Crown Ridge Field Trip 9-10 June 2015

The first trip of the year was preceded by the usual anxiety, especially since I knew I would be traveling in an area with dicey trails. It was anything but typical and became interesting early on. I was so concerned about travel in this mostly forested area that I decided to check out the trail connecting the Little Rancheria trail and the Crown Valley trail. I turned south and took a break at the Little Rancheria Creek crossing. At around 11 that morning, I hiked south in order to locate the junction with the Crown Valley trail. Long past the time I expected to reach it, I realized that I was ON the Crown Valley trail and that I had missed the junction, or perhaps the old trail to the Crown Valley Trailhead no longer exists. Not wanting to back track, I decided to continue on the trail and do the trip in reverse. At 11:25, I met a beautiful bear on the trail and got a pretty good photo. By 11:50, I had reached the John Muir Wilderness boundary and became certain of my location. I crossed Cabin Creek and its east tributary and reached the trail to Chain Lakes at 1:05. There was no trail sign but the GPS showed that this was the turnoff. I headed north on the seldom used trail until losing it in a meadow. I wandered cross county for about a mile before finding the trail again. At 3:20, I reached the Chain Lakes turnoff and headed east through familiar territory. The trip to lower Chain Lake was pretty easy except for an area of thick deadfall just west of it. The ascent to middle Chain Lake was difficult though large granite boulders that dam middle Chain Lake to the east. The trail to upper Chain Lake eluded me but I managed to find my way there with the help of the GPS. I stayed at a nice campsite at the north end of the lake. It rained much of the night.

I wish I could say the air was clear the next morning, but low clouds blocked a view of the sky most of the day. It made navigating on Crown Ridge difficult if not dangerous. Without visible landmarks, I had to rely on GPS to find my way around. Finally, at 10:25 I turned around and headed back to the lake, worried about the storm and about getting lost in the clouds. It rained or hailed most of the way back to the trailhead but my trusty umbrella kept me dry most of the way. I did manage to post quite a few observations on iNaturalist; 27 for June 9 and 26 for June 10 including a new species for me, California valerian (Valeriana californica).

Posted on June 13, 2015 11:26 PM by sekihiker