3:19

Travel Time:  2:36 (0.81 mph)

Moving Time:  1:49  (1.16 mph)

Elevation Rise:  545

Descent: 561‘

Maximum Elevation: 7,628'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Sherri has been having some foot problems lately. Her chiropractor is working on it and has suggested she needed to exercise a bit more. So we will go on a short hike, but not sure where.

Gary on the trail

I get up around 7 and decided not to go for a walk today. I mosey around for a bit, reading and doing things. By 9:30, we started getting ready and by 10:40 we were off. Obviously it will not be a long day. Sherri starts driving and goes all the way up to the Grant Grove entrance. Here we decide what are we going to do? After discussing some options such as hiking along Park Ridge, we decided to do an easier one, Buena Vista Peak.

So we drove on to the Buena Vista Trailhead. We find a group of seniors congregating, talking about what they are going to do. Not sure there is much to decide from here. They leave and about 15 minutes later we are ready to go.

The trail is well known to us. I am wearing a 28 pound backpack-mostly ballast--to help in training for a coming up backpack trip. Legs are good, but the lungs need to get better. On the other hand, Sherri’s foot is bothering her. She takes it easy on the way up. This will get her to the top.

Burnt Spots

 

 

We can see how the KNP Complex Fire from the Fall of 2021 hit the east side of the Peak. But it looks more like pockets of fire torched the trees and plants on this side rather than complete devasation. It is mostly green, so the hike is not dreary. But the burnt spots are a reminder of what the fire wrecked.

Park Ridge Lookout

A note is that the wildflowers are out. Colors galore. We see the violets of lupine and penstemon. The yellow western wallflowers sprout all over the place, like spikes of color among a tract of green. Then there are the pinks and whites of misc types of flowers. Bits of color to contrast with the browns and blacks of a somewhat burnt forest.

We make the ridge which leads up to the peak’s top. We have met several of the senior group going down and some people who passed us going up came back down as well. So by the time we reach the top, we are up there alone. That is fine with me. 

 

 

Park Ridge

Looking around, the first thing we notice is the desolation of the KNP fire. The sides of the Big Baldy ridge are all scorched. Then looking up at Redwood Mountain, the west half of the mountain is decimated along with what is below it. Surprisingly the upper part of Redwood Canyon looks untouched, at least from our perch above. Now we look towards Park Ridge and see nothing but burnt trees. All of this gives me pause and just a sense of awe. I can have a bit of understanding of what Habakkuk had when he saw how Israel was to be destroyed:

I will stand at my watch
        and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
        and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Smoke from the Hazelwood-Tharp Prescribed Burn

The answer will be a time a-coming. Why does destruction happen? Maybe a glimpse of the answer can be found in the wildflowers. We do not see the works of God until they are taken away. And then we cry about the destruction of it. The wildflowers are a reminder that God will not let the evil of destruction be permanent, but will bring life and goodness from it.

From this point, we look around for our lookouts. Delilah is behind a ridge. Buck Rock has been standing proudly on top of its rock. Later I sent an email saying I am watching the lookout from our peak. She does not get it until much later. And then there is Park Ridge. Usually we can see where the lookout should be, but only vaguely see the lookout from the trees surrounding it. Today, the trees are burnt away and we now see it pretty plainly.

 

A ridge's trees decimated

After eating lunch, we start our way down. Now going down has never been Sherri’s strong suit. But with the additional pressure on her foot, it really is bothering her. So we take it pretty slow. More time going down than up. But we make it down safely, just a bit painfully on Sherri’s part. It gives her something to think about if she will enjoy going backpacking next week. On the other hand, I did better than what I thought I would with the additional weight on my back.

Sherri beside a burnt stump

 

 

 

 

 

There are some questions we have, not about today. But about hikes we want to do, such as a need for a permit in the Jennie Lake Wilderness-the answer is no. We had a good conversation with the Forest Service ranger, Randy. Yes a Forest Service Ranger was there to answer questions about the Forest and other things.

As we are leaving, we see a hiking friend of ours, Alan. We talk for a while, comparing notes about how things are going since we last saw each other. Then we are off with me driving. We get home right around 4:30. We are both happy to have gone, but know that we have a ways to go before we are up to being in a good condition.

 

 Extra Photo's

Sherri on the climb

Gary

Big Baldy and Redwood Canyon

Smoke from the Hazelwood-Tharp Prescribed Burn

Smoke from the Hazelwood-Tharp Prescribed Burn

Looking north with the Obelisk Mt Goddard and many others

Buck Rock

 
Flowers and Plants

June 8, 2022 - Fresno

 

Title: June 8, 2022 - Fresno

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type:Car

 

 Description:

We got up pretty well rested. There is a pretty good hotel breakfast served. So we leave Redding at 8:45, satisfied. Sherri starts driving. After an hour, Sherri cannot pass up a Starbucks in Corning. She continues to drive until we are a little north of Woodland, here I take up driving.

My drive is short. We will cut across Sacramento to go to the REI store there. Why you might ask? Those boots I could not find in Salem, I will try to find here. I tried several boots on, but the boots in my size have limited availability. But I got a lead on where I could get my boots repaired.

 

Inside Gunthers

 

Once we wrap up there, it is only a block to get gas at Costco, but there is a long line. So the wait is a lot longer than the drive. But once we get fueled up, we go to a nice park, Woodlake Park, about half a mile away. There we have lunch. It is pretty pleasant because it has lots of trees to sit under. This is a good thing as the day is getting warm.

There is one more stop to make in Sacramento: the North Sacramento-Hagginwood Library. Why you might ask? Not because I have an overdue book from when I lived here 40+ years ago? No. Most libraries in the State will allow any California resident to obtain a library card. So Sherri and I filled in the application for one. The librarian has a curiosity question, why? Are we moving? Nope, we are collecting library cards. She gets a big smile and points to the other librarian. She has 22 library cards-much better than our five cards. But this goes to instant bonding. We talk for a little while and then we are asked where are we going to next? Back to Fresno, but first stopping at Leatherby’s for ice cream. They suggest Gunther’s. By now, you know, we are always interested in new and good places for this frozen delight.

Gunthers is right off of Highway 99, so it takes us about 20 minutes to drive there. We ordered a black and tan sundae. The sundae was OK as a sundae. But the ice cream was really good. So we will stop here again when we are in Sacramento. The librarians had recommended a half an half.

Time to get going again The only stop we made was at the rest stop in Turlock. We get home around 5:30. We order out for dinner and watch the Warriors game. A great way to come home. We even get on the Zoom call. By 10:30, I am in bed, content from a long and good trip.

June 7, 2022 - Redding

 

Title: June 7, 2022 - Redding
Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's : : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Car

Description:

Rest Stop Flower basket

Today we leave Salem. I am up before most of us-Lawrence being the exception once again. We have breakfast and then get everything packed. Evidently we will not make Fresno today as we leave Salem at 9:40. Sherri is driving. We need to stop close to 11 so that Sherri can take an online class at Kaiser. We stop at a Starbucks, close to Eugene where Sherri grabs a cup of coffee and a pastry. And then we wait and wait and wait.

After waiting about 20 minutes, we decided to go on. Sherri continues to drive. She gets a call and which explains the situation. It turns out that Kaiser forgot to send out an email with the link. We continue on for another hour when we spot a sign for the Canyonland rest stop. This is close to Seven Feather Casino, just south of Myrtle Creek. So we have lunch which Andrea made and use the facilities. Also Sherri is fascinated with the flowers hanging from the light poles.

We are heading to Medford for gas, but we have also talked about wanting to do some exploring on our travels along I-5. We had seen reference to some falls on the Rogue River close to a place called Gold Hill. And lo and behold, there is Gold Hill. So we turn off about 10 miles north of Medford. and head along the Rogue River. After a couple of miles, we see where the web site said to turn off and park.

There is a paved bike trail which we follow up the river for a short way before it ends. But there is a path which continues. We go up another couple hundred yards before we decide that the falls are not this way. Still it has been a good walk so far. Then we turn around, going beyond where we parked, There is a sign announcing we are at Ti'lomikh Falls. The walk is more impressive than the falls. It seems like these falls have a drop of two or three feet. Still it is a nice place to stop.

We take some back roads to Medford. This gives us a view of a mystery mountains. We still are not know what it's name is. The problem with going this way is that we seem to be approaching Costco through a maze of roads which are confusing our GPS’. But eventually we got there. It certainly feels good just giving the attendant our car and have them fill up the car.

One disadvantage of going down like we are is missing my cousin in Grants Pass and our friends in Roseburg. But we have been in communications with Bonnie and Dennis. They are returning from visiting one of their children, going up I-5. Looks like we can meet up just before Yreka at the Randolph Collier rest area. It certainly is good to visit with them. We talked for about half an hour before each of us needed to continue on our way.

We go only a short distance before stopping in Yreka at Carl’s Jr for a bite to each. After leaving, we made reservations at Travelodge in Redding. Evidently there is an event going on in Redding. We got the last room. We manage to come in around 7:30, tired and ready just to drop into bed.

Extra Photo's

Mystery Mountain

Rogue River

Rogue River close to falls

Gary

Sherri

 
Flowers and Plants

June 6, 2022 – Salem-Oregon State Capitol

 

Title: June 6, 2022 – Salem-Oregon State Capitol

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type: Walking

Mileage: 2.4 miles walking

Description:

Salem in blossom

Usual morning routine. I think I woke up before most of our group, except for Lawrence who needed to go to work. We loiter around, not really much direction for today’s activities. Andrea will need to go to work later, so it is not a day for a long adventure, more close by gawking. We talk about the State Capitol building. She is not sure if it is available. But it will be a nice walk anyway, even if it is not open to the public.

More Blossoms

Sherri and I ended up wandering by ourselves as Andrea decided that she needed to go back for her raincoat-it looked threatening. In our wandering, we enjoy the streets around Andrea’s house. As we get closer to the Capitol, we see a building called the Willamette Historical Center

. Looks like an interesting place to explore. Later on Andrea makes a connection for me. The other day at the library, she checked out something, which turned out to be an entrance ticket for locals. I now put together what she was trying to tell me. 

 

 

There is a flower garden around the Capitol which we enjoy. The building comes into sight. The exterior does not speak of majesty, more of practicalness. Turns out it was built in the 1930’s. The most prominent part of the building is the Gold Man on top of it.

By the time we walk into the capitol building it is noon. We wander around a bit and then ask the information person about tours. She says she leads them. The next one is at 1pm. So we waited around, studying intently the various posters in the hallway.

At 1pm, the lady starts our tour-there are four of us: Andrea, Sherri, myself and another person. The guide lets us know that at the end of June, the capitol will be closed for renovations for the next two years. So we are fortunate to have come when we did. We see both sides of the legislative bodies. In both rooms there are the names of prominent Oregonians painted on a banner around the room. It is a good way to be reminded of what Oregon stands for. We also go down a hallway of governor paintings. Some of them I recognized as Oregon has been very influential in trying to preserve both its natural and human heritages.

 By 2:30, we are back at Andrea’s place for lunch. Andrea leaves shortly afterwards to work at REI. So Sherri and I are on our own until Lawrence comes back. A good time for the old people to rest. When he does, we have leftovers and talk. Andrea gets back by 9pm. We talk a bit more before going to bed.

June 5, 2022 - Salem

Title: June 5, 2022 - Salem
Hike Info : Description :  Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Mileage: 1.5 miles walking

Description:

I woke up around 5 and laid in bed for about an hour. Got up and then looked at the laptop I am using during our travels. Yesterday, the keyboard and the touchpad stopped working. After multiple reboots and trying to change some of the startup settings, the keyboard started working again. But the touchpad, not so. Fortunately, I have an external mouse with me.So I work on a blog from last week.

Lawrence and Andrea fixed us a bacon, egg and potato breakfast. Oh yeah, let's not forget the cheese. Enjoyable meal. Then Andrea needs to take off for work at REI. After lounging around for a while. Lawrence suggests going out for a walk. Sherri and I are up to that.

So he took us to the Minto-Brown Island Park. We get there about 11:10 and walked for about an hour and a half. There is so much more there to explore. I would say we need to go there about ten more times to get a feel. What we saw was a nice lagoon area, with a lot of greenery. Flowers poked their heads around most everywhere. We had a choice to walk on pavement as well as dirt. We ended up doing about half and half. The final stretch was along the Willamete River. So wide and flowing so well. Nothing like it around our place in Fresno.

We got back to Andrea and Lawrence’s place just before 1. We all had a sandwich. I then read for a bit. Lawrence went off to a rock climbing gym. After Friday’s hike, I decided that I should be looking for some replacement boots. The soles are wearing out. So I went to Andrea’s REI store. The lady who waited on me tried her best to find shoes I could try on, but there was nothing in my size.Oh well. I did see Andrea there. So it made the trip worthwhile. Also got an idea about boots.

The rest of the afternoon I read and relaxed. So not much there. Lawrence fixed us dinner and then we watched Jurassic Park II, ending at 11. Then off to bed.

Animals

 
Flowers and Plants