Bowman Mtn. Loop

first pictures by Maureen...

 Thirteen of us hiked the Bowman Mountain loop on a warm but not too hot day.  This time we did NOT go cross-country to find the path and we maintained an even pace to the lake overlook, the cute little tarn, and watch tree.  We saw camas lilies (purple AND white) when we crossed Loney meadow and glacier lilies where snow had melted.  We reached the tarn late enough to eat lunch there which brings up the subject of whether we should now start the hikes at 8:30.  I will email you separately on this.

We decided to head down the path to Lower Rock Lake, skipping the Upper lake as we had just done it recently.  We saw the usual pussy paws in the burnt out area but no columbine yet.  I also saw a plant I tentatively identified as Western Waterleaf...related to Caterpillar Phacelia. 

Later, attracted by relentless  buzzing we realized we were watching a swarm of bees that was relocating from the home nest.  Some of us got out binoulars and cameras to get a closer look.  Fascinating behavior. 

We had hiked 8 miles with a elevation gain of about 1300 feet.

From map down from Frank.

Poorman's Creek South Yuba

Thirteen (?) of us started at Poorman's Creek in Washington to hike along the S. Yuba.  It seemed lighter and brighter than usual and the green-colored river was flowing quite rapidly in spots.  The single track rocky trail provided a few wildflowers, Sticky Chinese Houses - a member of the monkey flower family, Sticky Monkey flower, CA mildweed, pine drops, and redbud trees with lovely, burgundy seed pods.  Our picnic spot on the Yuba was spacious and comfortable.  Several members took their shoes off and dipped their feet.   Clarence's neighbor, Jayne, shared her beautiful, creative cards that she makes with pressed flowers and ants.    She uses a variety of presses to create her designs and then laminates them onto the card.  Clarence panned for gold and came up with a few flakes before we left.

  After much confusion about extending the hike, only our carpool decided to go further to the Logan Canyon bridge.   The weather was cool enough to make good time but Selma set an awfully fast pace.

Besides Jayne two other new faces were my friend, Terry, from Chicago Park; and her friend Ingrid, from Colfax. Ingrid is training for a Yosemite hike between Sierra Huts.
 

Next week - a few suggestions have been put forth: Fordyce Falls, Bowman Mountain, Loch Leven from "back door", and Bear Valley.  We would like to see wild flowers.

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.