Hiking!

We've been blessed with some very nice hiking. Mondays and Tuesdays are our days off, so we fit in hiking then. Lately we've been heading deeper into the Sierras, getting to elevations over 9000 feet. Besides the hiking within the Crystal Basin Recreation Area, there is a lot of hiking further east along U.S. 50. 

Most recently, we hiked to the top of Ralston Peak with a stunning 360° view.

We met both a female fire fighter and female wilderness ranger on the way down. The fire fighter was hiking on her day off and the wilderness ranger was taking a crew of trail workers on their first day of trail work.  One of the lakes we spotted below was Aloha Lake, it looked so intriguing that we decided to hike there the next day. That hike was along the Pacific Crest Trail and we several thru or section backpackers. 

When we got to Aloha Lake it was like a playground. The shoreline was mainly large slabs of granite rock. There were also rocks dotting the lake, forming Islands. We enjoyed a nice lunch sitting along the shore, then Kathy went for a dip while I ventured out further along a peninsula and just soaked my feet. We got back to the trailhead at Echo Lake in time to venture just outside South Lake Tahoe for an early Mexican dinner.

Another great hike was Thunder Mountain, which looked over a ski resort near Kirkwood, CA. It was about an hour drive to get there. The trail had a nice smooth tread and it took little effort to climb above the tree line where we had constant views while moving along a ridge. We finished early enough to find a happy hour at the historic Kirkwood Inn, built in 1864 and still standing.

Pyramid Peak is a tough hike, we went up the Lyons Creek Trail with the Crystal Basin and got below it from the 'back side'. We tried to go up to a col, but trying to tred over large boulders in steep terrain proved too daunting. It was a beautiful place though, just above a small lake. We would have soaked our feet in the lake but the skeeters were about, so we scooped out of there. Kathy went back to the U.S. 50 side of the peak a few days ago and got to within 100 yards of the peak. She decided that going to the top and getting back down would be too risky on her own.

Our friend Dave got a backcountry permit for Lyons Creek and has thoughts on climbing Pyramid from there. Trying to tell you what you're in for Dave! 

Mascots & More

We have weekly staff meetings here, they are informative and fun. The forest supervisor (top official) visited with us last week, he even brought donuts. One topic at that meeting was forest mascots. Of course Smokey Bear (not Smokey the Bear) is the top mascot. He just celebrated his 75th birthday. The supervisor says his message has changed, it's no longer "Only you can prevent forest fires." He couldn't remember what the new one is though, one of the staff suggested maybe it's "Only you can start forest fires." Hahaha, but not funny? 

Then there is Woodsy Owl,  he is most famous for the motto "Give a hoot—don't pollute!" His current motto is "Lend a hand—care for the land!"  Our boss said Woodsy was out of favor back in the time when protection of the Spotted Owl was controversial. Last, there is Captain Cal, who is Cal Fire's mascot. He is a mountain lion, he educates about wildfires and fire hazards. Apparently he is so new that the fire crews don't know about him.

Since it's getting late in the season, we were advised on keeping our tempers in check. There is a term called "Snaptember", when nerves get frayed enough (September or late August even), then one "snaps". Hoping it doesn't happen to any of us. But a noticeable thing is the visitation is down, most K-12 have started for the Fall. But still expecting the campgrounds to be full this weekend. 

Kathy and I don't need to get involved with campground disputes like some of the other staff does. We are 9 miles from the nearest campground, the other information center is closer to all of the campgrounds so that's where campers with complaints tend to go. But one of the staff said she would actually lose sleep over some of these. On weekends, with camp  sites getting grabbed up, people can fight over who has dibs on a site. Who gets it between the one who filled out the envelope and paid for it vs. the one who occupied it first? It's actually, the one who occupied it first, per the rules. Glad I don't get pulled in to these.

I visited the fire lookout at Big Hill recently. The lookout (spotter) who mans it, Mike, is retired from the Sherriff's Dept. He's been doing it the last 6 years during fire season, which usually ends sometime in November. It surprised me that they still use human lookouts, as the trend has been more electronic surveillance. But humans as spotters still add value as they can help due to a policy change for letting some fires burn. Fire suppression is not the norm anymore. Mike showed me the tools he used in locating and monitoring wildfires, mainly a large map with a 360° view finder, another map with a triangulation device between the 3 towers in this part of the forest and binoculars. Not high tech stuff. They report the direction in degrees (North is 0) and the estimated distance to dispatch. He told me that the ranger station can also operate a camera at each of the towers and see the fire and its progression on a screen in the office. I also read that the state of California is using more drones this year, courtesy of the Federal government. There have been more reports of plumes of smoke lately, we hear them over the radio. If it warrants dispatching a fire crew to the area, we hear a call for the different engines by tones and then their number. If a wildfire is major enough, it gets a name. Otherwise it gets reported as a 'vegetation fire'. A good source of where the fires in California are at any time is on https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

There is not a good recycling effort here in the forest, unfortunately. We turn in reusable bottles and cans with the CA CRV label. At the information area we work, only aluminium and plastic CRV containers are taken in bins. Everything else that we would normally recycle back home, like paper, cardboard or other plastics have to go in the dumpster. I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but I wish they accepted more material.

Rattlesnakes have become more of a problem lately, yikes. We heard of 3 different people getting bitten. In one case, a young girl reached out of her tent for her shoes. Ouch!!! We keep an eye out for them, Just in case. 

Our fellow staff do some cleaning up of trash and messes left by campers. One area of dispersed camping, Millionaires Camp, became a mess. Campers leave trash in bags, which when left attract raccoons and other varmints who spread it all over. There was another instance of a small group leaving their campsite with a bunch of their stuff, including coolers with food in them. Not sure what prompted their evacuation, as they had reserved the site for a few more days. A motor boat has been left at the side of the road near us for close to 4 weeks now. The trailer is missing a tire, and has a license plate, but it's unsure if the owner will every return for it. It's the Highway Patrol's problem though, not the USFS.

Ice House Road is the main road here, and is very busy. Our living area and information booth are on it. It is quiet during the night, but by 5:00 AM, traffic is coming up it. Lots of construction equipment, trucks, campers, jeepers. We've more or less gotten use to it, but if you were wondering about our spot, it's not as quiet overall. Some of the drivers take it too fast, going over the middle lines, slow down on the curves will ya? There have been only a few accidents or mishaps this summer, surprised it's not more. Coming down, braking is essential, especially if towing. Often we smell hot brakes, sometimes they pull in to cool down their brakes. I think our Honda is probably going through the brakes quicker than normal because we travel up and down the road a lot.

There is an abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit in the area. I shopped at a couple of different produce markets, and just went to the Placerville Farmers Market. I bought peaches, nectarines, fresh salsa and fresh donuts there. Yum. We still can't figure out why avacados are so expensive here. The black raspberries down the road from us are free though, been picking them along a side road.

I got my 10-day fishing license, went out on an exploratory expedition, but didn't get any bites. Then tried the dock at  Wright's Lake, where I had seen people catching rainbows 2 weeks ago. I saw one trout, who didn't bite. A camper told me the fish were biting over by the inlet. May have to try that another time. My fishing success leaves something to be desired so far

There was a recent spell of hot weather. it only reached 90 here, but reached around 104 in Sacramento for a couple days. Some people came up here to  escape the heat, the woods or reservoirs offer a respite.

The days are getting shorter, kids are back to school, crickets are chirping in the evening, and bow season for deer started. Although it still feels like full summer, these are sure signs that the end of summer is near.

Visitors and Trips to San Francisco

There's been some interesting visitors who have stopped by,

One couple shared that they met on Mt Whitney 50 years ago,

They were checking out the hiking in this area.

Another guy went to a campground up the road and had it all to himself

That's because the campground was closed and he didn't realize it.

A biker from San Francisco with long dred locks rolled in on his Harley,

He was hoping to find a campsite,

But it was Saturday afternoon, might not be so easy,

He said he was fortunate in getting one last year.

May have to camp in a dispersed area I told him,

He wondered about bears, how to protect his food,

The side boxes on his bike looked better than a bear canister.

His food would be ok.

An older gentleman had a small kitten hanging on to his shoulders,

Picked it up after the mother was hit by a car, 6 weeks ago,

He's ferocious he told me, then laughed,

The kitten was adorable and we took it to show Kathy,

It was repulsed by her for some reason,

Maybe the smell of window cleaner on her hands,

Very sensitive and smart kitty.

I've taken 2 trips to San Francisco so far,

The first trip by myself, left early on a Sunday morning,

It was a good time to travel, no real traffic issues,

And I got there in time to see the grandkids play soccer.

The second trip was at a less opportune time,

Kathy and I went after we closed the booth on a Sunday,

We knew traffic was going to be bad, hit some on I-80 West of Sacramento,

Then saw on Google maps that it would be clogged heading to the Bay Bridge,

So we opted for the Golden Gate Bridge which was smooth sailing,

But 19th Street wasn't.

Got in to my son's about 9:20, over 4 hours of tiring driving.

The return trip on Tuesday ended up being worse,

We thought we were leaving early enough,

Headed over the Golden Gate, then chose to stay off I-80,

But traffic got bad on Rte 4 before we got to Antioch,

A brief encounter with an enraged driver left us a bit shaken

Thought  Rte 12 heading to Lodi would be calmer,

Only to be tied up in traffic due to a tractor trailer getting stuck exiting, blocking both lanes.

We didn't get to Placerville until after 6 hours of tiring driving.

A stop at the Public House there calmed our nerves.

Our stay in SF with the grandkids was eventful too,

Fit in a couple public bus rides,

Went to the California Academy of Science and the San Francisco Zoo,

Thanks to their amazing nanny who shepherded us and managed 3 kids, with stroller and food at just the right time when the kids needed it.

Going to the zoo was easy, she insisted,

As the bus dropped them off right at the gate. We met them there before our eventful drive back.

I haven't got my fishing license yet,

But bought equipment on Amazon (hate to admit),

I broke the telescoping rod soon after rigging up the line on it,

Got a replacement but also ordered a 2-piece rod that should not break as easily.

Saw a bunch of rainbows that were caught at Wright's Lake Saturday night.

Looked like both dinner and breakfast for a few fortunate fishermen.

Almost Half the Summer is Over!

I take back what I said about the bugs here,

They are more noticeable than I first thought,

Although not as bad as they are back home,

The skeeters drove me over the edge the other day on a hike, although they weren't interested in Kathy 

The bugs come out in the evening too,

We can't sit around outside our trailer then, 

Citronella candles only help some,

Don't like their smell, but hate the bugs worse.

I think the bugs will get bored and die off soon 

The weather every day is predictable:

Sunny, warm, low humidity,

I'll take it over the heat and humidity back home,

We did finally have a period of rain this past Tuesday,

A little rain now and then would break up the sameness.

I find everybody on the staff here very likable, EVERYBODY!

They are a fun group and we had a fun time the other day at a get together that culminated in a luncheon,

Everybody gets to share at our meetings,

One young man seemed withdrawn until I got him to talk about fishing,

He's the go-to guy on staff for that topic.

The boss stopped by to chat the other day while I was in the booth,

Turns out he's a sawyer and gets called out on fires on occasion

A few years ago he got called up to Alaska for 10 days for a major fire.

They had to build a makeshift camp as a base,

It was up a bit north of Fairbanks,

Alaska is going through another heavy fire season this year,

The hotshot fire crew from here is up there now helping out.

We've had some good hiking,

There's still a lot that we haven't done,

Kathy had her sights on some peaks,

The snow up higher has melted a good but, guess I'll go along.

The alltrails app that we both have has been a big help.

As a write this, it's the Jeeper Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail,

We went up last week to watch a few jeeps,

They go over and around these huge boulders, it's kind of crazy,

But the jeepers love it and are a friendly bunch, they will tell you all about it.

We're still mindful of the fire potential,

There have been a few small ones that were put out quickly,

Fire level is 2, which means no restrictions on fires or cook stoves yet,

It is expected to go up to level 3 at some point, then more restrictions.

Three of the crew members just got designated as forest protection officers,

They were pumped about it, they will now be able to issue tickets,

Some of he main reasons for using tickets are:

1. Illegal camping (prohibited areas)

2. Fire without a fire permit, or dangerous fire

3. Failure to pay for a camp site or parking area

4. Illegal discharge of a weapon

5. Damaging property

Another of the fpo's was the first on the scene last week after a guy fell out of a jeep and was seriously injured. We still don't know why the guy fell out, the Jeep along with a second one stayed at the scene. She had to call for a helicopter transport, the copter landed on the road. 

Traffic violations and more serious or violent offenses are handled by the forest enforcement officers, or sherrif's office or Highway Patrol. I hear of some of these over there Forest scanner, but we can't listen in on the law enforcement scanners, that's where more of the gritty info would be transmitted. There was a bad accident yesterday on U.S. 50 that I heard of from other visitors, it tied up east bound traffic for a long time. 

Most of our working days are pretty mundane. The visitors by and large are a friendly and considerate lot. We keep the bathrooms clean, not much trash gets left, we are friendly and give information. Weekends are very busy, parking areas at the more popular stops get filled, and we've figured out that camping by some of the reservoirs is pretty limited. Now I have to figure out a good place to fish, got some equipment and will get a fishing license. Fresh trout for dinner anyone?

First Report from Eldorado National Forest, Cleveland Corral Information Station, near Pollock Pines, Ca

Kathy and I have been here over 2 weeks now, we are operating an information booth for visitors. There is also a picnic area with rest rooms that we watch over. A plaque honoring 2 men who lost their lives in a plane crash on October 1, 1992 fighting the Cleveland Fire here stands at the end of the parking lot. There is a larger Information Center further up Ice House Road, which is the major thoroughfare in the Crystal Basin Recreation Area. Eldorado means Land of Gold, the term goes back to the Spanish explorers who tried futilely to discover huge deposits of it. The Gold Rush did eventually occur in this area, but long after the Spanish explorers of the 1500's.

To get right to the exciting stuff that's happened so far:

1. Three Sherriff cars, 1 Highway Patrol and a private SUV gathered here late last Friday. I approached them but couldn't find out what was happening. They were confused about navigating the forest roads and I asked if they were looking for something. " We found it," was the only reply. They then asked if I had road maps of the area which I handed over. Struck me as a bit odd that they didn't have those, but oh well. They might have been looking for a fugitive in the area, but latest news report shows he's still missing.

2. Eight year old boy chopped down a small tree in a campground. Drew the attention of more than a few of the staff, heard about it from one of them later who issued a warning to the boy and got an apology from him. I would cherish that warning for the rest of my life if I were that boy.

3. Campers in an off-limit area. Heard about it on the radio and from one of the 2 staff involved in asking them to leave. The one camper gave them a hard time and tried to tell them the forest and the map they had were 'wrong'. Then he went on a rant about his tax dollars. He and his group eventually packed up and left, but they weren't happy about it.

4. According to one of the Forest Protection Officers, one of the campgrounds will be burned down next year. It has been free but there will be a fee next year, she predicted that irate campers will be upset about the fee. Apparently it's the Wild West there now, no fee and no camp host. Something will change next year.

5. We found a mouse family in the information booth a few days ago. They were in a closed cabinet, had made a crude nest inside a bottle with hardware. We tried to sweep them into a waste bucket but they scattered and went into hiding. We didn't have anything to trap them with so I tried setting up a bucket of water with peanut butter to lure them, left it overnight. That didn't work but they seem to be gone, probably traumatized for life.

That's all the exciting stuff, unless you're interested in the more ordinary aspects of being here, you can stop reading now!

We live on site in a trailer provided by the Forest Service (USFS). It's older but comfortable enough, and so far it has been cool enough so that we don't have to run the a/c. The booth we operate also has a/c and gets warmer from direct sun but we have only used a fan to provide cooling so far. The booth contains maps and information that we hand out. We also write fire permits, for cooking stoves and campfires, which are free and good through the end of the year. We read through a list of common sense rules about fire safety before we hand the permit over. More fire restrictions that could ban fires in undeveloped areas of the forest are expected at some point this summer.

The weather will get warmer, we expect daytime temperatures to get into the 90's eventually. Amazingly there is still snow in the higher elevations. We climbed up to 8,000 feet yesterday on our day off to Twin Lakes in the Desolation Wilderness and encountered snow fields that stopped us from proceeding further. A raging stream of snow melt also prevented us from continuing on a different route. The campground at Wright's Lake where we started our trek was just recently cleared of snow and still hasn't opened yet.

Fire is on our minds, hoping it doesn't happen here, but aware that things will dry up and the risk increase. The fire danger is listed as moderate and there are no fire restrictions now. A small fire caused by a lighting strike occurred the other day and was quickly extinguished by a fire crew. There is also a heliport at the Ranger Station near Pollock Pines and a lookout at Big Hill manned by fire spotter. So hopefully with compliance of fire rules, the vigilance by the fire crews and some luck we can get through the summer ok. A fire a few hundred miles away can send smoke and ash though, that happened last year and could repeat this year.

The visitors that come in for the most part know what they are here for and know how to manage themselves. They are either fishing, birding, camping, hiking, off-roading or boating. There is also the Rubicon Trail, a world famous jeep 'trail' which involves climbing over and around large boulders. These are mostly oversized jeeps and off road vehicles, most being towed by large trailers, we see them constantly going up Ice House Road, and they don't tend to stop at our station. A few other visitors are just checking out the area for the first time (like us) and want to know what it has to offer. The typical visitor we encountered at the National Parks often came in not knowing how to spend their time. "What can I do in x hours here?" was common. The visitor mindsets are vastly different. The visitation in the forest is also a fraction of what Bryce Canyon and Rocky Mountain got. Our busiest day here at Cleveland Corral so far has been 47 vehicles stopping, and we generally talk to less than half of those who stop.

Since Eldorado National Forest is an hour or less from Sacramento, it is considered an 'urban forest'. It is heavily visited by urbanites, also drawing from the Bay area and Central Valley. There are a lot of repeat visitors. Placerville is the next town to the west from Pollock Pines and offers more in restaurants, shopping and services than Pollock Pines. We ventured there one time so far. It has a quaint historic downtown which is basically set up as a tourist mecca. The settlement of the town happened during the Gold Rush years of the mid 1800's. The iconic bell tower from that period still dominates the center of town. U.S. 50 connects through Placerville to Sacramento to the west and to South Lake Tahoe to the east. Much of the traffic on it is heading or coming back from Tahoe, especially on weekends. We were told that it would be all backed up on the Fourth of July, but that never happened. It's still a pretty busy road through this area. Unlike through Nevada where it's dubbed the "Loneliest Road in America".

We have figured out a fair amount of the recreation area here, enough to be helpful to visitors. We've gone on a few of the more popular hikes: Bassi Falls, Twin Lakes, Horsetail Falls and 2 other trails nearby at Sly Recreation Area. Visited a number of the campgrounds and the 3 major reservoirs. Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has several power facilities at the reservoirs and in cooperation with the USFS developed much of the recreation and camping facilities here. My son and his family came for a few days around the Fourth; they came up to Cleveland Corral one day and we went to Sly Rec Area two different days. They came up from San Francisco, which could be close to a 3 hour drive without kids or traffic. I will find out soon for myself.

We have met most of the other staff that we will be working with. All good dedicated people, and a mixture of some young seasonal or temporary workers and some seasoned veterans. Our boss and his boss are recreational officers, not foresters. There are only 2 law enforcement officers and 2 additional Forest Protection Officers. 3 more are in training and desperately needed. The maintenance staff has been most helpful. They got our trailer in pretty good shape, and considering that we came in earlier than they thought we would, things got in good shape soon after our arrival.

My impressions so far are that this area has a lot to offer to a variety of people. It is simply beautiful, between the snow capped mountains, the cold reservoirs, the tall and abundant trees, interesting hiking and fresh mountain streams that I hope to fish in. The good weather and relative lack of bugs are pluses. There will be some issues, not everything will be ideal, I may wither some in the heat, I am missing a lot back home, but will try to stick with a theme we came up with while traveling out here: "whatever it is, it's probably not that important."