Upper and Lower Rock Lakes

Eleven of us, bent on not missing wildflowers, jumped the gun and hiked to Loney Meadows.  Beautiful green, lots of youngish plants, but flowers were not out yet.  Intent on getting a hike we climbed to the Rock Lakes, picnicing at Upper Rock Lake.  We were rewarded with several good showings of glacier lilies.  There were also currants (Sierra gooseberry) blooming under the woody stems of their bushes.  The few lupine were a dark purple (Meadow Lupine?).  Stands of Bleeding Heart were in bloom but Columbine hadn't opened yet. 

Except for term limits, politics was not discussed.   But another subject was Redwoods.  Turns out there are 3 genuses for Redwoods, 2 in CA and one in China.  They are all in the Cypress family.

Three of us diverted from the trail to get what we thought of as  view of Lower Rock Lake, which we had never seen.  We were quite delighted at the sight and decided to show most of the others on the way down.  It is a smaller and more intimate view with gorgeous reflections and jumping fish. 

Next week we meet at 9 and will go to Washington for a hike to Poorman's Creek.

Photos and map:  Frank, Maureen, Clarence, John.

Lake Valley Reservoir Area May 2012

Thirteen divided up by carpools:  longer and shorter hike.  But it was for naught - we decided to ALL head off to Kelly Lake on the way to our favorite lunch boulder overlooking Lake Valley Reservoir.  Kelly Lake was supposed to be part the longer hike.  We warned all that there would be a VERY STEEP but short hike to get back up to our view boulder.  We forgot that the chute was after a long but easier climb.  Guess we were going the other way last time.  The chute had patches of snow and mud, making the progress slow.  By the time we reached the top, not everyone was so enthusiastic about the view outcropping and opted to eat at the view area of the trail.  Wildflowers were few: sulphur flowers and phlox.  Too early?  Dry February? 

After lunch Jim and Elly, looking for more adventure decided our group of longer hikers could just head straight down to the reservoir  and a road - didn't it LOOK like there was a path?   A bad but fun decision...we crashed through the brush holding tightly to iffy dead branches. It was one of the few times I wished we were smaller, perhaps a racoon in order to crawl UNDER rather than through the wall of bushes.  Branches caught our laces and skin, it is a wonder no one got hurt.  Rock outcroppings were our saving grace, although those, too,  often had to be navigated by the seat of our pants.  It turned out to be an adventure, alright, if a bit scratchy. 

Next week is supposed to be Sagehen Creek, north of Truckee for the wildflowers.

Spenceville Red Rocks

Eleven of us climbed over the cattle fence to hike the pastures and ditches around the red rocks.  The grasses were Ireland green and laced with small flowers.  Among them were several yellow members of the sunflower family (Asteracea) which I thought was Madia but now I don't think so.  We need a yellow flower expert, my books aren't clear.  We also saw several Alliums (onions in the lily family) and Brodiaea, which is also a member of the same family.  Some found a fuzzy mophead type plant that is a chaparral Clematis, actually the only one in our wildflower book on Placer and Nevada Counties.  One that we couldn't think of was caterpillar phacelia.  Another occasional wildflower was the larkspur (delphinium genus).

We hiked a total of 5.5 miles.  Next week the group plans to go to Pendola Ranch near Camptonville.

First 4 pictures by Maureen.
from Frank:

Just for the fun of it, I tried to trace the farm ditch that we were walking next to. It appears to go to a small lake just below Smartsville next to highway 20. Our hike is shown in red, the ditch that we did now walk is shown in yellow.

Rained Out at Empire Mine

what you missed

Seven of us hiked a  mile or so from the McKnight Way entrance on the new compacted rock trail but five turned back as the rain came in earlier than predicted.  Two of us continued and got several miles in before retiring to our home for the picnic lunch.  Wildflowers are blooming: bleeding heart in abundance, some kind of buttercup, creeping ceanothus, cat's ears, some kind of arnica.  Interestingly, someone has put white flags where wildflowers will be blooming.  We hiked up through very disturbed forest, some of the manzanita removed past the Conlon Mine diggins' to Osborne Hill and back. 

Quarry at the American

About a dozen of us hiked the part of the Western States Trail from just beyond the confluence on the south side of the Middle Fork of the American River.   We passed the cut-off up to the quarry and lingered (loitered?) at the mouth of the huge cave/tunnel with it's thick steel gates.  Although fossils such as mammoths and giant sloths were supposedly within it's mysterious depths, the only artifact we could see was an old water bottle.  We continued on until we were about 3.5 miles from the car.  Then we turned around and hiked down to the river for our lunch.  A few dipped their feet in before heading back to the quarry cut-off.   The quarry's massive rock faces dwarfed us as we explored areas toward the bottom, looking for the secret way into the tunnel below.  Perhaps they had blocked it by dynamiting slabs to form a rock fall.  We climbed around and did find the cave but it was disappointing, only going back about 20 feet.  The hike was about 8.5 miles.

Next week we will be going to the red rocks in Spenceville.  Pictures by Maureen and Elly