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Sierra
Foothills - Winter 2013 |
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Finegold
Trailhead Hensley
Lake San
Joaquin Gorge |
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Finegold
Trailhead
On February 2 I went hiking with
my friend Janell Sidney and her
grandson Mark Washington. We went to the Finegold trailhead near Sky
Harbor, where
I had been three times last
fall, and made mainly the same hike as
my first visit, up to the top of a ridge where the lake curves around and
there is water on three sides of you.
My
first hikes were in October and November, when the grass was dry and
the weather was fairly warm. For this hike, we had bright green
grass, a few flowers and weather that was just right for a brisk
uphill hike, about 65 degrees.
We left
my house a little after 10, and made the 25 mile drive to the
trailhead. Previously there had been only one or two other cars at
the parking lot, but those hikes were during the week. This time, on
a Saturday, there were at least a dozen other cars there.
Despite
all the vehicles, we saw only a few people along the trail, until we
reached the ridge top, where a group of six or eight were coming
down the hill west of the trail. We also met and talked to a couple
of bike riders, one of whom was riding the entire 14 or so miles of
the trail from the San Joaquin Gorge to the Finegold trailhead.
Janell and I agreed that nothing could make us ride a bike down that
steep hill.
At the
ridge top there are a number of boulders with large sections of
quartz, so Janell and Mark turned into hard rock
miners, trying to
chip out some crystallized samples of the rock (also hoping that a gold nugget might pop out).
Along
the trail on this and my previous hikes, we picked up a few pine
nuts. These come from the bull pine, also known as digger pines and
grey pines, and are quite tasty. However, the shell is very hard,
the nut is small, and cracking them often results in an inedible
smushed mess of shell and meat. In other words, while it's fun to
"live off the land," pine nuts are more trouble than
they're worth (I still have most of the ones I picked up in October
sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for ambition to strike).
After
resting and "mining" at the top of the ridge, we continued
a few hundred yards past this point. We agreed that we’d like to explore the trail further, if we
could just get someone to drop us off at the top of the ridge.
It’s a fairly steep climb, nearly all up hill, and once you finish
that, there’s not much ambition to go farther.
On our way home we stopped and had lunch at the
Dam Diner in Friant.
--Dick
Estel, March 2013
Finegold
Photos
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Hensley
Lake
One of my
favorite winter/spring camping areas is Hensley Lake, located on the
Fresno River in Madera County, about 45 miles from my house. I try
to go at least once every year, although scheduling is sometimes a
challenge. If the weather is nice, I often have other stuff to do, and when my schedule is clear, it seems to bring rain or
cold or wind.
However, the
forecast for February 4 - 6 was for temperatures in the 60s, very
little wind, and no precipitation, so I decided it was time. The
campground has quite a few sites with electricity, and there is a
reservation system that allows you to book a site on-line and pay
for it by credit card. Since going to Hensley is often a last-minute
decision, I have not used the system in the past, but once in a
while that means I get a less than desirable space. One time I was
able to get the only available site with hookups, but only because
the people who were there before me decided to leave early.
Last year as
I rode my bike around the campground, I made a list of the better
sites, since there's nothing on-line to tell you which is which,
just site numbers. I was able to get my number one
choice, but as it
turned out, I would have been fine just showing up - there was only
one other party anywhere near the area I wanted, and only four total.
I got
started at my usual time (when I get around to it), and had a nice,
scenic drive. The first part is north on Highway 41 then west on Highway
145. This section is only
moderately scenic, and I've driven it hundreds of times. However, once
you turn off the main highways, you get on Road 400, which winds through low hills,
past ranches, creeks and ponds. For the first time I stopped and
took some photos in this area, since I have photographed the scenery
around the lake and campground extensively.
I got set up
in my chosen spot, and got busy doing nothing. Actually I did some
bike riding, a little walking, and a lot of reading the first day.
The next day was very nice in the morning, and after breakfast I
rode my bike to the trailhead for the one mile loop trail and hiked
that, stopping at one point to rest and read for about a half hour.
In the
afternoon a strong breeze came up and it was a little cooler than I
would have liked, but still nice to be out in the country. Late in
the day a few buzzards landed in a tree on the hill above me, and I
got some nice photos of the birds silhouetted against the sunset.
Due to the
colder weather, I ended up inside earlier than usual, reading,
watching TV and eating. The next morning I got a leisurely, late
start, getting back to Clovis early in the afternoon.
Hensley
Lake Photos
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San
Joaquin Gorge
On February
28 I did not do my usual morning walk. Instead I went to the San
Joaquin Gorge (Squaw Leap) and hiked the trail down to the river.
(Read about last year's hikes in this area here.)
Actually I only hiked about half the trail; as soon as I went
through the first gate I veered off to the right and went “cross-country.”
I had done this a few times in the past, but don’t have any
particular route that I can recall, so I just tried to follow normal
hiking rules – never lose elevation unless you have no choice,
regardless of detours around brush, gullies, etc.; continue in the
general direction of your destination, and for those of us of great
age, be careful with every step, especially going up and down rocks
or down steep hillsides.
I
clearly did not follow the same route I have traveled in the past,
since I got into a fairly steep, brushy area where I had to backtrack
briefly and circle around, and I joined the trail a little bit
further down than I remember doing on my earlier cross-country
ventures.
Once
on the trail I continued on down to the bridge where I rested a
little and took some pictures. Just past the bridge I again left the
trail, going left up the hill where the trail bears to the right. I
have gone up this route in the past also. In fact, once I hiked that
route with my backpack, my grandson Johnny’s sleeping bag and other stuff,
and
Johnny, all on my back (he was much smaller in those days). Along
this route there is a good size patch of chaparral. I remember
walking through there right after the fire of
1982, when the brush
was burned off to the ground. By the time I carried Johnny through
there, it was knee-high; now the bushes are full size, eight to ten
feet tall, and there is very little sign of the fire.
There
was a fairly good size drainage to the left (west), with a smaller one
to the right, and the trail east of that. I considered going through
the large drainage to an area I had visited before, but it looked too
rough, so I rejoined the trail where it goes over a low ridge. A few
hundred feet of trail was enough and I turned left toward the river,
into an area that has a lot of gently sloping land, where I searched for a couple of areas where I had camped in the past.
At least I think I camped there twice, although my backpacking notes
don’t indicate anything but Lost Hat
Camp.
I
found a good resting rock and read, napped and walked around. This
area offers some good views of the river, and while walking away
from my stopping place, I realized I was right above the
bridge. It
looked like I could go down through the fairly steep drainage east
of me, then make my way back up to the hill just above the Madera
end of the bridge. I did this, with some help from big deep
footprints left by cows in the soft soil, which made going down the
steep hillside a little easier.
Once
I got back to the bridge, I stuck to the trail going back to the
parking lot, since it’s nearly 100% uphill, and offers enough of a
challenge without doing any bushwhacking.
It
was a little early for a good wildflower display, but I saw small
patches of fiddlenecks, shooting
stars, baby blue
eyes, and popcorn
flowers, as well as isolated brodiaea blossoms and some flowers whose
identity I don’t know. There was only one field of popcorn flowers
that I could consider a normal amount. The bush lupines are loaded
with buds, but none are open yet.
On
my way up Auberry Road
I made an exploratory side trip down Wellbarn Road. Bike riders that Janell and I met on the trail up from Finegold
mentioned a campground along the trail. I looked on the map and
discovered that they were referring to Temperance Flat Boat-In camp.
The map showed that Wellbarn road went from Auberry Road
to the trail, and there is a side trail down to the camp.
Wellbarn
was a decent paved road, with a center line the first mile or so,
then it got narrow, and about three miles in it turned to dirt, with
a locked gate preventing further exploration. I talked to a ranger
at the USFS
office in Prather, and she said it is possible to hike down there
“if you don’t mind climbing a gate.” Well, I thrive on
climbing gates and fences, but it looks like quite a long walk, and
since it goes to the river, there would be plenty of uphill coming
back out. There also seemed to be very little room to park anywhere
near the gate, so that adventure will have to be accomplished by
someone else.
--Dick
Estel, March 2013
San
Joaquin Gorge Photos
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Photos
(Click to enlarge; pictures open in new window) |
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Finegold
Hike Hensley
Lake Trip San
Joaquin Gorge Hike |
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Finegold
Hike |
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Nature creates a striking
composition with the
burnt log, green plants and mossy rocks |
Janell and Mark on the
trail |
Plants grow anywhere they
can find a bit of soil |
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Shuteye Peak and Eagle
Beaks,
above the upper San Joaquin
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Janell and Mark try a
little hard-rock mining |
Black cattle, green grass,
grey pines and white rocks |
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Pine trees tower above a
large rock outcropping |
A lone mushroom nestles
among new plant growth |
Boat rounding Horseshoe
Bend |
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Hensley
Lake Trip |
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Rolling hills
along Road 400
en route to Hensley Lake |
Farmland along
Road 400 |
Ranch on Road
400 |
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Creek bottom
by Road 400 |
Parked in my
favorite campsite |
The crotch of
this blue oak next to my camp provides a perfect germination basin |
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The new crop
of grass is getting a good start |
One of the
many hawks seen
on a typical visit to Hensley |
Lake and
mountains from hill above campground |
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A section of
the Pohonichi Trail |
Buzzards at
sunset |
Sunset at
Hensley,
February 5, 2013 |
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San
Joaquin Gorge Hike |
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A barn on
Wellbarn road |
Antique fire
truck in Auberry |
New shoots on buckeye tree |
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Fuel for the
next fire? |
A study in
shades of green |
Baby blue eyes |
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Taken while
standing on the bridge |
A collection
of oak apples
in the hollow of a blue oak |
Looking down
on the
bridge from the ridge above |
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Remains of a
manzanita killed in the 1982 fire |
Close up of
the base |
One of the
most dramatic
wildflowers - shooting stars |
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Related Links |
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Millerton
State Recreation Area |
Prather,
CA |
San Joaquin
Gorge Hikes |
USFS |
San
Joaquin River |
Hensley
Reservoir |
Fresno River |
Red
tail hawk |
Federal
Reservation System |
San
Joaquin Gorge Special
Recreation Management Area |
Wellbarn
Road |
San
Joaquin River Trail |
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