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Dick's
Adventures of 2016 - Part 3 |
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Adventures
of 2016 Part 1
Adventures of 2016 Part 2
Adventures of
2016 Part 4
Adventures of 2016
Part 5 Adventures
of 2016 Part 6
Adventures
of 2016 Part 7
Kirch Flat Camp
Big Stump Basin
San Joaquin Gorge Trails
Corlieu
Falls San
Joaquin River Trail |
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Kirch Flat Camp (Frog
Camp 2.0)
With all due respect to
my other hiking and camping companions, this was probably the most
fun trip in a very long time. Like most activities, what made it
special was the people I did it with - my daughter Teri and my great
grandsons, Colton, age 3 1/3, and Jack, 18 months.
Our destination was
Kirch
Flat Campground, just past the upper end of Pine
Flat Lake, at about the 1,000 foot elevation in the Sierra foothills. I had
camped there a number of times with Teri's younger son, Mikie, in a
series of outings we referred to as Frog
Camp. The first few went by before I started documenting them in
these on-line reports, so although they started in 2003, the first
"official" report covered our trip in
2007. Trips with Mikie ended in
2011 as school and hockey began to take more of his time, so I
was happy to be able to return to this special place with the next
generation.
The boys' dad had to
leave for work by 8 a.m., so Teri and I met at their house at 7:30
on Friday, April 22. Teri drove her new motor home, and I took my
truck so we would have a vehicle to drive around the area, as I used
to do when I took my trailer.
I left ahead of Teri
while she was still getting the boys settled into the motor home,
but she passed me when I stopped to take pictures of flowers along
the way. I passed her at a rest stop, but she went ahead again when
I stopped to gather some firewood, so by the time I got to the camp
she had the motor home in place at a nice spot.
When
Mikie and I first started
these outings there were very few people in the camp, but it seemed
to become more and more popular through the years, especially when
people who were rafting down the river would stay there. The last
couple of times the camp was pretty much full, so I was not sure we
would be able to get a spot. As it turned out, there were a number of spaces
available when we arrived, although the place was filled close to
capacity by Saturday night.
Soon
after arriving we walked down to the little section of the river
that is separate from the main channel and constitutes the frog
pond. We did not see or hear any frogs, but this trip was much later
in the season than our earlier trips, so perhaps it's just not
"frog season."
Colton and Jack are very
active, always on the go, and I knew going in that this would not be
my normal type of camping trip, where I sit around reading a lot.
Constant supervision is mandatory, and one adult per child was by no
means too many. For the most part, they were well behaved, always
finding something to do, and of course, a constant source of
entertainment.
One of the first games
they discovered/invented was "The Dots." Above our
campsite the camp road goes into a small parking lot, used primarily
by rafting company vehicles. It's been divided into spaces with
lines of white plastic dots affixed to the road. Back of our camp a
short path led up to the parking lot, and I walked up there with
Jack. He immediately focused on the dots, and began walking the
line, carefully stepping on each dot. He went back and forth on
three or four lines before moving on to something else. Later I took
both boys up there and Colton joined in the fun, running the lines
rather than stepping carefully. We returned to this unexpected play
area several times each day, and it never got old.
For our first day's
outing, we transferred the child safety seats to my truck and drove
up the road toward home a short distance. There is a corral and
cattle loading chute here, and I had photographed Mikie there years
ago, so I wanted to get pictures of the new
generation. After the
photo session was done, I walked up a path beside a drainage a short
distance, with Jack and Colton tagging along. They managed to find
some large rocks that were in the wrong place and moved them to the
correct spot.
Then we drove back past
the camp and crossed two bridges over the Kings. At the second
bridge the paved road goes on to Balch Camp, a PG&E facility,
while dirt roads go up the river on both sides. We went up the north
side, where the road goes seven miles in to a campground and
trailhead. However, our destination was a place about two miles in
that we always called
"the big sand pile," where we had camped when my older
grandson Johnny (father of Colton and Jack) was a young boy.
The sand pile here is at
least 50 feet high, and has tracks up the front and sides where
people have driven their 4-wheel drive vehicles (Teri's husband Tim was
one of the people doing this back in the day). The vehicles used this time were much
smaller, toy trucks along with buckets, plastic shovels and other
sand toys. The boys have a sand box at home, but obviously enjoyed
having a sand pile bigger than their house.
During our early days
camping at that location, there were no facilities or official
camping areas anywhere along this dirt road. Since that time restrooms and
picnic tables have been installed in several locations. The sand
pile area is now a group camp known as Gravelly Flats.
Teri and I had an
assignment from her son Johnny - check out what the Rough
Fire had done in the Garnet Dike and Black Rock areas. I walked
up the road a few hundred yards from the sand pile and saw one
hillside that had been burned, but no other evidence of the big fire
from 2015. Most of the fire had been farther into the mountains and
at higher elevations.
After the boys had
enjoyed enough sand play, we got in the truck and continued up the
road along the
river, enjoying lots of flowers and nice views of the
stream, running at a high level for the first time in several years.
As we drove, it started to sprinkle, but we continued on to the end
of the road. There was no evidence of fire damage visible from this
area or any other place along the road.
We made a brief rest
stop, then started back down the
road. The rain got harder and
harder as we drove. Both boys were asleep by this time and missed
out on the fun. The
storm did not hamper our driving, just added to the adventure. The
boys were still asleep when we got back to camp, so Teri and I took
turns going out in the rain to see if they had awakened. Once they
were safely inside the motor home we enjoyed watching the rain and
smugly feeling sorry for the people camping in tents.
When it came time to go
to bed, we faced our greatest challenge. I had planned to sleep in
the back of my pickup, but with the rain, we all agreed I should
stay in the motor home. Teri had brought a folding crib/playpen for
Jack, but there was no room to set it up. I slept on the fold-out
couch, Colton was on my air mattress on the floor next to me, and Jack slept in
Teri's bed. I get up several times during the night, so the major
challenge was getting from my bed to the bathroom without stepping
on Colton.
The next night I did
sleep in the truck, which proved to be unsatisfactory for a number
of reasons. Inside, with Jack in his crib and Colton on the couch,
there was no way to get from the front of the motor home to the back
without crawling across the fold-out bed. I used the facilities
outside, but getting in and out of the bed of the truck required a
level of agility I no longer posses.
We survived all this, and
woke up on Saturday to sunshine, with the grass dripping wet. When
they went out to play, the boys were instructed to stay in the
cleared area of the camp and not go into the wet grass. This worked
for a few minutes, but they soon made brief forays into the dripping
jungle. When this did not bring any serious consequences, the began
to go farther and farther, and soon they were both wet from the
waist down.
While in camp, one of the
major play activities was
Play-Doh. Colton attempted to make shapes,
while Jack was content to cut his share of the stuff into small
pieces with a plastic knife. Of course, we made several visit to The
Dots, and at least twice each day walked around all the camp roads
from one end to the other.
After breakfast and other
morning chores, we set out on another expedition. Past the
campground, the paved road goes a short distance, then crosses the
river from north to south. A mile further on is another bridge,
where the paved road leaves the main river and follows the North
Fork. The previous day we took the dirt road up the north side of
the main river; this time we stayed on the paved road, planning to
go through Balch Camp and possibly as far as Black Rock
Reservoir.
At Balch Camp the
North Fork turns east, and Dinkey Creek runs in from the north. Looking at
the two streams you would think Dinkey Creek was the main river,
since it had about twice as much water as the North Fork.
By the time we got this
far Jack was asleep, but Teri, Colton and I enjoyed looking at the
flowers and the deep, steep canyon below. We stopped at a place
where you can see a sliding waterfall on the river, but it is hard
to see at best, and with the low water flow, it wasn't much to look
at.
Much better is
Patterson
Falls, which runs down Patterson
Bluffs about half way to Black Rock. This creek is not very
large, but the falls are fairly high and drop straight down in two
separate segments, sort of an upper and lower fall. Colton had been
to Yosemite recently and had been very much impressed with
Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls, which are spectacular and putting out
a deluge of spray this year. There was no danger of getting wet from
Patterson, but we could stand on the bridge where the creek runs
down below the falls, and also walk up a gentle granite slope beside
the creek.
After enjoying this area
and taking pictures, we continued on to Black Rock. We've camped at
this location since my daughters were little girls, and it's one of
Johnny's favorite fishing spot, so he had taken Colton there
recently. As we arrived, Jack woke up, so we got out and walked down
a short distance to where we could look down on the dam. We then
followed the road into the campground on foot, and stopped at a
meadow. Here the boys invented another game that kept them occupied
for at least 20 minutes.
The area we
were in was flat and well away from the lake, with lots of small
pieces of granite lying around. First Colton, then Jack, began
gathering handfuls of rocks and throwing them into a bush. Colton
tends to throw underarm about half the time, and these throws could
end up anywhere - flying at his brother's head, rising up above us
to come down who knows where, or just about any random direction.
When he threw overhand, the rocks went into the bush consistently.
It was interesting to note that Jack always threw overhand, and was
much safer to be around than his big brother.
Once a sufficient
quantity of rocks had been transferred from their original location
to the bushes, we started our walk back to the car, and made the
return drive back to camp. This time it was Colton's turn to nap,
which he did all the way back to camp and for a while afterward.
The remainder of our time
was spent with walks, Play-Doh, running the dots, attempted reading,
and eating. There were two favorite activities on our walks through
the camp. Although most of the spaces were occupied, there was a
vacant one
with a long drive-in spur, and a large flat rock at the end. Every
time we went past it the boys had to run to the end and back several
times, and climb up on the
rock. At the camp entrance there is a
cattle guard, and Colton found that he was able to walk across it.
The spaces between the rails were fairly wide, and it was actually
dangerous for Jack to try to cross, so we limited that activity.
On Sunday we had
breakfast and got ready to leave in a leisurely manner. This
included a little more Play-Doh, a final visit to the dots, with the
adults gathering up and loading all the stuff we had managed to
scatter around our camp. We said our goodbyes and headed back to
town, hoping that this can become an annual event, with or without
frogs.
--Dick Estel, May 2016
Kirch Flat
Camp Photos
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Big
Stump Basin
My
daughter Teri is between jobs, probably till some time in June, and
has been taking advantage of this situation to act like a retired
person, doing as much hiking and camping as possible - with friends,
parents, sisters, and grandkids. In May she will do a three-day
backpack trip with her two adult sons.
My
backpacking days are long past, but Teri and I enjoyed a fantastic
hike in Kings Canon National Park on April 26. A
recent storm had brought snow to the high country, and we began to
see patches along Highway 180 even before we got to the park
entrance.
A
short distance past the entry booth there is a parking lot with
restrooms, and a trailhead that leads into Big
Stump Basin, an area that was logged in the late 1800s. The
trail goes past a number of large, living
trees, a dozen or so big
stumps, and the remnants of sequoia logs that shattered when they
were cut, or proved too large to work with.
There
was snow on almost every bit of the trail, but it was the
"stickiest" snow I've ever encountered. You could try to
slide your boot and it would barely move, and we never felt like we
were going to slip or slide anywhere on the trail.
It
made for a beautiful scene, with about an inch of snow on every log,
stump and fence
rail along the way, and snow still clinging to the
branches on many of the trees.
There
are several highlights along the trail. The first we arrived at is a
tall, burned out sequoia
snag. I believe that this tree once had a
sign with information about it, but if so, it's gone now. My first visit to
this area was in the 1960s, so I can't be sure of this memory, but I
believe it was once one of the largest trees in the area before
falling victim to whatever event reduced it to its present
condition.
The
most dramatic sight along the trail is the Mark
Twain Stump. A massive giant, this tree was cut not for lumber
but for display in the Museum of Natural History in New York. After
13 days of effort in 1891, the tree was brought down, and cut up
into sections for transport to the east. With the snow I could not
get a good overall view of the stump, but this
link is a photo I took in warmer weather, and several of the related
links below provide more photos and information. Here's another
photo, with sand on top of the stump instead of snow.
On the
return loop, the trail passes what is now called the Shattered
Giant. This large log shows evidence of a common event during and
after logging days. Enterprising woodsmen cut out chunks of
abandoned sequoia logs and split them into roof shingles and fence
posts. In fact, many trees met this fate, as the wood was found to
be too soft for general construction use.
Perhaps
our favorite highlight on the hike was a set of bear
paw prints in the
snow for a short distance along the trail. This of course was a
one-time treat, but the photo will preserve the event as long as the
Internet lasts.
This
hike was short by the standards Teri and I usually set for
ourselves, about a mile and a half, and we planned to hike the
fairly long outer trail around the General Grant Grove a few miles farther
up the road. However, Teri had been on that trail and said it's not
well marked, so we did not want to try it with a covering of snow.
Instead we parked at the Grant Grove lot and followed the loop trail
that goes past a dozen or more large
trees, including the General
Grant, designated the Nation's Christmas Tree.
This
is an easy, paved path, visited by most tourists who come to the
area, so there were lots of other people on the trail, though of
course, nothing like the crowds that will be there in the summer. We
crossed a couple of small creeks, and an area where there were
icicles hanging from the roots of a big tree above one of the
creeks.
Along
this trail is the Centennial
Stump, the base of another tree that was cut for exhibition at
the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. Easterners refused to accept
the display as a single tree, and called it "the
California Hoax."
This walk was .8 mile, so combined with our previous hike,
we had worked hard enough to be ready for lunch, which we ate at our
next stop. A strong wind had come up, so we dined in the car.
We had
planned to drive the two miles from Grant Grove Village to the
Panorama Point Trail. This quarter mile path leads to a fantastic
view, but the road was still closed, so we drove south on the General's
Highway to the Kings Canyon Overlook, a few miles from where the
road comes in from the San Joaquin Valley.
The
air was crystal clear, so we had a good view of some of the High
Sierra Peaks in the national park back country. About two hundred
yards from the parking area is the trailhead to Buena Vista Peak,
which I hiked in slippery snow with Carolyn Amicone in
November of 2013 and the next May with the
Ramblers. This trail had snow right at the start, but footprints
indicated that intrepid hikers were not deterred.
By
this time we were ready for the trip home, an easy 60-mile drive
down State Route 180 into Fresno and Clovis.
P.S.:
Teri camped at Grant Grove a week later, and all the snow was
gone.
--Dick Estel, May 2016
Big
Stump Basin Photos |
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San
Joaquin Gorge Bridge & Ridge Trail
We have had such a
spectacularly beautiful spring in the Sierra foothills this year
that I don't want it to end. I want to keep hiking and camping in
my favorite spots until heat and stickers drive me up to higher
elevations.
The weather was still
reasonably cool on April 30, so I drove to the San Joaquin Gorge
Recreation Area to get in at least one more hike. I've written a lot
about this area, so I won't repeat information I've covered before.
For anyone wanting to know more, I've created kind of a Squaw
Leap/San Joaquin Gorge sub-menu with links to all my reports on the
area in the "Related Links"
section of the on-line version of this report.
The road into the parking
lot and most of the BLM land is open cattle
range, and as I drove
the last mile, I was stopped by a bunch of cows in the road. They
apparently had no intention of moving, and I ended up gently nudging
one with my car. It grudgingly moved out of the way, the others
followed, and I drove on to the parking lot.
My last two hikes here
took me down the River Access Trail and the San Joaquin River Trail,
so my plan this time was to take the Bridge Trail, then bear right
at the junction just past the bridge, and walk a short distance on
the Ridge Trail.
On each hike this year,
at the Gorge or elsewhere, I've noticed a new batch of wild flowers
as some species go to seed and others take their turn at dominance.
This time the three most common flowers were common
madia, mustang
clover
and farewell to
spring. There were a lot of the latter along Auberry
Road on the way up the hill from home, but they were even more
spectacular along the trail. The mustang clover and madia were
probably even more numerous, but of course there were many other
species in small and large numbers.
As I had done on several
previous hikes, I kept track and counted about 45 separate species,
about half of which I could identify. On the trail beyond the bridge
I saw several very nice looking flowers I did not recall seeing
anywhere before. I also noticed that many of the earliest flowers
still maintain a small presence, as if to say, "Remember
when we were number one?" My theory is that the rain has
allowed a few plants to germinate later than the bulk of their
species, maintaining the large variety. Early species in small
numbers included blue dick, popcorn flowers, and poppies.
In some places the
flowers were very tall. I saw madia and farewell to spring that
were waist high, and mustang clover up to 18 inches. It occurred
to me that the early flowers stand out clearly against the short,
new grass, but later species bloom when the grass has grown tall,
and have to stretch up to compete.
Two non-floral sightings
stood out: At the small creek that crosses the trail about half way
down, there were a number of monarch butterflies. And a slope below
the trail that was covered with sprouting buckeye seeds in February
now has a dozen 18-inch high buckeye trees.
When I crossed the
bridge, I stopped to rest on a big flat rock. A man and his two
young daughters were behind me and also stopped. He was telling them
something about an ancestor. I heard him mention the name
"Watkins," which was my maternal grandmother's birth name.
I asked him when his ancestor had come to America and he said
something to the effect that I would hear the whole story.
I expected some
historical information, but in fact it was essentially a religious
treatise about how his great, great, great grandfather, John
Watkins, converted to Mormonism, then came to America and to Utah to
be with other Mormons.
The man did tell one
brief story of historical interest. The area John Watkins came to
had a big river, and every time a bridge was built over it, a flood
would wash it out. Watkins was an architect and engineer, and said
he could build a bridge that would not wash out. The city fathers
were skeptical, but agreed to pay yearly installments with interest
each year that the bridge held. The next year there was a record
flood; the bridge held up, and the councilmen, convinced that the
bridge was permanent, decided to pay the full amount and avoid
future interest costs.
We have not been able to
learn when our Watkins ancestors came to America, but my fourth
great grandparents, Robert and Rachel
Watkins, were living in
Delaware in the late 1700s, information I shared with my fellow
trail walker.
I continued on up the
short distance to the fork, where the Ridge Trail goes east and the
River Trail goes north. I had walked on the
Ridge Trail twice in recent
years, and I was hoping to go a little farther than my last trip.
This was not to be, for after about a half mile I realized that I needed more rest and
more importantly, some fuel. I found a semi-comfortable rock off the
trail and enjoyed my snack there. Once I had finished, I decided to
head back rather than going any farther this trip.
On, my last two hikes
down to the bridge and back, I have felt better than I have in a
long time, and the climb seemed much easier than I anticipated. One
reason is the pace I set, which involves stopping a lot to take a
close look at some
flowers, takings lots of pictures, and just
generally moving for fun, not to get somewhere.
About a half mile from
the parking lot, I saw what looked like a snake at the edge of the
trail 30 feet ahead. I got confirmation when it began moving into
the grass, and by the time I got to it, it was completely off the
trail. It was moving very slowly through the thick grass, and I
managed to get two photos in which you can barely see a part of the
creature, a harmless species with black and white
stripes. I am
going to call him a "jailbird snake."
There were a lot of
people on the trail, all the campsites were occupied, and there was
a large group at the Group Camp. I took advantage of these
conditions to conduct a little semi-political activity. A proposal
has been in the works for some time to build a dam at Temperance
Flat, at the upper end of Millerton Lake and just downstream from
the San Joaquin Gorge BLM area. This dam would create a lake which
would entirely drown the parking area, campgrounds, visitor center
and most of the trails, not to mention two existing power houses.
I discussed this with the
park ranger earlier this year, and she told me the river is under
consideration for wild and scenic status. If this is granted, it
should preclude construction of this environmental disaster of a
dam. The best way to promote this action is to write to the
Secretary of the Interior, who will be making a recommendation on
wild and scenic status.
I wrote
a letter to
Secretary Sally Jewell a few weeks earlier, and also sent an email
asking for support from friends and relatives. At the parking lot, I
talked with a number of people, letting them know about the dam
proposal and asking them to write to the Secretary. Most were
receptive, and some had already written to legislators, another
useful approach.
There is no doubt major
political pressure on the Secretary to let the dam go forward, so
the more she hears from the public about the value of this place for
recreation, the better. Most of the land in the Sierra foothills is
fenced and in private hands - there is simply no comparable public
facility like the San Joaquin Gorge anywhere near.
When I
got back to the trailhead, all the camp sites were still occupied,
so I drove over to the Equestrian Camp, set up my lawn chair, and
enjoyed a small lunch. Just below the corrals is the start of the
Nature Trail, which I've discussed in the past. This time I did not
walk much of the trail, but just past the gate I made a delightful
discovery. Carpenteria, one of the plants on the trail, is very
rare, and I had seen it only after it had finished blooming. This
time it was showing off with spectacular
white flowers, about two inches in diameter. I took a half
dozen pictures of these, then returned to the car for the drive
home.
--Dick
Estel, May 2016
San
Joaquin Gorge Trail Photos |
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Corlieu
Falls (Lewis Creek Trail)
This
was a short hike, so I'll try to make the report short also. I have
hiked on the Lewis Creek Trail several times, both the upstream and
downstream branches. I have been to Corlieu
Falls (downstream) with
friends, with my younger daughter Jennifer, and by myself. This
was the first time my older daughter Teri had been to this location,
although the three of us hiked the upstream trail last
year.
Teri came to my house
early on May 19 and we drove up Highway 41 a few miles past Oakhurst
to the trailhead. A short distance from the start the northbound
trail goes down to a crossing on Lewis Creek. Taking the southbound
trail as we did puts you on a steep path down into a cool, fascinating canyon environment
with big boulders, ancient canyon
live oaks, lush growth, and lots of flowers and plants. The most
common identifiable flowers were Indian
pinks and wild iris. They were accompanied by a large number of
tiny pink and white flowers, names unknown.
After a short distance
there is a viewing platform which offers a good look at the
falls, which is running loud and full in this Year of El Nino.
It's not a straight drop, but rather a series
of cascades about 80 feet high. It's only a half mile round trip
to this point, but older or unsteady hikers (I'm both) should use
poles and allow plenty of time. There are things to see along the
way, so I always find reason to stop several times even in a
distance this short.
The trail continues on
down to the
creek below the falls, and some distance on into Cedar Valley,
an area of cabins and vacation homes. I've never gone much past
where the trail reaches the creek, but Teri and I continued on a few
hundred yards farther. You can get close to the creek, which at this
season has the tall
stalks and striking flower
heads of Indian rhubarb growing right in the water.
Our turnaround point was a
log across the trail. We could have got past it easily, but we
had a couple of other destinations, so we took it as a sign to start
back up.
When we reached the
junction, we went on the upstream trail as far as the creek to see
what the crossing was like. When I hiked there with the Ramblers
last year, and with my daughters, there were several big log
sections in the creek to aid in crossing. There used to be a bridge,
but it washed out a year or two ago, and a replacement is in the
works. This year two of the the three log sections had washed down
stream, and crossing at the trail looked difficult and dangerous.
Just upstream there is a
log across
the creek, and someone has tied a rope above it to provide a
"railing" of sorts - also difficult and dangerous.
Fortunately, we had no plans to continue on the trail in that
direction.
We decided to go to
nearby Bass
Lake to have our lunch at one of the picnic grounds. Most of
these are still closed, but we parked at the entrance and walked in
a short distance to a table. We were treated to more flowers here,
especially a large stand of lupines
close to the lake.
The water is up to the
highest level, something that has not been seen in a number of
years. A bunch of small ponderosa pines that germinated when the
lake was low are now standing
in water two to ten feet from the shore. Unlike the rhubarb,
this is not a natural or supportive environment for them.
Part of the time we had a
red tail
hawk just 30 feet or so from us in a tree, keeping watch for his
own lunch, and saw another large bird, possibly an eagle, flying
above us. We were also sad to see many dead pines, the result of
years of drought and beetle attacks.
The weather in both
locations was perfect, with a nice breeze at the lake.
When it was time to
leave, we continued on the drive that skirts the lake on the west
side, then drops down through the foothills to the village of North
Fork. Here we turned west toward Highway 41, but did not go that
far; instead we drove on a narrow paved road that will take you
either to Millerton Lake, or out to Route 41 via Route 145.
Along the way home we
stopped at one place where there were hundreds of Farewell
to Spring turning the road bank pink, and took some final
pictures, having enjoyed Sierra beauty from the 1,000 foot level up
to 3,000 feet.
--Dick Estel, May 2016
Corlieu
Falls Photos |
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San
Joaquin River Trail
I'm calling this the last San Joaquin Gorge hike of the season.
In fact, most years I wouldn't even consider hiking there this late.
But this has been a special year - a wet year, a flower-filled year,
a year in which I may have done more hiking during the winter-spring
season than ever before.
So on May 22, with
relatively cool weather in store, I packed a lunch and drove north from town
and into the foothills on Auberry Road. Just past the town of
Auberry, at 2,100 feet, is the junction with Smalley Road.
This route descends steeply down into the San Joaquin River gorge,
arriving at a parking lot at 1,000 feet, and you are now at the
Bureau of Land Management's San
Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area. No wonder those of us who are familiar
with the place continue to use the original name of "Squaw
Leap," political correctness be damned.
I have hiked here many
times since about 1980, in fact at least four times this year alone.
There is a special menu of all my San Joaquin Gorge trips
on my Travel Index Page.
There are several hiking
trails that start at the parking lot, and I have been on all of them
this year, but I had already decided to concentrate on the San
Joaquin River Trail. This goes north a short way from the
trailhead, then turns west and parallels the river high up above the
waterway (enough so that you can rarely see the river from the
section I walk on). If you remember every word of my previous
reports, you know that this trail goes about 11 miles down to the
Finegold Picnic Area at the end of the Sky Harbor Road beside
Millerton Lake. I usually hike about one to one and a half miles,
then turn back.
My goal of course was to
enjoy a final stroll through the last of the spring
wildflowers, and
I was not disappointed. As expected, the hills above and the fields
and banks along the trail were covered with Farewell to Spring, one
of the last flowers to bloom. Having so many specimens to
examine, I made an interesting discovery: There are apparently two
noticeably different variations of this flower. At first I thought
the differences were minor, but the closer I looked, the more
different they appeared.
One variety is a lighter
pink color and has a dark red or pink dot at the base of each petal.
The centers are white. The petals tend to slightly overlap, and they
have wider leaves, and slightly thicker foliage than their counterparts.
The ones without spots
are a darker pink; the petals are adjacent or slightly separated,
with a white section at the base, and dark
red or pink centers. The leaves are slightly narrower.
This brings up the
difficulty of identifying wildflowers. On my various hikes it seems
I always see something I don't recall having seen before. I have
looked at a dozen websites that show photos and names of
wildflowers, and it's surprising how often I don't see what I'm
looking for. The situation is complicated by the fact that many
flowers have more than one common name. For example, for the white
early spring flowers most people call popcorn
dlowers I've heard
snowflakes, snowdrops, and sheepherders. I also see
"common" names for flowers that are clearly not the flower
I'm used to calling by that name. And of course, there are many
flowers that look almost the same, and ALMOST like the web photos,
but not quite. So I just invent descriptive names like "little
pink star-shaped flower."
The most surprising thing
related to flowers was the large number of purple
brodiaea. We saw
thick patches of these in the cool, shady drainages along the Edison
Point Trail in March. This caused me to think these were
exclusively shade-loving plants, but there were lots of them growing
in the dry grass in open, sunny areas along the San Joaquin River
Trail, and along
Smalley Road.
(Update:
Just after finishing and posting this page, I was looking at a huge
flower web site and ran across Ithurial's
Spear. Guess what - it looks just like my late-season, sun-loving
brodiaea. The petals are pointed and separated, while the
flowers from Edison Point have rounded
petals that slightly overlap. There are enough common
characteristics that I believe they are part of the same family.
Indeed, the web
page refers to brodiaea as a "near
relative." Another linked web site simply muddies the water,
using the name Ithhurial's Spear with a photo that clearly matches
the more rounded early flowers and using both the same scientific
name of Triteleia laxa Benth, and Brodiaea laxa. It also leads to a whole
page of Trieleia varieties, many of which I would just call
brodiaea. Now we know much more than we ever wanted to about
brodiaea, or perhaps less than when we started.)
There were also many
other flowers, mostly in small numbers, including mustang clover,
gillia, and a few scraggly lupines. And of course, there were
filaree. They are there at the start of the season, and there at the end. When the
earth is a lifeless cinder after King of the World Trump's nuclear
holocaust, there will still be filaree, drawing sustenance from the
remains of The Donald's hair.
The weather was warm, but
there was a good breeze most of the time till about the last half
mile of my return hike. There were a lot of cars at the parking lot,
but most of the people must have gone down the Bridge Trail, since I
saw only two bike riders on my trail. I did see some quail, a
rabbit, and four helicopters that flew over.
The grass and many other
plants are dry and dying. Except for the flowering plants, the only
green was in drainages and a few patches of tall wild oats.
The green oat stalks were few; most of them were also dry and dropping their seeds.
When I was starting to
think about turning back, I found a nice resting rock where I could
sit and have a
snack. I walked about 200 yards past
this, a total of 1.22 miles one way,
then made my way back to the trailhead.
I had already decided if
I was up to if that I would walk a short distance down the Bridge
Trail, so after a rest at the car, I left my pack there and went as
far as the place I now call "Snake Bend." This is where I
saw a snake on my last hike here, but he was not around this
time.
Of course, with the grass
thick, tall and dry, there could have been a snake every ten feet
and a hiker would rarely see one. In fact, I have no doubt I have
walked past a dozen or so snakes over the years without seeing them,
and I consider a sighting to be a rare treat. Some of my hiking
companions would not use that word, but I think all my family would
agree.
This time when I got back
to the car, I took my ice chest, folding chair and current book over
to a picnic table, did some stretching, then had lunch. Going home I
took an alternate route; instead of turning on to Auberry Road at
Prather, I stayed on Highway 168 which goes down a steep stretch
through Morgan Canyon, then winds down through the foothills to the
valley, and back into Clovis not far from home.
As I finish this, we are
seeing predictions of temperatures well above 100 degrees, so my
next hikes will definitely be at a higher altitude.
--Dick Estel, May 2016
San
Joaquin River Trail Photos |
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Photos
(Click to enlarge; pictures open in new window) |
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Kirch Flat
Camp Big Stump Basin
San Joaquin Gorge Trails Corlieu
Falls San
Joaquin River Trail |
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Kirch Flat Camp |
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Penstamen |
Blazing Star |
Can you name
it? |
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Harlequin Lupine |
Farewell-to-Spring |
Another unknown |
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Teri and her
grandsons |
Dick and his great
grandsons |
Rocks need to be
moved |
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Little
brother tries anything Colton does
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So much sand, so few
trucks |
The big dig |
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How lucky are boys
whose
grandma will play in the sand |
The biggest sand
pile of their lives |
The impending storm |
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The Kings River at
Gravelly Flats |
Scar from the Rough
Fire above the Kings River |
Rain and valley oaks
on the Garnet Dike Road |
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A race up the path
to the dots |
Ready to run the
dots |
Colton and Jack and
Play-Doh fun |
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Dinkey Creek at
Balch Camp |
Finding just the
right stick |
Walking
the rocks at Patterson Creek |
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Patterson Falls |
Patterson Creek
above the road |
Colton
points out letters from his name |
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A large supply of
excellent
throwing rocks at Black Rock |
Bringing in the rock
harvest |
A wonderful flat
rock in camp |
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Big Stump Basin |
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The start of our
hike |
Snow on an old log |
Teri on the trail |
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Rail fence along the
trail |
One of many big
stumps |
Sequoia cones in the
snow |
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A burned out giant
sequoia snag |
Chunks of snow stuck
to our boots |
There was a sawmill
at this
location in logging days |
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Artistic pattern on
sequoia stump |
Snow-covered Mark
Twain Stump |
Bridge and creek
near the stump |
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A bear passed this
way not long before we did |
Sections of this log
became
fence posts and roof shingles |
Bunch grass in snow |
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Big tree by the
start of the trail |
Massive roots of the
big tree |
Sequoias in Grant
Grove |
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A bit of history |
Remnant of early
pioneer activity |
This was a cold spot |
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A tale of wasted
effort |
The Centennial Stump |
House-size boulders
at Kings Canyon Overlook |
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The General Grant
Tree |
High
Sierra from Kings Canyon Overlook |
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San Joaquin Gorge Trails |
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Young bull pine
beside the road into the camp |
These daisy-like
blossoms are common madia |
Farewell to Spring,
close up |
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Mustang Clover |
Flowers along the
trail |
Buckeye bush in
bloom |
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This big live oak
makes a good
backdrop for pink flowers |
My favorite tree on
the trail |
These flowers, known
as goldfields, appeared
in a large
mass, but in only one place |
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Two beautiful but unknown flowers |
This striking flower
is elegant clarkia |
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More Farewell to
Spring |
Can
you see who's hiding in the grass? |
These showy 2-inch
blossoms
are the rare Carpenteria |
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Corlieu Falls and Bass
Lake |
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Butterflies
were thick along the trail |
Corlieu Falls |
Another view |
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Indian Pinks |
Indian
Rhubarb grows right in the water |
Rhubarb close-up |
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Lewis Creek below
the falls |
Canyon live oak |
Teri at our turning
back point |
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Dick,
not ready to climb over this log |
We were DEFINITELY
not ready to cross this log |
Red tail hawk
watching for lunch |
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Lupines at Bass Lake |
It will take a drop
in the lake level
for these ponderosas to survive |
Teri at Bass Lake |
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View across the lake
from west to east |
Farewell to Spring
on the North Fork Road |
Corlieu Falls video
(link to download video to your PC) |
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San Joaquin River Trail |
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Leaning pine near the
start of the trail
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There should be a sign on this post
reading "Place sign here" |
I call this "Knob Rock" |
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Typical view with lots of flowers by
the trail |
The Resting Log near the Big Burl |
Dick by the Big Burl |
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Blue Oak with burl and surrounding
terrain |
Poison oak makes a nice
contrast with
the pink flowers |
There were scenes like this all
over
the hills above the trail |
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Another color contrast scene |
This forked blue oak is my official
turning back spot |
There were areas without flowers |
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The spotted variation of Farewell to
Spring |
And the "spotless" variety |
Lots of clover blossoms
in a damp drainage
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Rattlesnake weed AKA
American wild carrot |
Athurial's spear making
a
final stand in
the dry grass |
These look almost the same as
fringed redmaids but not quite |
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This
looked like a white variety of brodiaea |
A green drainage near
the Bridge Trail
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More green and pink |
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Related Links |
Kirch
Flat Campground
|
Pine
Flat Lake |
Garnet
Dike Rafting |
Kings Canon National Park |
Big
Stump Trail |
Mark
Twain Stump |
Sequoia
Tree History |
More
Mark Twain Photos |
Felling
the Mark Twain |
Mark
Twain Stump Photo |
|
General
Grant Tree |
|
Other
San Joaquin Gorge (Squaw Leap)
Reports |
Four
2012 Squaw Leap Hikes |
2012
Bridge Trail Hike |
2013
San Joaquin River Trail Hike |
2014
San
Joaquin Gorge Campout |
2014
River Trail Hike |
2015
River Trail Hike |
Thanksgiving
at the Gorge |
2016
Bridge Trail Hike |
2016
February Campout |
2016
March Campout |
Rambler
Hike 2015 |
Rambling
in the Rain 2016 |
Squaw
Leap Backpack March 1980 |
Backpacking
1981-82 |
Backpacking
1982-83 |
L/S
Expedition |
Backpacking
1984-93 |
The
Last Backpack Trip |
2016
Buzzard Road Hike |
2016
San Joaquin River Trail |
2017
Off-Trail Hike |
|
More Related Links |
San
Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area |
Millerton Lake |
San
Joaquin River Trail |
San
Joaquin River |
San
Joaquin Gorge Photo Album |
San
Joaquin Gorge Slide Show |
Temperance Flat Dam
Proposal |
Department of the
Interior |
Dick's
Letter to Sally Jewell |
Carpenteria |
Corlieu
Falls |
Bass Lake |
Lewis Creek Trail |
Corlieu
Falls Video |
Ithurial's
Spear |
Dick's
late-season brodiaea photo |
Dick's
early season brodiaea photo |
Ithurial's
Spear web page |
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