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Dick's
Adventures of 2017 - Part 1 |
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Adventures
of 2016 Adventures
of 2017 Part 2
2017 Part 3
2017
Part 4 2017
Part 5 2017 Part 6
Pine
Flat Creek Exploration
Wet Dry Creeks
San Joaquin Gorge Off-Trail
San
Joaquin River Trail West
Pine Flat Drive & Hike
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Pine
Flat Creek Exploration
This was a
low-key trip -- a short drive and a walk of less than a mile in
familiar territory. What was different were the weather conditions.
California has been enjoying a series of storms, with heavy rain in
the nearby Sierra foothills, and several feet of snow at high
elevations.
The forecast
was for this to continue most of another week, with rain on and off
on January 5. In fact, the prospect of heavy rain on that date
caused us to cancel a Ramblers hike.
The series
of storms that have blessed us this season means that the small
creeks in the foothills that are dry in summer are flowing, or soon
will be. Returning from our Christmas
Eve hike at San Joaquin Gorge, my daughter Teri and I passed the
three Dry
Creeks that flow across Highway 168. Only one had water. Teri
was in that area on January 4, and sent me a message that "the
Dry Creeks are no longer dry."
A lively
creek flowing through green hills is a delightful sight, so I
decided to see for myself, although I chose a slightly different
destination, heading east on Belmont Avenue toward Pine
Flat Reservoir. Based on the forecast of the previous day, I expected to
be driving through showers, hopping out for a few quick photos. If
all went well, my hopping would take place during a lull in the
rain. As it turned out, there was no rain where I went, although
some showers fell higher up in the mountains.
The road to
Pine Flat from Fresno starts with a drive east on Belmont Avenue.
Near the foothills the road curves to the north, and becomes Trimmer
Springs Road, which follows the river and the lake shore for many
miles. The first section of it is far enough away from the river
that you don't really see it, but soon it goes up over a ridge that
provide an excellent view down into the river valley near where it
emerges from the hills.
At the
community of Piedra
the road turns north away from the river, following Hughes Creek for
about two miles. I stopped to take pictures where the road crosses the creek, and had a nice chat with a local resident. She had ridden
an ATV out her dirt driveway from her house to get the mail, right
by the bridge crossing. She and her husband own land there which
they lease for cattle grazing. They are enjoying the rain and hoping
for a good wildflower year.
From this
spot the road starts up to cross over a ridge above the lake. I made
another photo stop along here, getting a nice view of Hughes Creek
and a ranch in the valley below. I was dismayed to also get a view
of how much trash people have thrown over the road bank, including a
mattress and a bunch of
tires.
The
road tops the ridge near the Oak
Knolls Trailer Park and the I
Forgot Store, where a fork goes to the right down to the lake near
the dam. In the opposite direction, Trimmer Springs Road continues
north and east through a couple of
creek valleys before you come to a view of the lake. A study of the
map indicates that the first one is Deer
Creek, but I could not find a name for the second one. I'm
calling it Oak Creek, although all the creeks in the area are lined with
oaks. I stopped at each
of these creeks for photos. I liked Oak
Creek better, possibly because it was easier to see. Both are on
private land, with access blocked by barbed wire fences. Both creeks were running nicely, but
neither were raging. Perhaps the big storm predicted for the weekend
will change that (it did).
I made my
next stop at Kirkman's
Point, enjoying the dramatic sight of clouds
and mist hanging over the lake. Here I talked with a man in a truck
from the Fresno County road department. He had been cleaning up some
dirt and rocks that washed down into the road, and was waiting for a
different piece of equipment to pick up several large boulders that
had slid into the road "up the hill."
My final
stop was the Edison
Point trailhead. I've written about long and short hikes here
with the
Ramblers (twice),
by myself, and with
Teri. I decided to walk out the first section of the trail,
which is basically a dirt road for access to some of the big electrical
transmission towers that run along the lake. I passed on hiking the complete trail,
which would have meant slogging through old dead
grass, soaking wet from the rains, and
trying to navigate some steep sections of the trail. Walking out to
the point and back was a total distance of just under a mile.
As
I expected, there were some wet and muddy spots on the trail, but
nothing that blocked my way. There was water almost all across the
trail in one
spot for a few feet, with room to get by on the side. In another
location, a large bull
pine had broken off and fallen across the trail, but at the edge
of the trail there was just a small branch which I easily stepped
over.
There
were a lot of cows
gathered around the electrical tower out on the point, keeping an
eye on me as I approached. When I got close, they started to drift
off, but I decided to let them have the high ground and just walked
through the grass where the land starts to rise steeply on the other
side of the trail.
Although
there were no wildflowers other than dried
seed pods from last year's growth, the grass is thick
and green, and with all the rain we've had, there should be a
nice display within the next month or so.
"How
was the weather?" you ask. The best answer is
"Variable." It was fully overcast when I got up and I
expected to be driving in the rain some of the time, but that never
happened. As I started to pull away from my garage, the sun broke
through, so I went back and got my sunglasses, but didn't need them
till later.
By
the lake, and in high, open areas, there was some breeze, but the
creek valleys were sheltered from this. As the photos show, it was
misty on the hills above me much of the time. Heading home, I stopped at
1:30 and sat in the truck by the road above Hughes Creek and ate my
lunch with the sun coming out. I wore my sunglasses for a while when
I resumed my drive, but then got under the overcast layer and took
them off for the rest of the trip. Back in Clovis, about half the
sky was cloudy and the other half sunny.
During
the following weekend a massive, warm storm came in, causing
flooding in foothill communities, a partial
washout on the McKinley Grove Road above Dinkey Creek (our route
to Courtright Reservoir), and rock slides on the roads into Yosemite
and Sequoia National Parks. News coverage showed massive flows over
the waterfalls
in Yosemite. Although I had hoped to see some big water like this on
my trip, the flood warnings convinced me that what was coming was
bigger than I wanted to drive in, so I didn't attempt a second trip,
but instead enjoyed my weekend working on this report and watching
the water flow on TV.
--Dick Estel, January 2017
Pine
Flat Photos
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Previous
Edison Point Hikes |
With
the Ramblers March 2015 |
Solo
March 2015 |
Ramblers
February 2016 |
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With
Teri & Monica March 2016 |
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Wet
Dry Creeks
Five
days after my exploration of creeks near Pine Flat Reservoir, I
again went in search of big stream flows. During the interim period,
a series of massive storms came through California. There were rock slides,
road closures, road
washouts, and minor flooding in several areas.
Of
course, the best time to have seen massive water flows was during
the storms, but there were flood warnings, and heading into the
foothills at that time seemed unsafe and unwise. My daughter Teri
has been working in the foothills and mountains, and she described
conditions on January 9 as "a mess."
On
January 10 I set out under cloudy skies, driving north from my house
to Auberry Road. This route starts at the edge of the flat San
Joaquin Valley floor, but soon drops down into the valley of Little
Dry Creek, and runs beside this waterway for several miles.
I got
into a misty rain as soon as I gained a little elevation, and during
the first half of my drive, there was rain most of the time,
increasing slightly at the highest point. I stopped at several
places along Little Dry Creek, keeping my camera under my shirt
except when actually taking photos.
At the
entrance to Fleming
Ranch, a Fresno County fixture since 1875, the
creek goes southeast and the road goes northeast. About two miles
past this point the road goes up over a ridge, where I turned right
on Millerton Road. This route drops downhill quickly and comes to a
creek crossing, where I again stopped. I had taken photos at this
point during the Ramblers rain drive last year, and at the time we
thought it was Little Dry Creek. This time I realized there were two
problems with that identification. Where I had driven by Little Dry Creek
along Auberry Road, it had
been muddy, but this one was clear. Just past this point I came to a
muddy creek, running toward the clear creek - in other words, the
"wrong direction" for the first one to have been Little
Dry. A look at the map after I returned home indicated that this was
the North Fork of Little Dry Creek.
Millerton
Road stayed near the main part of Little Dry Creek, crossing it
three times, but eventually the creek went its own way and I came to
the junction with state Highway 168. I turned right to head back to
the city, knowing that I would have a couple more creek stops along
the way. As the highway begins its descent from the foothills,
it drops into the valley of Big Dry Creek. It closely parallels the
creek for about a mile through a narrow canyon before reaching the
flat country.
I
stopped by a whitewashed wood fence and cattle guard, part of the
Dry Creek Ranch. When I moved to Fresno in 1966, we used to drive
out here and walk around down in the creek. Now there are several
bridges across the creek, and five or six houses near it in this
section.
I made
a final stop for creek viewing at the bridge where Big Dry Creek
crosses the highway. I was able to get a good look at the creek and
its surroundings at this location. The creek was running fairly
strong, but it was clear I had missed the peak runoff. There was a
line of debris along the creek that showed it had been about five
feet deeper during the storm, which would have made it about 40 feet
wide. There were large tree branches and other material caught
against the
bridge foundation, additional testimony of the huge flow of
water.
Another
mile or so down the road there is a large pond on the west side of
the highway, formed by a dam or dike of some kind. I did not think
this water was from Big Dry Creek, which seemed like it would be at
a slightly lower elevation in this area. It appears the pond is
formed from either Sales Creek or Dog Creek. This was my final stop
for the day, and I got some nice photos of this small lake.
By
this time it had stopped raining, but as I got closer to town, it
started up again, and was sprinkling as I pulled into my garage.
These weather conditions were predicted to continue for two more
days, with periods of rain and sun through the night and day. Once
again that night and the next the TV weather news reported road
damage, flooding and rock slides throughout the central Sierra, with
heavy
snow at the highest elevations.
I had
arranged to take my truck in for some repair work on January 11,
hoping to get my daily exercise by walking the mile and a half from
the shop back to my house. About 15 minutes before I had to leave,
it started raining fairly hard, but it was over quickly, and I ended
up walking home with sunshine at my back. Within an hour, I found
myself hurrying through a heavy rain when I went out to the mailbox.
Clearly the Dry Creeks of Fresno County would not be dry for many
more months.
--Dick Estel, January 2017
Wet
Dry Creek Photos |
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San
Joaquin Gorge Off-Trail Hikes
My
hiking companions and I have a long tradition of going off the trail
and doing some cross-country hiking at the San
Joaquin Gorge. The
first area I did this and the most recent
was the territory on the
north side of the river above the main trail. We also used to go off
the Bridge Trail right at the start and go more or less northeast
across the rolling upland there, from where we would make our way
down to a lower section of the trail. I last did this a few years
ago, but it is easy to get into steep, brushy areas, and I don't
have a clear route to the trail in my mind, so I probably will not
wander in that area again.
The
most adventurous treks were when we went up the old road that
goes over the ridge in Madera County north of the Bureau of Land
Management property, then up to the top of 2,000 foot Kennedy
Table.
This is another challenging hike that is probably now off the table
for me.
On the
south side of the area, I've done several short trips off the San
Joaquin River Trail, mainly to go down to a big water tank, from
which you can follow a dirt road out to the main paved road west of
the parking area. This is easy, but once you've done it, it holds no
attraction for future repeat episodes.
When I
headed up into the foothills on January 14, my plan was to go down
the Bridge Trail, up to the junction, off the trail to the L/S Camp
area, then head east toward the Buzzard Trail and back down to the
bridge. However as I drove down the steep, winding road a mile or so
before the parking area, I noticed a large, rounded knoll below the
road on my left. It looked like an interesting area to walk around
in, but by the time I realized this, I had gone too far past it.
Perhaps I could stop there on the way out.
But
I'm getting ahead of myself. It was more or less a last minute
decision to make this trip, and in fact when I sat down to put my
boots on, I was tempted to get my slippers instead and park in front
of the TV set. Then I reminded myself of the Ramblers Creed: Carpe
diem! I laced up my boots, tossed the necessary items into my Honda,
and set out on the 35 mile drive to my destination.
It was
foggy and cold in the valley, but there is often sunshine in the
foothills above the fog. In fact, the forecast for Auberry, about two
miles from the San Joaquin Gorge, was for sunshine. And there WAS sunshine there, but the drive to the trailhead is down a thousand
feet into the San Joaquin River canyon, and it was still foggy or
cloudy down there, and would remain so all day.
Just
before the turnoff to Auberry from Highway 168 I had stopped at the
bridge over Big Sandy Creek to see if this stream was running strong
like the others I had seen on my two earlier trips to the foothills
this year. Below the bridge is a barbed wire fence which was filled
with leaves, twigs and other debris, showing that the water had been about
five feet higher during peak runoff, just like most of the foothill
waterways.
My
second stop was where there is a seasonal waterfall coming down a
small rock cliff beside Smalley Road that runs into the gorge.
When I was here with the Ramblers last year, the waterfall was
running a lot fuller, but it was still a nice stopping point.
The
idea of going out on the knoll above this point gave me the idea of
exploring new, off-trail terrain near the parking area, so I turned
on the road to the visitor center and parked at the group camp
parking lot instead of the main lot.
To the
east and north of the group camp, there is a wide mowed path that
goes a hundred yards on the east side, then along the south side
between the camp and the road. Where it comes to the road there is a
cattle guard, and you can walk up into the hills above the road
without having to go through a fence. I had walked along the fence
in this area over to the San Joaquin River Trail last year, but this
time I started up a gentle rise that goes up to the ridge that runs
from the Squaw Leap table top to the east.
This
route, which was open grassland with
a few trees, was a little
steeper than the typical trail in the area, but nothing I could not
handle. I took it slow, and after a couple hundred yards, reached a level spot that dipped down to a shallow saddle beyond.
Here
the land rose up steeply and was more heavily covered with trees and
brush, so I decided to make my way generally west, following
the contour of the hillside as much as possible.
From
the saddle I saw that I would have to go down across a fairly steep
drainage, but of course, there were trails - cow trails. Cows are
not the world's greatest engineers, but they are better than deer
and rabbits. There were actually three or four different cow trails
leading down into the
drainage, so I chose the one that seemed
widest and most stable. Following cow trails requires a certain
skill, acquired through a lifetime of trial and error. These trails
are not level and not very wide, but wide enough. When there has
been a lot of rain there is the additional challenge of not twisting
an ankle in a deep hole made by a heavy cow hoof. And cows have no
problem going through areas where there is low brush across the
trail. They consider it a plus, since it gives them a free back
scratch and helps brush away flies.
When I
got to the bottom of the drainage, I saw that I had two choices - go
down a steep hillside toward a big moss-covered boulder, or head
through what looked like an opening in a chaparral thicket. My rule
is, "when in doubt, follow the cow," so I took the narrow
path into the brush. It proved to be the right choice, and I made it
through easily. From here I was able to follow various narrow trails
across the hillside. From my elevated position I enjoyed several
nice views, including a creek that cascades down the north side of
the canyon, far across the river from where I was standing. I could
also see a number of cows keeping a close eye on the main parking
lot,
which was filled even on this cold, gloomy day. I
had a strong breeze in my face at this higher spot, and could see
sunshine hitting a hill well up the river canyon, as if to taunt me.
Eventually I came to a
fence and it was time to go down
hill. Even here, despite the lack of a proper cow trail, it was
fairly easy to go down a gentle ridge, doing a little zig zag
walking to reduce the steepness. In this area I encountered
something new - a "bearing tree," complete with a warning
sign saying not to mess with it. My first thought was a tree that
produced extra good acorns to improve the species, but then I
realized the spelling related to "getting your bearings."
The content of the sign supported this interpretation - that it
marked a corner of the BLM land.
Eventually
I came down near a gate that leads
out to the San Joaquin River Trail, about 100 yards from the
trailhead. From here I walked along the fence to my starting point
and back to my car.
I
greatly enjoyed this exploration of a part of the area I had never
walked in before. The only problem was that the time needed was long,
the effort great, and the mileage short - only .94 mile. At least I
logged an elevation gain of 150 feet, none of them as gentle as my
usual hikes.
When I
started back up the road toward Auberry, I
decided to stop at the location I spotted when I was driving in.
There was no place to pull off right next to the green knoll, but a
few hundred feet farther up the road I saw a place. By good fortune,
this turned out to be a perfect choice. As soon as I got out of the
car, I heard the sound of a creek, and realized that the road had
climbed up just above the waterfall where I stopped on my way in. At
first I could hear but not see the water, but walking up the road a
short distance, I came to a spot where I could look down on a series
of cascades on the little creek.
After
looking around this area, I was ready to head for my original
destination. I had to walk along the road for about 300 feet, and at
one point there was a guard rail, with no safe place to walk - or
so I thought. It looked like I would have to hug the side of the
road and hope for the best, but as I reached the guard rail, I saw
that there was a nice cow trail outside the rail, wide enough to
walk safely down toward the knoll. As I approached the knoll, I
realized that it was down below the road farther than I thought, but
once again, the bovine engineers came through for me, and there was
a nice little trail down from the road to the level grassy
area.
I
walked only a short distance here, since the land dropped off
steeply after a short way. I did add another .66 mile to my total,
which included walking up the road to investigate the creek, as well
as walking down to the grassy area below the road.
I got
back to the car and continued my homeward journey. As I
approached the place where Smalley Road joins Powerhouse Road,
about a mile north of Auberry, I saw a nice snow-covered ridge above
me, which I think was just below and west of Shaver Lake. This was
my last photo stop of the day.
Due to
the recent major rains, there were small mudslides along the roads,
and anyplace that a dirt driveway went uphill from the main road,
there was mud across the pavement, usually just a thin layer, but a
fairly large amount by one steep roadway.
At
this point I was ready for lunch, but I passed by our usual stop,
Velasco's in Prather, and ate at Don
Fernando's, about three miles
farther down Auberry Road at Marshall
Station. The food here was seasoned differently than I am used to at
most Mexican restaurants, but very good.
Thus
ended my third foothill adventure, all within the first two weeks of
2017. I had one day of rest ahead of me before my next hike, with
the Ramblers at Lake Millerton on January 16.
A few
statistics: I started my "big walk" at 11:56 and was back
at the car at 1:24. Elevation at the parking lot was 1,060 feet, and
at the highest point, 1,210. Temperature was always around 50
degrees.
--Dick Estel, January 2017
San
Joaquin Gorge Off-Trail Photos |
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San
Joaquin River Trail West
It's been 15 years since
I started writing these travel reports. FIFTEEN YEARS! I start to
wonder if people are as tired of reading them as I am of writing
them. Actually I enjoy the ones that are about new places, or have
something new and different to report. But the tenth trip to a place
leaves me struggling for something to say. Therefore, when I write
about one of those familiar places, I'll just provide minimal
information, plus anything new about the area. At the end of the
report I'll provide links to previous reports, which will tell you
more about where the place is and what it's like.
On January 29 I hiked
with daughter Teri on the west end of the San Joaquin River Trail, a
hike we usually refer to as "Finegold" for the name of the
picnic area at the trailhead.
Like everywhere in the
foothills, it was bright green everywhere. There were no wildflowers
out, but there were certainly hikers and bikers. We saw more cars
parked at the trailhead than any other trip, met at least two dozen
people on the trail, and saw eight or ten bike riders. We were also
happy to see that Millerton Lake has more water than any time since
I started hiking in this area. A little drainage that crosses the
trail is a lively
creek, for the second year in a row.
Teri had stuff to do
later, so we went only to the top of the
saddle, where we rested,
chatted with other hikers, and had a snack, before heading down
hill, for a total walk of 2.3 miles, in a total time of 2.5 hours.
--Dick Estel, February 2017
San
Joaquin Trail Photos |
Previous West San Joaquin
River Trail Hikes |
|
October-November
2012 |
February
2013 |
March
2014 |
October
2014 |
March
2015 |
November
2015 |
February
2016 |
April
2016 |
November
2016 |
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Pine
Flat Drive & Hike
On February 4 my friend
Janell and I did what I call a "drive and hike" to Pine
Flat Reservoir. This is where you stop and do a short hike, drive a
ways and do another, until it's time to go home or eat lunch or
both. I've previously written about all the places we visited, so there are
links below to those earlier reports.
We got started from my
house around 10:30 and went east into the foothills, along the Kings
River, and finally took Trimmer Springs Road along the shore of the
lake, which is at its highest level in many years.
Our first hiking stop was
at Edison Point, where I walked about a month earlier. The first
part of this trail is actually a dirt service road, used to access
the power transmission towers that run along the north side of the
reservoir. It's mostly a gentle up hill walk, made a little more
challenging in spots by areas covered with water or mud due to the
heavy rains of January.
We went as far as Edison
Point, a knoll that overlooks the lake with views in three
directions. We were happy to see the first flowers of the season,
including fiddlenecks, fringed
redmaids, and many low-growing little white
flowers that I have not been able to identify. We wandered around
the point, took some photos, and enjoyed the new green growth. From
the trailhead and back, this was the longest of the three hikes of
the day.
It was a few miles to our
next stop, one of two campgrounds that have been closed for decades.
The roads are still in fairly good shape, and you can make a nice
loop walk in this area. There were several tiny creeks flowing
through the campground, something we did not see last year despite it
being an El Nino year.
Our final stop was one
tenth of a mile farther up the road, a picnic grounds that has also
been closed for a long time. The road here goes out and loops
around, but at the farthest point there is a trail out to the end of
the ridge. The Sycamore Creek branch of the lake runs along one side
of this route, with the main lake on the other, so at the end you
have water on three sides. I camped in this area long ago when
these facilities were open and I'm still mad at the Forest Service
for closing them.
When we returned to the
car, we set up my card table and folding chairs on the flat approach
to the area and had a picnic outside the picnic grounds. During our
walk, we were quite warm, taking off our outer layer at one point,
but there was a slight breeze, and sitting still at the table, we
both decided to put our outer shirts back on.
We made one final stop
where the road crosses Sycamore
Creek. The lake water is not quite
up this far, but the creek was running very
full. We saw the largest
number of fiddlenecks at this spot, and walking by a little rivulet
that runs into the main stream, we heard a frog croak.
All in all we got in 2.64
miles of walking, and enjoyed being out in nature on a day that was
90% sunny.
--Dick Estel, February 2017
Pine
Flat Drive & Hike Photos |
Previous Pine Flat Trips |
|
March
2015 Ramblers at Edison Point |
March
2015 Edison Point |
Feb
2015 Drive & Hike |
February
2016 Ramblers at Edison Point |
March
2016 Edison Point with Teri |
April
2016 Ramblers at the Campgrounds |
|
Photos
(Click to enlarge; pictures open in new window) |
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Pine
Flat Exploration
Wet Dry Creeks
San Joaquin Gorge Off-Trail
San
Joaquin River Trail
Pine Flat Drive
& Hike
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Pine Flat Exploration |
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Old shed
by Trimmer Springs Road near Piedra
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Mist on
the hill |
Hughes
Creek |
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Sycamores
along the creek |
A view
of the creek and a ranch where the road starts up hill |
Another
view of Hughes Creek valley
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Two-legged
pigs have been here |
Tall,
wet grass by the road, with a fence, field and misty hills |
A gnarly
old blue oak |
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Deer
creek |
The
intensely green moss fully covers some rocks |
Wet
ground probably helped bring down this tree |
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Oak
Creek |
Moss-covered
trees above the creek
|
Edison
Point Trail, partly blocked by a fallen bull pine |
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Washout
exposed a vein of quartz - could there be gold?
|
There's
just enough room to squeeze by this puddle on the right |
There
were many of these dried plants along the trail |
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|
Misty
hill above the trail |
The cows
are enjoying a bumper crop of new grass |
Last
year's tall grass, beaten down by heavy rainfall |
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Island
Park Campground area from the Edison Point Trail
|
This
dead plant stands out against the gray of the lake |
Bovine
stairway to heaven |
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A
dramatic view of the lake and clouds in early afternoon |
Looking
up the valley of Hughes Creek
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Location
of my photo stops |
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Wet Dry
Creeks |
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Little
Dry Creek where road to shooting range joins Auberry Road |
Lots of
history here |
The creek
where it goes away from the road, by Fleming Ranch |
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Another
view near the ranch |
And
another |
Shed on
Millerton Road between Auberry Road and Highway 168 |
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North
Fork of Little Dry Creek |
Another
North Fork view |
Dramatic
old sycamore by Millerton Road |
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Little
Dry Creek at one of three Millerton Road crossings |
Green
hills and blue oaks |
Along
Millerton Road |
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Another
dramatic tree, an oak this time |
Swift
water in Little Dry Creek is undercutting the bank |
Next to
the Big Dry Creek bridge - maybe in case you get stuck? |
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Storm
runoff piled debris up against the bridge |
Big Dry
Creek just above the bridge |
Pond by
Highway 168 |
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Debris
line by Big Dry Creek shows that the water was five feet higher the
previous day |
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San
Joaquin Gorge Off-Trail |
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Debris on
fence shows water in Big Sandy Creek was recently five feet higher |
A nice
moss and granite combination |
Seasonal
waterfall along Smalley Road |
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This
creek tumbles down the steep slope by the road south of the river |
Fog lays
on top of Squaw Leap table top |
Creek
cascades down the north side of the river canyon |
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Cow trail
down into a drainage |
The root
knew which way to go for food and water |
The wet
weather has produced a bumper crop of mushrooms |
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Passage
way through a brushy area |
Cow keeps
watch on the parking lot |
Acorn and
gall on a live oak tree |
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Are these
YOUR school colors? |
If
we could only level this nice table rock |
A
"tunnel" through the rocks |
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Warning
sign |
One of
two bearing trees in this spot |
Flow of
recent runoff is clearly seen in this grassy drainage |
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Blue oak
with a mysterious hole |
Who lives
down there? |
A nice
green knoll to be explored |
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More
mushrooms |
Cows have
made a safe walkway below the guard rail |
Cow trail
to get down to the knoll |
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Snow on
the low Sierra above Auberry |
North of
Auberry follow Powerhouse Road, then left on Smalley Road |
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San Joaquin
River Trail West |
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Creek
crossing on the trail |
Hikers
going down the trail, seen from across the creek valley
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Where
Finegold Creek enters Millerton Lake |
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There's
lots of snow in the Sierra Nevada this year |
Lake
just below the saddle, the end of our hike |
View of
Finegold Creek junction from the saddle (compare the 2014
water level) |
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Pine Flat
Drive & Hike |
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A welcome sight - nearly
full lake and green grass |
Also welcome, a nice snow
pack on the Sierra Nevada |
Janell and Dick at Edison
Point |
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Dick along the trail |
This debris barrier keeps
logs and other trash away from the dam |
In the closed campground |
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Mostly blue oaks in the
campground |
Hills to the northeast |
This blue oak displays an
unusual growth pattern |
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Janell by the trail out from
the picnic ground |
Little streams run into
Sycamore Creek |
Looking upstream from the
bridge, lots of water in Sycamore Creek |
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Related Links |
|
Edison
Point Trail (Review) |
Edison
Point Trail (Description) |
Pine
Flat Reservoir |
The
Dry Creeks of Fresno |
Kirkman's
Point |
Electric
Power Transmission |
San
Joaquin Valley |
Rambling
in the Rain |
Rains
of January |
Other
San Joaquin Gorge Reports |
San
Joaquin Gorge Slide Show |
San
Joaquin Gorge Photo Album |
Don
Fernando's |
San
Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area |
Marshall
Station |
San
Joaquin River Trail |
US
Forest Service |
Finegold
Picnic Area |
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