Dick's Adventures of 2025 - Part 2

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Having first become aware of the world in the very rural, very sparsely populated foothills of the Sierra Nevada in the 1940s, my image of a cabin is a rustic, unpainted, raw wood structure with perhaps two rooms and a "facility" out back. The cabin in this story is very different - it's a three bedroom, three bathroom A-frame with the usual modern conveniences, including dishwasher, big screen TV's, Wi-Fi, attached garage, detached garage/workshop, and large deck with a fire pit and comfortable furniture. 

It belongs to my older grandson, Johnny, and his family - wife Brittany and sons Colton and Jack. It was OK when they bought it about three years ago, but has been significantly upgraded through their hard work. It's located at 4,500 feet about ten miles below Shaver Lake, and is a fantastic place to spend a weekend or a week. And it's for rent!

Many in our family gathered there on June 21 to celebrate Teri's birthday (actually coming on the 23rd) and Johnny and Brittany's wedding anniversary (just past on the 20th).

Those present were Teri the birthday girl, her Mother Jackie, her Dad Dick (me), her sister Jennifer, her sons Johnny and Mikie, daughter-in-law Brittany, Mikie's fiancée Hayley and her grandson Jack. The other grandson, Colton was spending the weekend with friends, a more frequent occurrence as he approaches his teens.

Our activities, if they can be called that, mostly consisted of sitting around talking and eating. Most of us did go on a walk around "The Horseshoe," a loop across the main road from the cabin that goes about a half mile. Along the way are other houses, views of Banner Peak, Mt. Ritter and the Minarets, and an elderberry bush which caught Jack's eye in the early days of the cabin. When they are ripe he picks and eats a few, and I bore everyone with the story of how my sister and I picked elderberries that our Mother made into delicious pies. None were eaten this day; the bush is still in bloom, with only a very few green berries.

Johnny, Brittany, Jack, Teri, Jennifer, Mikie,
Hayley holding Archie, Dick, Jackie petting Dotty

A highlight of the afternoon was when Jack picked up my camera and took excellent photos of everyone present, including the two four-legged ones.

Late in the afternoon Johnny went in to Shaver Lake to pick up pizza, and we enjoyed a second meal. After that, everyone but Teri and I had to leave. It had been a very cool day with a strong breeze, so we moved inside and relaxed for the evening. Teri goes to bed fairly early and soon climbed up to the second floor bedroom, while I stayed up till a little after 9 p.m. reading.

The next morning we had tea on the deck, bundled up against the cool morning, then walked the Horseshoe. We had a late leisurely breakfast and Teri left for home around 11 a.m. I stayed at the cabin all day, walking the Horseshoe again in the late afternoon, and wandering about the property, observing the flowers and trees. There are a bunch of yellow flowers all around the property and out in the neighborhood which are open at night, but close up in the daytime, the opposite of most flowers that open and close daily. They are a variety of madea, and close up to maintain moisture.

The property also boasts three or four young sequoias, planted by previous owners, ranging from six to twenty feet tall. There's also an eight-inch one which is Jack's. When we went to Sequoia National Park in August, 2023, one of the Ramblers bought a sequoia seedling for him in the gift shop. It did well, growing to over a foot  tall, but died last summer for unknown reasons. Teri and I bought the replacement for him at Grant Grove earlier this year.

I also spent some time engaged in animal observation. Shortly after he arrived Johnny put bird seed  in a standard feeder hanging on a nearby tree, and in a feeder made to look like a mini picnic table. After that several Steller's jays and gray squirrels chased each other, argued and fought over the treat, and managed to eat nearly all of it by Monday night.

As I was sitting on the deck on the last full day, I managed to capture several photos of a squirrel clinging to a cedar tree less than  ten feet from me. There was also a hummingbird feeder, but it went untouched till the final morning when a single bird arrived. He also flew within about two feet of me, apparently attracted by my red flannel shirt.

I also saw a couple of ravens, various unidentified small birds, and some chipmunks. Then there were the animals I did NOT see. While I was on the deck the last day, a neighbor came over to report that there had been a bear in the area the previous night. Ask Johnny to tell you about the "Skunk Incident," which happened a few weeks ago, when I was nowhere near the cabin.

When I'm staying in a place like this, I try to take advantage of being close to good hiking and sight-seeing territory. To fill my time on Monday, I decided to drive up to McKinley Grove. This is a fairly out-of-the way sequoia grove, accessible by easy, paved roads. As you approach the village of Shaver Lake on State Route 168, turn right on the Dinkey Creek Road. After a dozen miles, just before you reach the Dinkey Creek Campground and other facilities, turn right on the McKinley Grove Road and proceed just under six miles to the grove. 

There is parking on both sides of the road, with a restroom and picnic table on the side away from the trees, and another restroom by the trailhead.

There is a short, easy paved trail that winds through the trees. An energetic person could probably walk it in less than 15 minutes. I went slowly, rested often, stopped to take photos, stopped to take a close look at flowers and plants, read all the informational signs along the way, and spent at least an hour there.

The entire grove consists of several hundred big trees, but the majority of them are located on the hills across the road from the trail, in steep, brushy terrain that is virtually inaccessible. No matter. Along the trail there are a number of young sequoias, about 20 big giants, and a nice selection of wildflowers, including dogwood, azalea, and wild iris. In the east end of the grove, the trail goes past a small creek.

When I left the grove I made two more stops along the way home. First I continued on up the road about half mile to the Gigantea Campground, or more accurately, to where this campground used to be. It has been closed for several years, and now appears to be abandoned. There are no restrooms, and I saw one sagging picnic table. I drove on the paved road into the area until it turned to dirt, then I turned around and started back.

My other stop was at a vista point about two or three miles east of Shaver Lake. There's a large turnout where you can park, and you can walk out about three hundred yards to a spot where you have a view down the canyon of Dinkey Creek. I've stopped here many times in the past, partly because it used to have restroom.

There's no real trail, just a sort of path, so I went very carefully out to the edge and stood on a small granite outcrop, enjoying the view and the surrounding forest. Along the way I encountered lupines, bear clover, and a clump of bunch grass, providing a bright green contrast to the dry grass around it.

After enjoying this short outing, I returned to my car and made the drive back through Shaver Lake and down to the cabin. I did a final Horseshoe walk, had the last slice of pizza for supper, and relaxed with my book the rest of the day.

Tuesday morning I sat on the deck with tea and my iPad, getting in a final hour of what a friend has taught me is "forest bathing." OK, I didn't really sit cross-legged on a log with my eyes closed and my arms outstretched. Perhaps I should call it "cabin deck bathing" - enjoying the cedars, firs, pines, and black oaks; watching the squirrels and jays and greeting the hummingbird.

Eventually this adventure had to end. I had a breakfast of delicious peaches that Teri had brought, washed the dishes, loaded up my car, and made the 40-mile drive back to my home in Clovis. It was sad to leave, but I knew I would be spending several days there again in July.

--Dick Estel, July 2025

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Cabin Days

Cabin Days
(Photos by Jack Upshaw and Dick Estel)