I took this hike to explore a cross-country route from the southern lip of the Woodchuck Creek drainage to Chimney Lake. Descending to the creek was straightforward until reaching the bogs/swamps/meadows near the creek where I had to take care to keep my feet fairly dry. I took off my shoes to ford Woodchuck Creek and found the trail just a few meters north of the ford. My plan was to ascend the trail to Indian Springs but I turned north at a major tributary of Woodchuck Creek and ascended up the south facing slope. It's pretty easy to follow my route if you look at my observations for the day. Walking was easy and deadfalls were easy to avoid. Bogs were all over the place. Oddly, flowers were blooming at the highest elevations. I decided to turn around at one o'clock so I could return to the trailhead before sundown. I reached an elevation of about 9,500 feet. When I posted GPS data for the trip, I realized I was only 0.4 miles from the trail to Chimney Lake. The shortcut looks like a good one. I took my time on the return trip. I took 177 photos, mostly of flowers.
This was my first hike in the Sierra for 2013. It was cut short by rain, but was enjoyable nonetheless. Common madia were all over the place. As I worked my way up canyon, I saw many of the species I had seen on a hike in 2012. Trail crew was finishing brush removal and only had a mile or two of trail left to complete. I talked to them when they caught up to me and it turned out I had met two of them near Hamilton Lake last August. I asked for a flower ID and they told me yerba santa. Thanks, guys, there's not much of that at the higher elevations where I usually hike. I found clustered broomrape again and a relative that looks even stranger, chaparral broomrape. At mid-day, the rain was coming down pretty hard, so I decided I'd better head back. It rained off and on during my return to the trailhead but by the time I got back it was mostly clear. Driving from the trailhead out to Highway 198, I saw a few more gorgeous flowers and even stopped on the highway to photograph a few more. I stopped at the visitor's center and got another ID, this time Sierra manroot. I'm not too proud to ask for help. It saves a lot of book work.
Great day!
Having never hiked to Marble Falls, I thought it might be a good idea to see what flowers I might find near the trail. The trail crew I talked to a couple of weeks earlier when hiking up the Middle Fork Kaweah canyon, said things were getting dry so I'd better go to Marble Falls as soon as possible.
It was dry all right. But there were still plenty of flowers blooming. Madia was present along most of the trail. Buckeye, yucca, POISON OAK, and strangely, twining Brodiaea, were conspicuous from the bottom of the trail to the top. Purple fairy lanterns were common, too. I saw them in at least seven locations.
A tick attached itself to my right shin, but I brushed it off before it became firmly attached. I still have a red ring around the bite more than a week later. Another tick spent 18 hours on my back before my wife tweezed it out. It is stored in a bottle of alcohol just in case. I suppose I should photograph it and write an observation.
The dry parts of the trail were infested with dried out non-native grasses which made the walk seem hotter and drier than it should have. In dry years like this one, I would guess the trip might be too hot past the end of May.
