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Dick's San Joaquin Gorge Pictures |
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Here are photos from all parts of the San Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area, formerly known as Squaw Leap. This fascinating area, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered property, has campgrounds, trails open to hiking, bikes and horseback riding, and of course, the San Joaquin River down in the bottom of the gorge. Elevation ranges from about 700 feet at the river to 2,300 feet on the table top mountains on the north side of the river. The second section of this photo album consists of photos of the signs and plants that appear along the Nature Trail. This trail starts at the back of the equestrian camp, and is probably not more than a half mile long. It goes up, across and down a narrow ravine, and is well worth a visit. Note that not all plant photos were taken at the Gorge, since some of them were not "photogenic" when I was there. These photos are indicated by (N) for "Not taken at the Gorge." A few others were taken at the Gorge, but not along the Nature Trail. |
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| Nature Trail Slide Show Related Links Other Photo Links | |||
| New photos here April 29, 2024 (captions in red) | |||
| Click photo for a larger view (pictures open in a new window) | |||
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| The road into the gorge is visible in the background of this photo |
View of the bridge and river from Kennedy Table | Kennedy Table | |
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A shady glen in the upper |
Burl on blue oak | Blue oak on the hillside | |
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Grab the knob to move
this |
Sierra snow from San Joaquin Gorge | Split rock on the Madera side | |
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| X marks the spot on this rock near the bridge | Kennedy
Table, on the north side of the San Joaquin Gorge |
Another view of Kennedy Table | |
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| The
San Joaquin River Trail, heading southwest from the trailhead |
Big Table Mountain seen from San Joaquin Gorge | Bull pines (AKA gray or digger pines) | |
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San Joaquin Trail, near the trailhead parking lot |
San Joaquin River from the road into the gorge |
Dick and Janell resting by the Bridge Trail |
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| On the bridge, about 1982 | Shooting stars | Baby blue eyes | |
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| Lupines | Thistles in bloom | Goldenstar (AKA Harvest) brodiaea | |
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| Owl Clover | Bush lupine | Sunlight through blue oak trees | |
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Janell takes a break beside |
Big burl on blue oak (But see below) | Woodpecker larder tree | |
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| This oak continues to grow, despite a long-ago break | New shoots on buckeye tree | ||
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| A study in shades of green |
A collection
of oak apples |
Remains of a manzanita killed in the 1982 fire |
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| Foot bridge across the San Joaquin River | Taken while standing on the bridge |
The bridge from the trail above on the south side |
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| Dick on top of Kennedy Table in 2000 | Squaw Leap | Plaque in honor
of Ted Anderson, early promoter of Squaw Leap preservation |
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| Bedrock mortars near visitor center | A typical scene in the gorge | A lone popcorn flower | |
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| Remnants of an old dam | The spillway | Squaw leap under cloudy skies | |
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| Pines and rocks | Contemplating a huge burl on a blue oak | Monster tree (or just a dead blue oak) | |
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| Typical foothill game trail | Scattered bones of a dead tree | Handy sticks used to tighten wire | |
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| Nature provides some fence posts... | ...and pretty much ignores barbed wire | The San Joaquin River gorge | |
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| Mustang clover |
Bedrock mortars
on |
Bug Table, north of the river | |
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| The Bridge Trail, just past where it starts | Common madia | Mostly common madia | |
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| Bridge from the southeast corner |
The San Joaquin River, much too low for late spring |
A horizontal bull pine | |
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It means "place where there are blue oaks" |
Recent
rains have washed soil from the trail into the grass |
A very small bridge | |
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A promising sign - green grass in November 2015 |
Lichen adds a nice contrasting color amid the green |
The greenest green belongs to the moss |
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| A close low angle view of Squaw Leap |
There's
a bumper crop of |
Sun sparkles on the wires | |
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Moss
and time are reclaiming |
Dried seed pod of wild cucumber |
Leftover timbers
from trial |
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| Germinating buckeye seed | The hillside and trail on the north side from the road |
Blue oaks, green
grass, and mist |
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A tranquil scene along the San Joaquin River Trail |
Natural planter box | 2016 - the greenest spring in years | |
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| Two beautiful but unknown flowers seen on a hike in April 2016 | Elegant Clarkia | ||
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| Farewell to Spring |
Can you see who's hiding in the grass? |
Goldfields
were seen in a thick patch, in just one spot |
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| These look almost
the same as fringed redmaids, but not quite |
This is a white variety of brodiaea | Farewell
to spring, thick along the San Joaquin River Trail |
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| Three more views of the table top mountain known as Squaw Leap | |||
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| Red-brown seeds of the dock plant | 2016 was a good year for acorns |
Moms and kids keep a watchful eye on hikers |
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| Bright red "oak apples" in a blue oak | Succulent in the moss near the bridge | Bedrock mortars by Buzzard Road | |
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| Sculpted decomposing
granite along the San Joaquin River Trail |
Dried wild cucumber seed pods |
Mountain and clouds
to the west |
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| Fog
accents the leafless blue oaks in the upper part of the gorge |
This
little creek tumbles down the steep slopes along the road |
This
creek cascades down the north side of the river canyon |
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| Flow
of recent runoff is clearly seen in this grassy drainage |
A
delightful waterfall near the bottom of the River Access Trail |
Cattle guard at the approach to the parking lot | |
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| The San Joaquin is a
rushing white water river this year |
The Group Camp area | The "new" power plant, built around 1980 | |
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| Water tank above the new power house | One
of many creeks that flowed in the spring of 2017 |
Slide along road into area | |
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| Magic Sand Box at the Visitor Center | Frog pond near Equestrian Camp | Stump jumping near the visitor center | |
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| A
big run at the Gorge required overflow parking on the grass |
Two
creeks come together near the overflow parking lot |
A
big pine across the Ridge Trail had not yet been cleared in March 2017 |
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| Poppies with Kennedy Table in the background |
Redbud across the San Joaquin River canyon |
This dead snag should be called "The Sentinel" |
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The biggest little creek along the bridge trail |
This spot has a dozen or more bush lupines |
The view near the trailhead | |
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This natural bouquet includes
madia, |
Yellow flowers mixed in with mustang clover |
The
sign where you turn off from |
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| The rare yellow variety of Mariposa lily | King of the late season flowers, farewell-to-spring | Dry grass gone to seed in May 2017 | |
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| Squaw
Leap table top from the San Joaquin River Trail |
The other side of Squaw Leap from Prather |
Colton
and I discovered another fairly |
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| A little boy and a big bridge | Nature designed this tree just for us to sit on | Massive acorn crop at Group Camp area | |
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| Young bull pines glisten in the afternoon sun | These
rocks near the bridge provided table and chair for a snack break |
A low-level view of the bridge from
west of the trail on the Madera County side |
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| Bright green buckeyes and the distant Sierra |
The sun trying unsuccessfully to break through the clouds in late February 2018 |
Buck brush in bloom in late winter 2018 | |
| Above three photos by Wes Thiessen | |||
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| Rock formation above the road | Phecelia up close | Spring greenery and flowers | |
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| Redbud near the bridge | Bush lupine up close | Baby blue eyes and fiddlenecks | |
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| A typical view along the San Joaquin River Trail | Squaw Leap mountain and the River Trail | Mariposa Lily (Wes Thiessen) | |
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| The "back side" of Squaw Leap from Auberry Road |
Rare
white variation of farewell |
Bright green moss along the Bridge Trail | |
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| Blue oaks in their fall colors, lit by the low winter sun - on the Ridge Trail | |||
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A
newly-discovered burl along |
Thin
clouds provide a perfect backdrop for this leafless blue oak |
We call
this spot Lupine Point; it's lined with bush lupines on both sides |
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| A close up view of a silver (bush) lupine | Squaw Leap with late afternoon sun | Looking down into the gorge from Smalley Road | |
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| Rocky canyon wall on the north side of the river | Circa 1920s power house near the bridge | Full view of the Big Burl Tree (But see below) | |
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| Jack
gives the bridge at the San Joaquin Gorge the "thumbs up" |
"Hiding" in the 5-Trunk Blue Oak | This live oak was made to be climbed | |
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| Some
time between April 2019 and March 2020 the old blue oak with the
huge burl along the San Joaquin River Trail met its final fate (Click here and here for a view of the tree standing |
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| A
view of Kennedy Table and spring greenery along the San Joaquin River Trail |
Popcorn
flowers create a patch of white below the ridge south of the trail |
Storm
clouds and spring flowers on the slope below Squaw Leap mountain |
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| The
redbud stands out, but can you spot the buckeye and bush lupine? |
Popcorn
flowers and daisies create a nice spring color spot |
Camping at the Gorge in the 1980s | |
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| This
pine fell across the trail and came to rest in a waiting blue oak |
A closer look | The
trail maintenance crew cut about six feet off the base to clear the trail |
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| Visiting the gorge during a rainstorm, we enjoyed this one-day seasonal falls | Chaparral thicket protects new ferns | ||
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| Sun catches the moss on this gnarly blue oak | Pine tree on cliff above the trail | Mountain and clouds
to the west, from the River Trail |
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| Panoramic view of Kennedy Table, on the north side of the San Joaquin River | |||
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| Mushrooms on a rotting log | Newly
"discovered" bedrock mortars near the start of the San Joaquin River Trail |
A different view of
the bridge from the connecting trail |
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| Frequent visitor at the entrance | We call this area Lupine Point | The
Equestrian Trail connects the main trail with the Group and Equestrian Camps |
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| 2021 was a good year for popcorn flowers | We share this country with cattle | Yellow brodiaea, April 2021 | |
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| Fog clearing above the San Joaquin River | Grape vine in a dead pine | A burned-out stump along the River Trail | |
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| A pair of horses get to enjoy the walk without a load on their backs | Clouds
over the north side of the river, seen from the group camp |
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| Photos from the burned stump to the fiddlenecks by Teri Liddle, Wes Thiessen, Dave Smith, and Sarah | |||
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| Popcorn
flowers are out in good numbers along this section of the river trail |
It's a brilliant green spring at the Gorge in 2022 | A fallen pine provides a good resting spot | |
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| Lots of fiddlenecks in this scene | Woodpeckers
have used these posts to store acorns for many years |
March
2022 was Popcorn Flower Month at the Gorge |
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| A variety of chaparral | This log has been down a while | Little
waterfall on the biggest creek that crosses the Bridge Trail |
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| Spring at the Gorge - April 2023 | Clover close-up | Tiny filaree blossoms, up close | |
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| Along
the San Joaquin River Trail, April 2024 (Dave Smith photo) |
Dove's foot geranium AKA woodland geranium | Formerly
Squaw Leap, this mountain is now San Joaquin Butte (Wes Thiessen photo) |
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| On the Nature Trail | |||
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| Walk this way | A unique trail entrance | Start of the trail | |
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| Manzanita | My favorite foothill shrub | The leaves are bluer than blue oak | |
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| Poison Oak | Shiny young poison oak leaves | New spring leaves | |
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| Live Oak | Probably the most common tree in the Sierra foothills |
Live Oak trunks | |
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| Deer Grass | Deer grass with carpenteria in the background | A closer look | |
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| Redbud | Redbud in bloom | Redbud seed pods | |
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| Close-up of pods | Buck Brush | Close up of new leaves | |
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| Buck brush in bloom | Typical buck brush
thicket (we always called it chaparral) |
Dead buck brush is also scenic | |
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| Carpenteria | A rare plant, according to the sign | Close-up of leaves | |
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| Carpenteria seed pods | Spectacular
Carpenteria blossoms are about two inches across |
Wild Grape | |
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| The sign says they grow to 30 feet in
length, but I can show you one that's close to 100 feet |
A thick grape stem along the trail | Grape vine tendril and stems | |
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| Blue Oak | A nicely sculpted blue oak | Blue oaks on the Pa'San Ridge trail | |
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| Five-trunk blue oak on the Ridge Trail | Buckeye | Buckeye is easily recognized in the winter by the white trunks |
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| Spiky white flowers eventually turn into these big seeds (N) |
Buckeye seeds sprout on the ground | New buckeye seedling | |
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Buckeye tree with blossoms just getting started |
Close-up of buckeye blossoms | Buckeye in full bloom | |
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| A closer look (N) | Gray Pine | In the foothill area where I grew up,
no one called them anything but bull pines |
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| This one really looks gray | A very nice close up of the needles (N) | Miner's Lettuce | |
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| This annual plant
puts up a flower stalk through the middle of its round leaves |
Miner's lettuce after seed formation | White Sage; Wildlife Guzzler | |
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| Dried sage stems reach high above new growth | Mmmm, spicy! | The guzzler still has water, six weeks or more after the last rain |
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| Related Links | |||
| A Squaw Leap Legend | San
Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Management Area |
San Joaquin River Trail | |
| San Joaquin Gorge Slide Show | More flowers | Sierra Foothills - Winter 2013 | |
| Sierra Foothills - Spring 2013 | Background & History of San Joaquin Gorge Area | Backpacking
Trips (Squaw Leap and Elsewhere) |
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| All my reports on hiking and camping at San Joaquin Gorge (Squaw Leap) | |||
