Dick's Adventures of
2019 - Part 2
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Adventures
of 2016 Adventures
of 2017 Adventures
of 2018 2019
Part 1 2019
Part 3 2019
Part 4 2019
Part 5
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Cabin
Days 2019
San Joaquin River Trail West
Striped Rock Ranch
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Camp Four and a Half Cabin
2019
In
what is becoming a family tradition, in late March I spent several
days at Camp Four and a Half Cabin with my daughter Teri, grandson
Mikie, grandson Johnny and his family, and our "adopted"
son/brother Wes Thiessen. The Upshaw family consists of Teri's son Johnny,
his wife Brittany, and sons Jack and Colton, so we had four generations of my family
present. Our thoughts were also with those who could not attend due
to work or distance - Mikie's girlfriend Lizzie, daughter Jennifer
and her husband Rod. This
rental cabin is a former ranger residence one mile up a dirt road on
the south side of the Kings River. It's within sight and easy walking
distance of the river, and is surrounded by valley oaks, buckeye, live
oaks, various shrubs, and lots of wildflowers.
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Camp
Four and a Half Cabin from the east |
Bush
lupines and the Kings River |
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I
drove up in my truck the morning of March 29, arriving around noon.
On the way I stopped several times to photograph Pine Flat Lake,
flowers along the way, and the waterfall on Secata Ridge. Teri get
there with Jack and Colton about two, and the others would arrive over
the next two days. Once we got things brought into the cabin, we
took a walk up the road to a place where there is a cattle guard
across the road, with a gate next to it. This gate is perfect for
boys to swing on, and soon I was pushing the gate back and forth as
the boys demanded that I go faster and faster. When I needed a rest,
the boys took over pushing.
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Pine
Flat Lake from the road over Secata Ridge |
Poppies
along Trimmer Springs Road |
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Colton gives Jack a ride... |
...and Jack returns the favor |
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Later
that day we went down to the river. Last year Colton spent a long
time carefully piling damp sand onto a slanted rock surface, patting
it smooth, and shaping a little "wall" at the top of it.
This year he took a less subtle approach - he simply threw
shovels full of sand at the rock, covering it all over. Jack then
climbed up and slid down the loose sand. Other activities included
climbing on the huge root of a sycamore tree that grows near the
river, playing with the Stomp Rocket, and acrobatics on the
handrails on the back porch. |
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Jack supervises, while Colton shovels sand on to
a boulder
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Colton in his cougar pose with Jack below
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Trying for record height and distance with the
Stomp Rocket
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Acrobatics on the hand rail
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The
rest of the day was spent hanging around the cabin, enjoying the
spring beauty around us, eating supper, and just enjoying our family
outing.
Johnny
and Brittany arrived the next day, as did Mikie. In the afternoon we
went for a short drive on the other side of the river. Johnny and a
friend had been fishing up that way a month or two earlier, and the
friend had left his fishing tackle behind, so Johnny wanted to see if he
could find it. To no one's surprise, he was not successful.
Teri,
Mikie, Colton, Jack and I went only as far as Gravel Flats, pretty
much right across the river from our cabin, where there is a huge
sand pile. The boys had enjoyed playing here with their sand toys
when they camped at nearby Kirch Flat with Teri and me in
2016.
This
time they did a little digging in the sand, with Colton getting
partially buried, but much of the time they spent rolling
down the hill (this link places a short movie in your Download
Folder). An interesting aspect of this outing was
seeing a gathering of classic VW
camper vans in the group camp there.
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Mikie and Jack race up the big sand pile
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Colton tried to bury himself
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When
we returned to the cabin we had my famous spaghetti for
dinner, with meatballs provided by Teri. As the evening cool down
began, Johnny
got the camp fire going, and we had a good time watching it get dark,
looking at the stars, and supervising the boys in one of their
favorite activities, putting wood on the fire. As expected, Jack
faded out first, with Teri and Brittany not far behind. Colton held
on a little longer, and Johnny and I were the last to go in.
The
next morning we were in for a treat. Wes and I had seen wild turkeys
last year, and Colton and I caught a glimpse of one when we made a
second visit to the cabin a few weeks later. This year, they put on a
show every morning, and the boys got a good look at them. We saw
five or six Saturday, but Sunday was the big day, with at least
fourteen spotted in the road and on the side of the cabin.
Not
long after breakfast Wes arrived. He had hiked with Teri, Mikie,
Colton and me, but this was his first meeting with the rest of the
Upshaw's. He joined us for a trip to the river, capturing some good
photos of the boys on
the sycamore root and their efforts to skip rocks, with Johnny
demonstrating and teaching. Colton tried swinging on the rope
swing, getting a foot or two out over the water. Johnny did some
fishing, but no catching.
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Wild turkeys put on a show all three mornings
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Learning to skip stones
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A rope swing is irresistible
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Jack and Colton wait for Dad to catch a fish
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All
too soon it was time for students and working people to leave. Teri, Johnny
and Brittany all had to work on Monday, and the boys had school.
Mikie was starting a new adventure - on April 2nd he would start
training as a correctional officer at the academy in Galt, having
been hired at High Desert Prison in Susanville. Wes and I, being
retired, would hold down the fort for the rest of the day and
Monday.
Wes
had never been to Black Rock Reservoir, about 15 miles from the
cabin, so we set off in his Toyota Highlander, with his bike on the
rack. Wes's thoughts:
"I had a fantasy about coasting my bike
ten miles down from Black Rock Reservoir to Balch Camp. Dick asked that I give this adventure careful consideration since the rough road is carved into the side of a granite canyon with no margins and drop-offs of
hundreds of feet. Dick is a wise man and I took his advice."
As
it turned out, the road surface just past the PG&E town of Balch
Camp was so rough as to be dangerous without the other aspects, so
the bike stayed on the rack - up to a point.
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The Black Rock Road, designated one of America's
most dangerous
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This bridge seems to just be tacked on to the
side of the cliff
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Along
the way we enjoyed wildflowers, views down into the canyon of the North
Fork of the Kings River, and several waterfalls, the most dramatic
of which was Patterson Falls, about half way between Balch and Black
Rock.
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Patterson Falls is part of the great scenery
along the road
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Black Rock Reservoir
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We
drove down a rough dirt side road near the reservoir to a place where I used to
camp, but most of the trees in the area were killed in the drought.
A walk from the camp area down to the river also proved
disappointing, with the road blocked in many places by fallen trees,
and nothing really interesting at the river itself.
We
went on to Black Rock and walked down to the dam. Here we were able to
get our mandatory picture of Wes on "something," as well
as views of a light layer of snow on the hills just above the dam.
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Wes on the sign
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There was still a light layer of snow not far
above us
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Wes
again: "When we reached Balch Camp, I sent Dick on ahead while I rode the bike
five miles back to the cabin. It's a coasting ride along the north
fork of the river with lots of wildflowers on both sides. The dominant flower is
poppies."
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Poppies in the rock cliffs
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Poppies in the distance paint the hills orange
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"Dick cooked a great pork chop dinner and I brought the red wine. Afterwards, we spent time outdoors viewing the clear night sky with the constellations in full view including the Big Dipper. I woke early Monday morning and tip-toed out of the cabin while Dick slept. I mounted my hybrid bike for a
two-hour ride deep into the wilderness. Although the poppy flowers were still closed, the
redbud was amazing!
We left the cabin early Monday afternoon in separate trucks. We were playing
'tag' with each of us stopping to record photo images of wildflowers and seasonal waterfalls. I took over 200 shots but
selected only a few for this report. Suffice it to say it was a fantastic two-day
adventure."
Before
leaving, we had an official flag-lowering, folding it in accordance
with tradition. We were lucky to be able to raise the flag in the
first place. When Colton and I started to put it up on Friday, we
found that the rope was knotted so that it could not be pulled up.
Fortunately the pole is inserted in a pipe about four feet high.
Johnny was able to lift it out, undo the knot, and replace it.
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Redbud is a common sight in foothill river
canyons
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"Folding the flag is taking care of
America"
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Driving
down Trimmer Springs road just past Bailey Bridge, I noticed what
appeared to be a mass of flowers in a field next to the road. By the
color I realized it could just be drying grass, but I stopped and
walked into the field. To my delight it proved to be a 100
x 100 foot patch of ham & eggs. This now rare plant has red
stems the color of a slice of breakfast ham. The flowers have thick,
rounded petals the color of scrambled eggs. We used to see this
flower regularly in the foothills where I grew up, but I had not
seen them for decades until I spotted a small stand of them at the
San Joaquin Gorge a few years ago. To see them in these numbers was
a unique experience. Wes
stopped a little farther down where Secata Creek crosses the road
and got one of what his wife calls an "artsy fartsy" shot
of the scene.
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Ham & eggs flowers
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Lupines and the little creek that runs down from
Secata Ridge
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As
I drove along the winding road that parallels the shore of Pine Flat
Lake, I realized I was not quite ready to head back to the city. I
pulled off at the trailhead for the Edison Pont Trail, and walked a
short distance there. (You can read more about this hiking area here
and here.)
This
spot is usually a good place to see one of my favorite flowers, the
purple brodiaea. I was not disappointed; there were good numbers of
them, as well as their cousins, yellow harvest
brodiaea and blue Dicks. I made one more stop, to photograph lupines
along the road just before it goes up and away from the lake.
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Purple brodiaea against a bull pine trunk
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Blue Dicks
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During
our four days at this magical place, besides the turkeys, we saw
lizards, frogs, toads and squirrels. Wes saw four deer on his Monday
morning ride, and we had ravens and other birds flying overhead. We
saw countless flowers, sunshine, clouds, and a little snow above
Black Rock. Everyone had a great time and will surely be returning.
This
was our third annual springtime family outing. The first was
scheduled for the cabin, but rock slides closed the road, and we
found a place at Bass Lake instead. We are considering going there
next year so that Rod and Jennifer can join us. But Wes and I are
talking about a couple of nights at the cabin just to keep the
string going.
The
name of this place seems kind of awkward - who thought up Camp Four
and a Half Cabin? There are four campgrounds between the Bailey
Bridge and the place where the road leaves the river to follow Mill
Flat Creek south towards Highway 180. There used to be a small
campground near the cabin, probably when it was still in official
use. Farther up are Camp 4, Green Cabin Flat, and Mill Flat. What
happened to camps 1 through 3? Why is there no cabin at Green Cabin
Flat? Who knows? Does it matter?
--Wes
and Dick, April 2019
More
Camp Four and a Half Photos
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San Joaquin River Trail West
I've
hiked this location many
times, so I'll limit the words and focus on the photos (focus on
photos! ha!).
I
did this hike, which starts at the Finegold Picnic Area near Sky
Harbor on Millerton Lake on April 8, the first hike of the season in
shorts and short-sleeve t-shirt. It turned out to be a good choice,
since it was quite warm by the time I finished.
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The Finegold Creek branch of Pine Flat Lake
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Popcorn flowers above a drainage
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My
goal on this hike was to see wildflowers, and there were plenty of
them. Along the way I compiled a list of all the wildflowers I could
identify, as well as descriptions of some I couldn't. This list
appears at the bottom of the report.
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Chinese houses and common madea
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Phecelia
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Fiddlenecks against a lichen-covered rock
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A steep, eroded section of the trail
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Blue dicks wave in the breeze
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Bush lupines were at their best
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The
only exciting aspect of the hike was a report by a lady hiker that
she had just heard a rattlesnake. She and her dog decided to hurry
back to the trailhead.
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Foothill gilia
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View of a section of the trail from just below
the saddle
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The flowers I saw
Those
in bold are shown above. The blue links will open a photo of the
flowers not seen above. Some flowers were seen along the road only.
Baby Blue Eyes,
Big Plant Lupine, Bird's Eye Gilia, Blue Dicks, Bush Lupine,
Chamomile, Chaparral, Chinese Houses, Common
Madea, Dove Lupine, Elderberry, Fiddlenecks, Fiesta Flowers.
Filaree, Foothill Gilia, Fringed Redmaids, Harvest Brodiaea,
Lacepods, Medium Daisy, Miner's Lettuce, Mule ears, Phecelia,
Popcorn Flowers, Poppies,
Purple Brodiaea, Red Clover, Sierra Star, Small Daisy, Tall Ground Lupine,
Thistles, Vetch, White Owl Clover.
--Dick
Estel, May 2019
More
San Joaquin River Trail Photos
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Striped Rock Ranch
(text by Dick and Wes)
DICK:
This
hike was very special for a couple of reasons. First, I went with my
daughter Jennifer and my friend from the Ramblers hiking group, Wes
Thiessen. The second reason takes a little longer to explain: When I was about
ten years old, we were driving around somewhere in rural
Mariposa County. I spotted this big rock dome and asked what it was.
"That's Striped Rock," my dad answered. Although people
think I've been everywhere, I had not seen this feature since that
day, until I joined a guided hike to Striped Rock Ranch, organized by the Sierra
Foothill Conservancy. On
April 20, I got up at the unspeakable hour of 5:30, had breakfast,
picked up Wes and drove to my daughter's place above Oakhurst. We
then headed for the Mariposa Fairgrounds, where we met up with the
hike leaders Joy and Ben, and about 25 other hardy souls ranging in
age from ten to at least 79. We drove in a caravan about five miles
on Ben Hur and Silver Bar Roads, and parked along the side of the
latter. There is no recognizable trail at this place, but 27 pairs
of boots soon marked the way through the grass. Much of the way is a
cow trail or old two-track, nearly overgrown with the excellent crop
of grass this year. The
land is privately owned, but was set aside as a conservation
easement. Access is allowed only on official guided walks like this
one. As
we made our way mostly down hill, we enjoyed an amazing assortment of
wild flowers. The dominant blooms were lupines, but I counted at
least 28 different species during our outing. Ben formerly worked for
Yosemite National Park and is now with the County of Mariposa, while
Joy is a botanist with the park service in Yosemite. We stopped
occasionally as they discussed the flowers and the geology of the
area. Striped Rock is one of several dome-like outcroppings in this
area, although the others are less well-defined.
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Wes and Jennifer with a fellow hiker
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Ben holds forth on the geology of the area
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About
a half mile into our walk, we went off the trail a short distance to
a large granite outcropping where we had our first view of Striped
Rock. This area was also a riot of color with a dozen species of
flowers, and Wes must have added a quarter mile to his hiking total
as he ran around trying to photograph
everything.
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Where we stopped for a short nature talk
(Striped
Rock visible in the background)
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Striped Rock
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In
fact, after my second ever look at Striped Rock, the flowers
were the best part of the hike. Lupines dominated, but there was a
lot of purple owl clover, common madea (a bright yellow flower an
inch and a half in diameter), poppies, yellow-throated
gilia, fiddlenecks, and popcorn flowers. At our first stopping
place a small boulder with an overhang created a micro-climate where
Joy pointed out a few monkey flowers.
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Lupines and owl clover
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Monkey flowers find a damp, shady spot under a
rock overhang
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However,
the best flower discovery was one that I had not seen for many
decades. Five Spots appear on every website and paper handout
listing foothill flowers, but I had given up ever seeing them. As we
crossed Striped Rock Creek, Joy pointed out a large
area of them. They are a white flower a bit over a half inch in
diameter, with a dark blue spot on the very edge of each petal. Joy
told us they like moist areas, so the years of drought have probably
reduced their range, but they found a hospitable spot next to the
creek. They are related to baby blue eyes, a common flower that we
saw in small numbers.
Two
other fairly uncommon flowers made the list - buttercups and cream
cups. I see them most years, but never in large numbers. We also
enjoyed flowering bushes including redbud, manzanita and chaparral (ceanothus).
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The elusive Five Spot
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Jennifer with redbud and other spring beauty
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WES:
We eventually came to a broad green meadow where we once again regrouped before tackling the monolithic Striped Rock. We were told the
trail to the top would be strenuous with some rock climbing and jumping. Dick and Jennifer wisely chose to enjoy lunch in this lush "Garden of Eden" while
I moved forward with a smaller group.
Along
the way, we encountered three challenges to reach the summit. We first needed to cross a field of boulders which had tumbled atop each other years ago. Ben divided us into teams of two for help in climbing through this complex trail. We could "lend a hand" and serve as "spotters" for foot placement
ahead.
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The beginning of the boulder pile that is the
first step of the final stretch
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Dick relaxing and happy not to be rock climbing
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The next challenge was a quarter mile of upward trail overgrown with
poison oak plants. They could be found to the left, right and middle of the trail. I learned the mantra: "Leaves
of three, let it be." Intermixed with the poison oak were fields of
wildflowers.
We finally came to the base of Striped Rock for our third challenge. Ben told us the trail ended here and we would need to "scramble" to the top. The rock was covered with moss and lichen. Thanks goodness it had not rained, which could have caused much slipping and
sliding.
The summit was worth it all! It afforded 360 degree views of the Mariposa region. Over the years dirt and dust have blown over the top creating wildflower
beds. We enjoyed these vistas while eating lunch at the "top of the
world."
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The view from the top, with poppies
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The final climb up the face of the
rock
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Of course, I couldn't resist another selfie with "Wes on the Rock" looking a great distance down to the valley floor.
I wish I could report a relaxed hike back to the car. But that was not to be. It happened shortly after we entered the overgrown trail of
poison oak. Several tree branches had fallen over the trail. As I lifted my leg to cross a branch, my boot snagged on a limb and I fell to the left of the trail. My exposed left forearm caught my fall but landed right in the center of a patch of
poison oak. Ben looked back and said: "You're laying in poison
oak!" Lucky for me, our group included some experienced hikers. They washed my forearm with cold water and applied "Technu
Extreme." Apparently their treatment worked since I experienced no rash or itching even the day after hike's
end.
I caught up with Dick and Jennifer on the trail back to the car to bring this interesting adventure to an
end.
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Wes on the rock, on top of Striped Rock
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A typical trail-side scene, with fiddlenecks and
popcorn flowers
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DICK:
The hike back to the car had more uphill than the hike in had
downhill, a common feeling after three miles or more of walking.
However, the endless beauty made it an enjoyable experience, and we
had nothing but positive thoughts during the ride home.
Even
before we reached the meeting place, Wes and I had a discussion
about the pronunciation of the rock's name. My dad pronounced it
with two syllables (strip-ed), so I have always done the same. Even
so, I might say that a tiger is "striped" with one
syllable. When we first met with Joy, she used the one-syllable
pronunciation, but when we asked she said that Ben used two
syllables. There was a consensus among the hikers that "old
timers" from the area say "strip-ed," and younger
folks use the one syllable version. It's no wonder our kids have
trouble with the English language.
--Wes
and Dick, May 2019
More
Striped Rock Photos
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