Fordyce Falls

From Frank:

 

It looks like we started hiking at 9:52 am

We got to the falls at 12:41 so the hike in took us 2 hr 41 minutes. 

 

We started hiking out at 1:49 pm.  Lunch took 1 hour and 8 minutes

We arrived back at the car at 4:01 pm, so 2 hours 11 minutes to get back.

 

No wonder some of us were so bushed on the return. 

 

also from Frank...

So we hiked anywhere from over 8.5 miles to 9.5 miles, depending on whose GPS device you want to go with.  Lots of up and down as well - over 1 K feet...

 

Nine of us hiked however many miles into Fordyce Falls.  We encountered no snow and an odd assortment of wildflowers:  Shooting Stars, Snow Plant, Phlox, even some Penstemon, and Naked Star Tulip. 

Lake Spaulding

 

Naked Star Tulip

 

Snow Plant

 

Fordyce Falls

 

 

 

Top of Falls

 

Stevens Trail

Fairy Lanterns

 Four of us hiked the slightly over 8 miles with an elevation gain of between one and two thousand feet.  The wildflowers were strongly in bloom although we didn't see any blooming Redbud trees.  The weather was perfect as there was a cool breeze on that hot southern slope.  We remained at the river for a leisurely lunch before hoofing it back up.

Paintbrush

Some of the wildflowers: Fairy Lanterns, Milkweed, Wild Onions, Bush Poppies and Monkey flowers, Lupine, Caterpillar Phacelia, Indian Pinks, Fiddleheads, Canyon Dudleya, Blue Dicks, Wally's Basket,  Bush Poppies and Bush Monkey Flowers,  wild onions, Baby Blue eyes, Purple Nightshade.

Next week we talked about doing Fordyce Falls.  Or Second Divide.

Lewis' Mon keyflower

CA or Purple Milkweed



Caterpillar Phacelia

Feather Falls

Waterleaf

Six of us headed back down to the Oroville Reservoir area to hike to Feather Falls.  The drive from Grass Valley takes a bit more than an hour and a half and was stunningly beautiful, if a little confusing in it's twists and turns.  The scenery was farm country with a graceful barns and olive orchards. 

It was our first long hike of the season and we felt it.  Depending on whose measuring device being used, the mileage varied but was somewhere upwards of 9 miles with about a 2000 ft. plus elevation gain. There were interpretive signs along the trail explaining both the geology and the riparian (river) ecosystems we were hiking through.  The trail required a small amount of climbing over downed trees but was mostly engineered without too steep a grade.  There had been an attempt at stemming erosion by cementing in parts of the upper reaches of the trail.  Sturdy fences at viewing platforms as well as along the upper part of the trail made the experience even more accessible.  Large rock outcroppings as well as a smooth dome and tall granite cliffs were remindful of Yosemite. 

The falls themselves were dramatic and beautiful.  We had heard that they are the fourth largest in California, but researching that, it is hard to make that judgment.  Some contenders are extremely tall but seasonal.  T

here are free-falling falls and cascading falls, falls within falls.  The tallest is Yosemite at 2425 feet, then one at Hetch Hetchy at 1300 feet.  Next is Bridalveil at 620 and Nevada at 480.  Then comes Feather Falls at 410.  But there is Stevenson at 1200 into the San Joaquin River but it is seasonal.  Whatever, this one was quite spectacular.  We hiked the loop counterclockwise in order to save the steepest climb for the uphill returning portion.



Adiantum

Quite a few plants were flowering at this time of year.  Western of CA Waterleaf, Starflower, Sedum, Hartweg's Ginger, Wallflower, Indian Pink, Paintbrush, Cats Ears, Delphinium, Iris, Lupine, as well as a beautiful unidentified bush, Monkey Flower bush, and dogwoods.  The woods at some very large trees as well as delicate ferns, specifically Adiantum.

dome

falls



unidentified bush

Table Mountain

Clarence reported that the flower display at Table Mountain was more spectacular than ever so 14 of us headed up there.  It was as advertised: displays of purple lupine, orange tufted poppies or are they frying pan poppies, white meadow foam, yellow butter and eggs, purple owl's clover which is magenta, yellow monkey flower and magenta monkey flower, pretty face, Douglas violet, goldfields, yellow madia, blue dicks, birds eye gilia,  bitterroot, and lots of others whose names escape me such as the one with the sparkly centers - was it a kind of geranium?  Karen recited her flower poem as we basked in the beauty of our surroundings.

The falls were flowing fairly well with that wide one towards the end only partially covering it's possible width.  Areas of basalt had fallen on the rubble, making me think of a calving iceberg.  This wider falls flows over a thick layer of ancient lava.  Underneath the lava layer is a hollowed out recess or cave, making for a spectacular sight. 

I don't know what the official mileage was but with the hot sun and uneven surface, we all felt tired by the end of the walk.  I think it was around 4 miles.  Back at the parking lot, Susan had brought libations and delicious homemade orange bars to celebrate Rod's 64th (and their taking off for Africa).

Meadow Foam

Looking down first falls

Owl's Clover

Douglas Violets

Garter Snake was swimming in a stream

Last Falls on it's lava flow

C

Swallows or swifts circling around catching insects by the falls

Snowshoe 3 Lady Lakes

With the obvious drought-driven problems of high Sierra snow, it seems obvious that snow activities were not the way to go this year.  But one of our members, who received snowshoes for Christmas, was not to be deterred.  Humoring him, four of us headed to the pass so he could give them an inaugural try.  Up high, we were greeted by mildly cold weather and dirty, icy, Sierra cement.  The end-of-season detritus littered the snow: pieces of broken sleds, water bottles, candy wrappers, etc.  Gravel from I-80 had made it back to the trails in splattery spumes.  We trudged around on the potato patch of foot and paw prints, snowshoe and x-c ski indentations, and even snowmobile tracks. 

Fun?  Well actually yes, as our trudging got us into the back country where  there was smooth snow once we left the part that was parallel to the freeway.  The lakes were still frozen, icicles hung from rocks, and except for the need to go on steep side slopes, the going was less hard on the ankles.  We walked to some rocks above the east side of Lake Flora and ate lunch.  The view was stupendous, our beloved mountains, although somewhat covered in snow, will be hikeable soon. 

So we had hiked in a meandering loop about 4.2 miles as we had to circumvent jumping from cliffs in our efforts to find trails we could manage.  About a mile as the crow flies. We were exhausted!!

All of us fell.  Several times.

Gold Run Canyon Creek

Twelve of us headed to the Gold Run exit to try to find the plank crossing Canyon Creek we had crossed another year.  This time we would be more efficient as surely, we knew the correct trails.  But as luck would have it, we goofed again heading too far the other way from the ditch path.  We did see the huge drainage tunnel but this time we entered it from above rather than from below.  Frank pointed out the carbonized wood imbedded in the ceiling. 

We finally made it to the second tunnel and Canyon Creek.  A goodly number of hikers had no interest in going further to the plank bridge.  But Frank ran down there during lunch and verified it's existence, so we will try again with the smaller group.  The goal is to go down to the American River once we cross the creek.  We could see the trail on the way back.

Some of the trail was steep enough to either sit or be helped down.

Part of Canyon Creek comes out of this tunnel.

Today's hike was 5.3 miles with a 1163 ft. elevation gain.

We are still thinking about next week.  Right now we are considering a snowshoe hike  because one of our members got them for Christmas and has yet to use them.  We would hike the 3 Ladies starting at Boreal and will meet at the usual   place at 9 as the snow will be too icy if we arrive too early.