From the desert to alpine meadows

What a perfect place to be! It's Sunday morning and I’m currently sitting with the sun on my back, mountain air perfectly still, beneath some pines next to a small alpine lake, part of the Highland Lakes area of the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness in Stanislaus National Forest.

Highland Lakes - a great campsite

Where is that?!? I’ve never heard of it! Fair enough question, neither had I until about 3pm yesterday afternoon as I travelled the winding route 4 road from the western side of the Sierra headed towards Lake Tahoe – a tip I’d gathered from a retired commercial pilot, Bob Cushman, who I met yesterday morning at breakfast.

Bob has recently retired from being a commercial pilot for GM, and is celebrating with the purchase of a burgundy coloured Harley Davidson touring bike and a long road trip. He’d passed this way earlier in the week, and said it was spectacular. With no firm plans of my own, it seemed a good one to try.

Meet Bob Cushman, retired commercial pilot on a Harley road-trip

Ah, the twists and turns of an unplanned adventure!

I had found myself in Jamestown after crossing through Yosemite via road 120. It wasn’t a great experience and brought back the disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to hike in the National Park, as was part of my original plan. By comparison, today has been terrific!

But to start from the beginning. I set out from Alabama Hills on Friday morning and headed north west along the beautiful US 395 Sierra Mountains highway that travels straight up the Owens Valley – the Sierra Mountains on your left, the mountains surrounding Death Valley on your right.

Sierra Mountains from Alabama Hills

The towns here are small, but feel more genuine than the ones I found on Route 66. I passed through Independence, and made a stop at Bishop for a coffee and pastry from Erick Schat’s Bakerri, a true German bakery filled with warm and flavoursome smells of sourdough, rows and rows of loaves and glass cabinets filled with all different types of strudel. I picked up a loaf for lunch, a strudel for morning tea, and a coffee for breakfast.

Continuing on 393 I passed the turnoff to the Bristlecone Pines, which would have been interesting to see as they are the longest living trees in the world - apparently over 5,000 years! I have seen photos of their twisted, gnarled and wise trunks. But I wanted to spend my day in Yosemite, so skipped this detour this time. I did take a small detour to June Lakes, a 15mi scenic road that passes a number of small mountain lakes, cold water with autumn colours along their outherwise barren banks. I had a simple lunch with my sourdough loaf, an avocado, some tomato and some Mesquite honey I’d bought in Pine earlier in the week for dessert.  A simple meal, so enjoyable in the cool mountain air.

Lunch at June Lakes

From there it was up to Tioga Pass at an elevation of 9,945ft in the Sierra Mountains, and the heart of Yosemite. It was such a beautiful place to be. The shrubs are flowering golden yellow, and any deciduous tree had started its transition to oranges and reds. Against the grey backdrop of the granite mountains, it appears a perfect combination.

Route 120 to Tioga Pass

Feeling uplifted by where I was, it was an abrupt encounter to meet the rangers at the Yosemite Park entrance. I could continue to drive through the park, but no turning off the main road, no stopping and no photos – I was issued with a notice confirming these things. I think if they could have put blinkers on you they could.

Whilst I understand the federal budget has not been approved to man services in the national parks, I don’t agree with disallowing access to those who are willing to take on the risks alone – I was quite happy not to use any of the park services. I had a guidebook to suggest some areas to walk, a map to follow, all my equipment and food. I didn’t need a guided tour, wasn’t interested in going to the visitors centre or to even use the bathrooms.

However, this time, I was going to have to be content with a drive by visit. Needless to say, I was moved on by a ranger twice as I slowed to admire the natural features en route – Lembert Dome near Tuolumne Creek and golden meadows. They seemed to be taking enforcement of the rules quite seriously!

A sneaky shot of Tuloumne Creek

Lembert's Dome

It was a pretty drive, but only made me more curious to discover the park further.

On the far western side of the range, I was surprised to find a large area of recently burnt forest. I partially recalled hearing about fires in Yosemite, but wasn’t aware of their duration, extent or proximity to the main thoroughfares.

Scarred forest

A small information tent was set up at a lookout, so I pulled over and spoke to Timothy Evans, the Natural Resources Staff Director of the Tahoe National Forest. He explained that the fire started on 17 August in the Stanislaus National Forest, and had consumed more than 400 sq miles. The fire was continuing to burn in a few areas. We squinted over the range, and in the far distance could spot the smoke. The fires must have been intense, as the landscape was completely charred, from the forest floor to the canopy.

Barren landscape of the Stanislaus National Forest, west of Yosemite NP

Tim was a great guy, and was thrilled to hear I was Australian. He had travelled to Australia in 1995 for work and had managed to enjoy a short holiday in Melbourne. A highlight sounded like the St Kilda Festival!

Meet Timothy Evans of the Tahoe National Forest

It was nearing 4pm and was about time for me to find somewhere to camp. The forest fires had made this a little difficult as now a lot of the areas I’d marked on the map to explore were charred and closed. I stopped in the small town of Groveland to investigate their hotel, but it had inflated Yosemite tourist prices, so continued further. I had a quick look at the Don Pedro Lake for a sunny spot on the mountain side, but everywhere was too steep to put up a tent, and the formal campground was uninviting.

By 6pm, I decided my time was up, and pulled off the road into another small town, Jamestown, and walked into the Royal Carriage. They seemed reasonable, so decided I’d have another evening in a comfy bed and with internet access.

It turned out well, as otherwise I wouldn’t have met Bob at breakfast and “discovered” the route 4 highway which led me to my great campsite now. It’s funny how these things work out!

On Saturday morning, after breakfast with Bob, I headed north, with my first stop planned to be the Calaveras Big Tree forest. I’d done some research the previous night on redwood forests and found a great blog by Dave Baselt Redwood Hikes which lists all of the redwood forest locations, and hikes you can do, with a rating on the sequoia experience!

Most appeared to be in national parks, but there was one State Forest, the Calaveras, nearby. Yay! Spending some time with the grandeur of the Sequoia, was one of the things I really wanted to do whilst in the States.

I chose to spend the morning on the 5mi loop around South Grove, an area with 1,000 large Sequoia trees.

Starting out on the South Grove loop hike, 5mi, Calaveras State Park

The forest was beautiful in the morning. Still, but with many birds chirping and happily flirting from tree to tree. The dogwood in the undergrowth was in colour – oranges, pinks and reds, and I passed over a small stream, glistening in the morning light as it flowed over a series of granite slabs.

A beautiful morning to be in the forest

After a short climb I rounded a bend and came across the first Sequoia. Wow! Whilst you know these trees are huge, it’s still amazing to be in their presence and feel them towing over you. Their deep red or cinnamon coloured, fibrous bark seems almost like deer fur, and the morning light deepened the grooves burrowing in this thick, outer layer. The trunks extend all the way to the sky, and are topped with a sparse and narrow rounded crest of branches, that don’t seem to start until at least 100ft high. What you see at ground level is an enormous base – the ones I saw were up to 6m in diameter, but apparently they can attain widths of 11m. Some had grown buttresses to stop them crashing over.

These trees are unbelievable huge!

Hard to capture scale in a photo!

As I walked through the grove, each tree looked like it had weathered some tough times. Some had deep fire scars, others had been hollowed out completely. There were insect marks, and a few had obviously toppled in large storms. Regardless, it was amazing to think that these had been living for more than 2,000 years.

Fire ravaged

Apparently, sequoias are resistant to diseases, insects, rot and drought, and are fire adaptive. Much like eucalypts, they need fire to survive. Small and frequent fires produce heat to release large volumes of seeds from the cones, reduces competing undergrowth to allow through sunlight, and clears the forest floor to reveal the rich soil in which the seeds germinate.

Cones

They also appeared to grow in clusters, and it seemed a bit unusual to see 2 trees almost touching each other, like twins. Why compete when the forest is so large! I guessed it was because the seeds don’t travel far when dropped, and so if conditions are conducive to germination and growth, a number of trees will succeed in the one spot. With a narrow canopy, two trees can happily grow up together. Awww…

Twins

I enjoyed walking through the forest and spending time with these trees that would far outlive me.

After a bite to eat, it was time to continue. On a whim I decided to follow the tip and continue up route 4 towards Lake Tahoe and see what I could find. It was a great drive up a narrow and winding road. I felt the environment change to a more alpine scenery, a few bare hills covered in golden grasses and still alpine lakes.

Winding route 4

I stopped by a small turnout and found a sign that had a map of the region. Yay! There appeared a few campsites around. The area seemed pretty quiet, and I hadn’t spotted a single RV, so I was willing to check them out.

A place named “Highland Lakes” at the far end of a dirt road sparked my interested, so I turned off the bitumen and started bumping along the dirt. It felt quite remote and I drove for almost 30min without seeing anyone. The road followed a small, rocky creek, which offered a few potential camping sites, but I decided to keep exploring. It was only 4pm, so there was plenty of time.

A few hunters drove past in their raised ute, both wearing bright orange caps. I hoped there weren’t bears around! Further up there were a set of stock yards – this area must still be used for grazing, and I was reminded of the first chapter in John Muir’s book “My First Summer in the Sierra” where he joins a shepherd with his flock of sheep to find pastures in the mountains.

Mountain cabin

By 5pm I’d reached a small lake. Perfect. The place to myself too! A small sign indicated to only camp in designated areas, so rather than a lake side spot, I continued a further few hundred meters to the designated area. Picnic tables and fire rings. I could even have a fire tonight!

Highland Lakes 

I moved from lazily dreaming to action. Tent first, then a quick drive back to the forest for wood (it’s pretty sparse around a campground!), dinner prepared, fire started, some good coals, and the pot simmering away. The stars came out and I played around with my camera to see what I could capture.

Preparation...

Success!

A great place to be