What a perfect place to be! It's Sunday morning and I’m currently
sitting with the sun on my back, mountain air perfectly still, beneath some
pines next to a small alpine lake, part of the Highland Lakes area of the
Carson-Iceberg Wilderness in Stanislaus National Forest.
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| Highland Lakes - a great campsite |
Where is that?!? I’ve never heard of it!
Fair enough question, neither had I until about 3pm yesterday afternoon as I
travelled the winding route 4 road from the western side of the Sierra headed
towards Lake Tahoe – a tip I’d gathered from a retired commercial pilot, Bob Cushman, who I met yesterday morning at breakfast.
Bob has recently retired from being a commercial pilot for GM, and is
celebrating with the purchase of a burgundy coloured Harley Davidson touring
bike and a long road trip. He’d passed this way earlier in the week, and said
it was spectacular. With no firm plans of my own, it seemed a good one to try.
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| Meet Bob Cushman, retired commercial pilot on a Harley road-trip |
Ah, the twists and turns of an unplanned
adventure!
I had found myself in Jamestown after
crossing through Yosemite via road 120. It wasn’t a great experience and
brought back the disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to hike in the National
Park, as was part of my original plan. By comparison, today has been terrific!
But to start from the beginning. I set out
from Alabama Hills on Friday morning and headed north west along the beautiful US 395 Sierra Mountains highway that travels straight up the Owens Valley – the Sierra Mountains on
your left, the mountains surrounding Death Valley on your right.
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| Sierra Mountains from Alabama Hills |
The towns here are small, but feel more
genuine than the ones I found on Route 66. I passed through Independence, and
made a stop at Bishop for a coffee and pastry from Erick Schat’s Bakerri, a true
German bakery filled with warm and flavoursome smells of sourdough, rows and
rows of loaves and glass cabinets filled with all different types of strudel. I
picked up a loaf for lunch, a strudel for morning tea, and a coffee for
breakfast.
Continuing on 393 I passed the turnoff to
the Bristlecone Pines, which would have been interesting to see as they are the longest living trees in the world - apparently over 5,000 years! I have seen photos of their twisted, gnarled and wise trunks. But I wanted to
spend my day in Yosemite, so skipped this detour this time. I did take a small
detour to June Lakes, a 15mi scenic road that passes a number of small mountain
lakes, cold water with autumn colours along their outherwise barren banks. I
had a simple lunch with my sourdough loaf, an avocado, some tomato and some
Mesquite honey I’d bought in Pine earlier in the week for dessert. A simple meal, so enjoyable in the cool
mountain air.
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| Lunch at June Lakes |
From there it was up to Tioga Pass at an elevation of 9,945ft in the Sierra Mountains, and the heart of Yosemite. It was
such a beautiful place to be. The shrubs are flowering golden yellow, and any
deciduous tree had started its transition to oranges and reds. Against the grey
backdrop of the granite mountains, it appears a perfect combination.
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| Route 120 to Tioga Pass |
Feeling uplifted by where I was, it was an
abrupt encounter to meet the rangers at the Yosemite Park entrance. I could continue
to drive through the park, but no turning off the main road, no stopping and no
photos – I was issued with a notice confirming these things. I think if they
could have put blinkers on you they could.
Whilst I understand the federal budget has
not been approved to man services in the national parks, I don’t agree with disallowing
access to those who are willing to take on the risks alone – I was quite happy
not to use any of the park services. I had a guidebook to suggest some areas to
walk, a map to follow, all my equipment and food. I didn’t need a guided tour,
wasn’t interested in going to the visitors centre or to even use the bathrooms.
However, this time, I was going to have to
be content with a drive by visit. Needless to say, I was moved on by a ranger
twice as I slowed to admire the natural features en route – Lembert Dome near
Tuolumne Creek and golden meadows. They seemed to be taking enforcement of the
rules quite seriously!
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| A sneaky shot of Tuloumne Creek |
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| Lembert's Dome |
It was a pretty drive, but only made me
more curious to discover the park further.
On the far western side of the range, I was
surprised to find a large area of recently burnt forest. I partially recalled
hearing about fires in Yosemite, but wasn’t aware of their duration, extent or
proximity to the main thoroughfares.
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| Scarred forest |
A small information tent was set up at a
lookout, so I pulled over and spoke to Timothy Evans, the Natural Resources Staff Director of the Tahoe National Forest. He
explained that the fire started on 17 August in the Stanislaus National Forest, and had consumed more than 400 sq miles. The fire was continuing to burn in a few areas. We squinted over the range, and in the far distance could spot the
smoke. The fires must have been intense, as the landscape was completely charred, from the forest floor to the canopy.
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| Barren landscape of the Stanislaus National Forest, west of Yosemite NP |
Tim was a great guy, and was thrilled to
hear I was Australian. He had travelled to Australia in 1995 for work and had managed to enjoy a short holiday in Melbourne.
A highlight sounded like the St Kilda Festival!
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| Meet Timothy Evans of the Tahoe National Forest |
It was nearing 4pm and was about time for
me to find somewhere to camp. The forest fires had made this a little difficult
as now a lot of the areas I’d marked on the map to explore were charred and
closed. I stopped in the small town of Groveland to investigate their hotel,
but it had inflated Yosemite tourist prices, so continued further. I had a
quick look at the Don Pedro Lake for a sunny spot on the mountain side, but
everywhere was too steep to put up a tent, and the formal campground was
uninviting.
By 6pm, I decided my time was up, and
pulled off the road into another small town, Jamestown, and walked into the Royal Carriage. They seemed reasonable, so decided I’d have another evening in a comfy bed
and with internet access.
It turned out well, as otherwise I wouldn’t
have met Bob at breakfast and “discovered” the route 4 highway which led me to
my great campsite now. It’s funny how these things work out!
On Saturday morning, after breakfast with Bob, I headed north,
with my first stop planned to be the Calaveras Big Tree forest. I’d done some
research the previous night on redwood forests and found a great blog by Dave Baselt Redwood Hikes which lists all of the redwood forest locations, and hikes you can
do, with a rating on the sequoia experience!
Most appeared to be in national parks, but
there was one State Forest, the Calaveras, nearby. Yay! Spending some time with
the grandeur of the Sequoia, was one of the things I really wanted to do whilst
in the States.
I chose to spend the morning on the 5mi
loop around South Grove, an area with 1,000 large Sequoia trees.
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| Starting out on the South Grove loop hike, 5mi, Calaveras State Park |
The forest was beautiful in the morning.
Still, but with many birds chirping and happily flirting from tree to tree. The
dogwood in the undergrowth was in colour – oranges, pinks and reds, and I
passed over a small stream, glistening in the morning light as it flowed over a
series of granite slabs.
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| A beautiful morning to be in the forest |
After a short climb I rounded a bend and
came across the first Sequoia. Wow! Whilst you know these trees are huge, it’s
still amazing to be in their presence and feel them towing over you. Their deep
red or cinnamon coloured, fibrous bark seems almost like deer fur, and the
morning light deepened the grooves burrowing in this thick, outer layer. The
trunks extend all the way to the sky, and are topped with a sparse and narrow
rounded crest of branches, that don’t seem to start until at least 100ft high.
What you see at ground level is an enormous base – the ones I saw were up to 6m
in diameter, but apparently they can attain widths of 11m. Some had grown
buttresses to stop them crashing over.
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| These trees are unbelievable huge! |
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| Hard to capture scale in a photo! |
As I walked through the grove, each tree
looked like it had weathered some tough times. Some had deep fire scars, others
had been hollowed out completely. There were insect marks, and a few had
obviously toppled in large storms. Regardless, it was amazing to think that
these had been living for more than 2,000 years.
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| Fire ravaged |
Apparently, sequoias are resistant to
diseases, insects, rot and drought, and are fire adaptive. Much like eucalypts,
they need fire to survive. Small and frequent fires produce heat to release
large volumes of seeds from the cones, reduces competing undergrowth to allow
through sunlight, and clears the forest floor to reveal the rich soil in which
the seeds germinate.
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| Cones |
They also appeared to grow in clusters, and
it seemed a bit unusual to see 2 trees almost touching each other, like twins.
Why compete when the forest is so large! I guessed it was because the seeds
don’t travel far when dropped, and so if conditions are conducive to
germination and growth, a number of trees will succeed in the one spot. With a
narrow canopy, two trees can happily grow up together. Awww…
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| Twins |
I enjoyed walking through the forest and
spending time with these trees that would far outlive me.
After a bite to eat, it was time to
continue. On a whim I decided to follow the tip and continue up route 4 towards
Lake Tahoe and see what I could find. It was a great drive up a narrow and
winding road. I felt the environment change to a more alpine scenery, a few
bare hills covered in golden grasses and still alpine lakes.
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| Winding route 4 |
I stopped by a small turnout and found a
sign that had a map of the region. Yay! There appeared a few campsites around.
The area seemed pretty quiet, and I hadn’t spotted a single RV, so I was
willing to check them out.
A place named “Highland Lakes” at the far
end of a dirt road sparked my interested, so I turned off the bitumen and
started bumping along the dirt. It felt quite remote and I drove for almost 30min without seeing anyone. The road followed a small, rocky creek, which
offered a few potential camping sites, but I decided to keep exploring. It was
only 4pm, so there was plenty of time.
A few hunters drove past in their raised
ute, both wearing bright orange caps. I hoped there weren’t bears around! Further
up there were a set of stock yards – this area must still be used for grazing,
and I was reminded of the first chapter in John Muir’s book “My First Summer in
the Sierra” where he joins a shepherd with his flock of sheep to find pastures in the
mountains.
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| Mountain cabin |
By 5pm I’d reached a small lake. Perfect.
The place to myself too! A small sign indicated to only camp in designated
areas, so rather than a lake side spot, I continued a further few hundred
meters to the designated area. Picnic tables and fire rings. I could even have
a fire tonight!
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| Highland Lakes |
I moved from lazily dreaming to action.
Tent first, then a quick drive back to the forest for wood (it’s pretty sparse
around a campground!), dinner prepared, fire started, some good coals, and the
pot simmering away. The stars came out and I played around with my camera to
see what I could capture.
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| Preparation... |
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| Success! |
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| A great place to be |
