Susan had food poisoning on Thursday and still felt ill Friday, so I had to drive all the way from her office to our little primitive campsite at Mono Craters myself, June 29. We arrived around 10:30 PM and after admiring the planets Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter, that were regaling the sky all weekend, and setting up the tent, fell fast asleep. I woke in the night and heard a Great Horned Owl hooting.
Saturday, June 30, 2007, Susan felt weak from the food poisoning so I planned an easy hike to Glass Creek Meadow in the Inyo National Forest. It is only a 4 mile round trip hike with little elevation gain. After breakfast we drove to the trailhead which is off of Highway 395 south of Mono Lake at the turn off for Obsidian Dome, a giant remnant of an ancient volcano with a large lava flow. Pumice and obsidian were everywhere. We only saw a couple of people during our hike but lots of birds, butterflies, and wildflowers. The hike has one hill to make it up right after the trailhead as it passes a small waterfall on Glass Creek. Then the trail flattens out as it follows along the creek to the meadow. As soon as we started we heard Warbling Vireo, Western Wood Pewee, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Cassin’s Finch. There were Sulphur flowers and Brewer’s Lupine all along the first part of the hike. At the first forested area we came across a flock of Red Crossbills giving their kip kip call and eating pine cone seeds which they live off of in their nomadic lives. There were many Clark’s Nutcrackers giving their noisy vocalizations. After the forested area the trail opened up to a field of pumice sand before finally arriving at the flower filled meadow. The creek runs through the meadow making it lush with wildflowers and butterflies which were everywhere. A whole section of the meadow was a field of Meadow Penstemon. In the wet mud were many Blue butterflies, Melissa Blue, Western Tailed-blue, Anna's Blue, and other blues we could not identify as well as a Sulphur butterfly, Lustrous Copper, and many Western Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. We sat on a log enjoying the meadow for a while with its ring of trees and backdrop of the 10,000 foot high San Joaquin Mountain but there were too many biting flies so we decided to head back. On the way out of the meadow we heard Mountain Quail and Sooty Grouse calling from the forest. As I was admiring a Pine Siskin through my binoculars somehow an insect got between my left pinkie finger and my binoculars and stung me. It must have left a stinger in my finger because it swelled to the size of a sausage and caused unbelievable pain in my hand. Near the creek we saw a Gray Flycatcher, Mountain Chickadee, Townsend’s Solitaire, and White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatch. We only saw two people on the trail. Before leaving we had lunch at a picnic area near Obsidian Dome then we drove the long drive to the Ancient Bristlecone Forest near the tiny town of Big Pine, CA. After winding up the White Mountains where we saw a Rufous Hummingbird, we pulled into the Shulman Grove and walked the Discovery Trail which tells all about how Professor Shulman discovered the oldest tree in the world in this grove of gorgeous twisted old Bristlecones in 1952. The tree is over 4000 years old but the Forest Service won’t tell you which one it is for fear that some lunatic will cut it down. No matter—they are all gorgeous old trees fantastic to look at. There were the tiniest most minute little blue butterflies on the Discovery Trail and dozens of Mountain Bluebirds. After hiking the one mile loop we decided to drive to the Patriarch Grove further up the White Mountains. This grove is 12 miles further up and at 11,000 feet instead of the 10,000 feet we were at in Shulman Grove. The road turns into dirt almost immediately and is very bad and full of large rocks. I was amazed that people were driving their passenger cars on it and wondering why they were not concerned about flat tires. We finally got to the Patriarch Grove and walked the two short nature trails admiring the largest Bristlecone in the world and some other beauties before driving back down the awful road. As we proceeded down this horrible dirt road I heard an upsetting sound of air escaping. I pulled into the nearest pull off and was horrified to see my rear left tire completely flat. Worse than that the hatch wouldn’t open so I had to remove our cooler and all our camp gear and crawl into the back of the car to get the jack out. As we were contemplating where to put the jack two ladies in a US Forest Service truck stopped and asked if we needed help. Susan told them that she had never changed a tire before and yes could they help. I most certainly have changed many tires in my day but was not looking forward to kneeling in the sage to change one. After a couple of failed attempts at placing the jack we finally got the tire changed and the nice ladies left but not before several cars passed us, I am sure joking the whole way back about how many ladies it took to change a tire. We didn’t get back to our little campsite at Mono Craters until 10:30 PM leaving no time to do anything but crawl into the tent.
Sunday, July 1, before I even arose I could hear the Pinyon Jays on the move through our camp site. My pinkie was hurting a lot each time I used my hand the pain darting through my hand. We drove north of Lee Vining to the turn off for Green Creek which is also a dirt road. I was worried because we had a flat for a spare so I drove as carefully as possible and with the window down also listened for birds. The road passes through sage flats before arriving at the Green Creek Campground in the Toyaibe National Forest. In the sage flats we saw lots of desert birds such as Sage Thrasher, Brewer’s Sparrow, and Green-tailed Towhee and prickly poppy with its beautiful white flowers lined the road. This trail is 11.6 miles round trip to the Hoover Lakes in the Hoover Wilderness. We took our time on this beautiful trail as there is much to look at. First of all, wildflowers line the trail from the first step to the last. At first we passed through a field of Richardson’s Geranium and a lot of Swamp Onion along the creek. In addition to all the great flowers the whole trail was full of birds and bird song. We saw all the Sierra Mountain specialty birds, Pine Siskin, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Hermit Thrush, Western Tanager, Clark’s Nutcracker, Violet-green Swallow, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Raven, and the ever present Yellow-rumped Warbler. We stopped many times to admire the many butterflies as well-- Clodious Parnassian, Pine White, Western Tiger Swallowtail, Bosduval’s Blue, some type of Fritillary (possibly Nokomis), and many others. The first lake the trail comes to is East Lake which is stocked with trout and consequently attracts a lot of anglers. We had lunch beside the lake and Susan spotted a Golden Trout near the water’s edge. We continued up the trail and I noted that the only mountain bird we had not found was a Williamson’s Sapsucker and how I wish Susan would conjure one for me. Next we came to lovely Green Lake which is actually bright blue and surrounded by gorgeous red and black mountains. After leaving this little gem we ran into a US Forest Service worker, Scott, who talked our heads off. Poor guy must not have anyone to talk to. He was hiking with a six foot saw to cut trees that were blocking the trail. I was amazed that they cut those huge trees with a saw. He had just finished cutting a huge White bark pine and was on his way to the next blockage. He told us his life story about how he backpacked for three days when he was just fourteen on the Pacific Crest Trail and just fell in love with it and has been outdoors ever since apparently not running into many people along the way with whom to converse. After Green Lake we passed Gilman Lake and little Nutter Lake before the trail opened up and we could see Burro Pass high above us before finally crossing a hairy passage over Green Creek to Hoover Lakes. At Hoover Lake we found a few Gray-crowned Rosy Finches and White-crowned Sparrows, a subspecies of which lives high in the mountains, and an Edith’s Checkerspot butterfly. We barely had time to enjoy the fantastic view before we had to turn back. As we again approached Blue Lake I saw a Williamson’s Sapsucker flying away. I thought that another one was behind a pine tree so I told Susan to wait while I walked around it. As I got to the back of the tree which was very near the trail I heard babies crying inside a tiny woodpecker hole. Susan and I sat on a rock nearby and waited for the mother to come back to feed them. Soon she came and I was able to watch her feeding her little Williamson's Sapsucker chicks which would protrude slightly from the hole. It was very thrilling for me. Scott was just a few feet away completely oblivious sawing away at a gigantic fallen pine tree. When we had our fill we waved goodbye to Scott and headed back down the trailhead. We were exhausted at times feeling like we couldn’t make it. We had taken so long standing taking pictures of the numerous flowers, birds, and butterflies that our little 11.6 mile hike was taking us a total of over eight hours. I stopped to dip my throbbing pinkie in a creek and when I bent down saw a Yosemite Toad in the water. When we finally made it back to the car my body ached from head to toe. We drove south on Highway 395 to Mono County Park where we planned to have dinner. It was very windy and unpleasant at the picnic area. We walked out on the boardwalk and saw hundreds of Wilson’s Phalaropes on Mono Lake where they congregate and breed this time of year. After dinner we drove back to our campsite and had a much needed shower with my solar shower. The owl came again during the night.
Monday, July 2, 2007, the Pinyon Jays woke me as usual with their noisy chatter. They are very gregarious. When I got out of the tent a Common Nighthawk was circling overhead. After breakfast we drove just north of Lee Vining on Highway 395 to the famous and wonderful Lundy Canyon, one of the best hikes in all of the Sierra. This amazing hike follows Lundy Creek as it meanders over three waterfalls, passes numerous wildflowers, and many birds and butterflies. I wanted to get a picture of a Calliope Hummingbird which is fairly common in the Sierra but of the six or seven we saw none would stay put long enough for me to photograph, so no pictures of this darling little hummer. After the first waterfall we walked through a field of Monk’s Hood mixed in with yarrow, stickseed, Pride of the Mountain, Swamp Onion, Monument Plant, and Scarlet Gilia. We took the trail to the last waterfall at the scree which goes up to Helen Lake in 20 Lakes Basin but we decided not to climb it this year and turned back instead. The scree was full of Colville’s Columbine, Western Rose root, White heather, Red Heather, Rock Fringe, Indian Paintbrush, Meadow Paintbrush, and Applegate Paintbrush. At the second waterfall we stopped to have lunch. As we were eating a MacGillivray’s Warbler started singing. I was thinking to myself, “hmm that MacGillivray’s is very close” when suddenly it perched on top of a pine tree right in front of us. This was pretty unusual for this elusive bird. A Calliope also zipped by. After lunch we headed back down the mountain and at the beaver pond we found a Red-breasted Sapsucker and an American Dipper. We stopped at the Mono Lake Visitor Center on the way back and saw Cliff Swallows feeding their chicks right on the side of the center. One poor baby had fallen out and was just sitting on the ground I’m sure to be eaten by a hawk or other predator later. We had dinner at the June Lake picnic area and then retired to our cute little private campsite. I was sound asleep when a pack of coyotes began to howl. I was terrified because the alpha sounded just like a crazed person. Here we were two ladies camping alone in the wilderness with a crazy person on the loose. Weird how your mind conjures the craziest thoughts sometimes—it was just coyotes.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 we drove a short way to the June Lake Loop off of Highway 395 to the Walker Lake turnoff which we took up and up 10 miles to the Walker Lake Trailhead in the Inyo National Forest. I drove slowly on the dirt road on account of the flat spare and in doing so saw a sapsucker flying. We stopped and were treated to a Red-breasted Sapsucker feeding her chicks. On this incredibly beautiful trail which is seven miles roundtrip to lower Sardine Lake we only saw two people all day. The trail first drops down several hundred feet to Walker Lake another stocked lake which attracts hordes of anglers before flattening out through a meadow. There were very few wildflowers at this low elevation. However, the trail is gruesome in its intense elevation gain thereafter gaining 2700 feet in just three miles. We were gasping for breath as we ascended but were rewarded with awesome views back down to Walker Lake and Mono Lake in the distance. As we gained elevation we started to pass through more and more wildflowers and encountered many birds. After ascending about half way we came to an aspen grove that was full of birds one of which had us stumped. It sounded like a Cordilleran flycatcher but that would be rare. I never could locate it and just held my camera up to record its strange song instead. Upon further review I can only surmise that it is some strange song of a Gray Flycatcher and not the much rarer (for this area) Cordilleran. Also in the aspen grove we saw Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, and many other birds. We were running out of gas when we finally came to a waterfall at the top of which was pretty Lower Sardine Lake. We had lunch beside the lake and then continued around the lake where a creek flowed into it. The creek was lined with willows and fields of wildflowers, Davidson's Penstemon, columbine, yarrow, paintbrush, larkspur, monkeyflower, cinquefoil, St. John’s Wort, Swamp Onion, and many others. We were tired but decided to continue up to Upper Sardine Lake. As we continued to gain elevation we saw more wildflowers shieldleaf, Labrador tea, Elephant’s Head, one lone Timberline Phacelia, Western Roseroot, Wooly Sunflower, Oval-leaved Eriogonum, Meadow Penstemon, Davidson’s Penstemon, Bridge’s Penstemon, Rydberg's Penstemon, and on and on. The flowers were attracting many butterflies as well and we saw Mourning Cloak, Northern Cloudywing, Milbert’s Tortoiseshell, Sara’s Orangetip, Western Tailed-blue, Melissa Blue, Lupine Blue, Blue Copper, Sierra Sulphur, Field Crescent, some type of Fritillary, Clodious Parnassian, and a checkerspot. After wetting our heads in the lake we headed back down the trail. We stopped at a waterfall and found an American Dipper in the water. At the end of this wonderful hike we decided to just go back to our campsite for the rest of the evening. It was very hot that day and the solar shower scalded us as we showered. We then enjoyed a relaxing evening with the Pinyon Jays, Common Nighthawks, and Violet-green Swallows, and as evening fell bats and stars and planets. During the night the coyote pack returned and howled but this time exhaustion took over and I slept through it.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007, we got up early and broke camp. We stopped at the South Tufa Reserve at Mono Lake and walked down to the water. A California Ground Squirrel sunned on a rock. There were Sage Thrasher, Vesper Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, California Gull, Common Nighthawk, and Violet-green Swallows to enjoy on the boardwalk plus the outstanding views of tufa in the morning sun. Next we drove up Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park to the Porcupine Creek trailhead on Tioga Road. We were planning to take it 14 miles round trip to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls before driving back to San Francisco. In order to expedite the hike I left my binoculars behind and only carried my video camera, water, and lunch. The trail was harder than I remembered it going down quite a bit to the falls. Along the way I saw the back side of a Black-backed Woodpecker flying away and Susan spotted a Black-tailed Deer. There were numerous fritillary butterflies wichh I merely admired in my haste but did stop long enough to get a photo of this Pine Drop plant. At about the half way mark the trail crossed over a creek which was full of flowers and many different fritillary butterflies. I was surprised to see Western Azalea still blooming and found one beautiful Alpine Lily. Near the falls we also saw another Williamson’s Sapsucker and a Red-breasted Sapsucker right on the trail. As we approached the waterfall we were treated to magnificent views of the valley and Half Dome. The granite was dotted with Stone Crop. We descended down to the falls, over the creek, and up to the viewpoint. There was still a little bit of water flowing in the upper falls but it was hard to see from the fence. It was time to hussle back anyway. It was tough hiking uphill most of the way at that clip. I stopped only to film two White-headed Woodpeckers and take a photo of a Police Car Moth at the creek. It was very hot and dusty but we made it back to the car in just 5 hours 50 minutes—not bad for an old lady. It was the hottest day of the year it turned out, topping 105 degrees in Oakdale but we soon left that behind as we returned to my home in the foggy city. I hate the fog and I can't wait to get back to the mountains which will be very soon but not soon enough.
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