Cheese Camp Road

On furlough Friday and also on Saturday drove up to Cheese Camp road to snow shoe. Friday was sunny and some nice people had packed down the trail with their snowmobiles and then left. We headed down and then skirted a hill until we came to one of the streams that empties into Union reservoir.

On Saturday it was overcast and some handsome men with their sons were just breaking camp in the pullout. They had a cool canvas tent with a heater so they must have been very snug. This time we walked down to the marshy area before the road goes up again. Commando dug all the way into the dirt after an interesting smell and I rested on a rock and drank my Vitamin water.

As I was getting my gear off at the car a pack of coyotes started howling over on the hill where Robb's hut is located. Commando seemed interested and I put him in the car before he decided to go investigate.

The snow is very wet and heavy but not very buoyant. It looks like it will be good for the drought conditions and, at the very least, stave off disaster for one more year.

Gloomy, stormy day in Bear Valley

Braved the storms to drive up to Nevada City and then to Bear Valley via highway 20. I was going to stop at the highway 2o ridge past the turnoff to Washington but it was snowing heavily and there was easily 3 feet of not very buoyant snow to plow through. Plus, there was no view.

Parked at the turnout in the valley and some thoughtful snowmobile enthusiast had made a nice trail up to the Sierra Trail and then back to the road. The snow is nice and wet and seems to be holding a lot of water. That's good for the drought. Conditions were good on the trail, but poor Commando went in up to his ears in the soft snow beside the trail. He didn't like it much but did obligingly chase snowballs into the deep snow.

It rained heavily at the lower elevations and snowed at the higher elevations. I might have stayed out longer but I really didn't want to be snowed in. I was glad to get out and I know Commando was glad too.

Stuck Trucks, Foresthill Bridge

I was pretty lazy and it's storming this weekend so I didn't even leave the house till about noon. Drove up to Colfax and took 174 then turned off onto You Bet drive and was hoping to make it via some side roads to Highway 20. Unfortunately, the road isn't plowed all the way through so I was forced to turn back. It was an interesting drive though.

They were stopping traffic in Applegate and not allowing any semis to proceed over Donner Summit. It was sad to see all of them parked along every exit and by the side of the freeway from Auburn north. I sure hope there is a plan to provide them with food and some shelter because if they're trapped there for a while they could get into trouble.

Drove back and parked under the Foresthill bridge and hiked up one of the American River forks. It's a nice jaunt for a rainy winter day because in the summer this is all jammed with people. Commando happily chased sticks and smelled stuff and we had a good time.

Local miscreants had painted part of the bridge supports and 3 of them were good. The pic of the smiley face is actually made with some rocks that have been cemented to the surface. I assume these particular miscreants are rock climbers making a climable surface. It was interesting.

Bowman Road Exploration

On Saturday drove up to Bowman Road off of highway 20 to explore. I could see that from 80, most of the snow had melted. At the Yuba River crossing, there was a sign for the Pioneer Trail so that's what we took. This segment connects with a trail to Spaulding Lake, although we didn't make it that far.

I didn't even take my snow shoes because the ground was so clear. The trail is relatively level, paralleling the river, with a few minor up and down switch backs. Some pretty big boulders had rolled down onto the trail and someone with a strong back and a lever is going to have fun shifting them.

Perhaps 1/2 mile along, there's a big meadow and there was an interesting sight. At the edge of the meadow there are about 10 pine saplings with the tops torn off. I'm going to guess bear, but I considered beaver and a buck scratching it's horns. I thought beaver would be tidier and would have taken the tops down. I thought if a buck had been scratching velvet I would have seen lots of damage on the ground from hooves and perhaps quite a few broken and bent branches. I picked bear because whatever did it had a LOT of strength. It looks like the tops were bent over repeatedly and violently. At least 2 of the trees were too big to wrap a human hand around. Also, a couple of the trees had dead needles although most were still green so it looks like it happened over time. Still, with the bear theory, I would have liked to see some bite or claw marks and I didn't see any damage other than where the trees were ripped apart. Except for one tree, the tops were just left where they lay. I'm not sure what would motivate the bear either. I picture them mainly eating and none of the trees looked eaten. Perhaps violent butt scratching?

I decided that humans would have used tools, possibly burnt the wood, and left trash around. Take a look at the picture and see what you think.

We stopped shortly after crossing a lively creek and then headed back. This is a good trail for early, early spring and late, late fall because the summer crowds are gone. We only saw one other hiker along the trail.

On Sunday we drove up to the other end of the trail (near Fuller Lake) and headed out. This time I took snow shoes because there was a lot of snow on the ground still in spite of the bare dirt patches.

I was glad to have them because some of the hills were steep and icy. I didn't take the official trail because no one had gone before and the snow was deep and unmarked. The weather was bad and I didn't want to get into any trouble.

We headed where snow mobiles had gone and ended up at a water pumping station taking water from (presumably) Fuller to Spaulding. I forced Commando to walk on a thoughtfully provided metal walkway and he didn't enjoy it. Once he made it to the rodent land beyond he was much happier.

Both days were cold and windy. Saturday was sunny but Sunday was gloomy and overcast.

EDNF 13N13

Drove around a bit on Icehouse trying to find the best place. Finally decided on 13N13. The road slopes relatively gently up and ends with an overlook to Sun Rock across a small watershed. I took a brief detour up 13N12, which eventually intersects with Cheese Camp road (?) but it was much steeper.

A truck had made ruts in the snow and a variety of walkers and snow mobiles had also gone up. The snow was firm with a few inches of fluffy new snow from last week's storm. Whoever had walked up before had probably walked up last weekend because they left deep holes. I admired their stamina because that's hard work!

We passed a fire hole with unburnt logs and two places where someone had spent some time digging a vehicle out and getting it turned around. The snowmobile tracks stopped in a cleared area and there were a variety of empty shotgun shells lying around. Who do they think will pick those up?

We crossed a small stream. Just where it crosses the trail it spreads out into quite a pool/marshy area and the previous walker had clearly gotten their boots (and probably ankles) wet. I can imagine just what they felt as they saw the pool, then discovered that the snow they were walking on was really just a deceptive cover over wet, wet water.

Soon the road takes a sharp right and now Commando and I were making the only tracks. Mr. Previous Weekend stopped and probably sat down on a stump to look over a creek down a short steep hill before heading back. At least, that's what the tracks looked like.

We kept on until we got to the summit and then headed over a saddle off the road to look out over the view. I sat on a log and ate my snacks and drank my Vitamin Water. Commando ate his snack and hunted rodents under the snow.

We headed back and were out for a total of about 3 hours.