Valley Forge and Sequoia
i’ve actually done a reasonable bit of being outdoors in the last few weeks
from the hikes.txt file:
07.31.2004 Valley Forge
Went with davidglasser to Valley Forge.
Meant to do a couple of mile out and back of the Horseshoe Trail
(which goes like 120 mile to the AT) but there was a sign saying the trail
was closed for regrowth, and we chose to respect that, and instead
went on the 1.2 mile long Valley Creek “Trail” which goes to this
wooden covered bridge dating back to 1865. Valley Forge has lots
of beautiful meadows and whatnot, but damn it was humid.
glasser and I had some good conversation.
So, including walk to and from car, ~2.5 miles,
no noticeable elevation gain.
08.07.2004 Tokopah Falls, Sequoia National Park
Hike 50 in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon region of “California Hiking”
Guidebook says 3.6 miles, signage says 1.7 miles one way, so let’s break
even and call it 3.5 miles, mmmmkay? 500′ elevation gain.
Really really nice little trail, going along the creek,
passing under beautiful trees and hitting many little
meadow areas. The last bit right before the falls
(which were only a trickle, but nice ones, when we went)
kind of has an old school Star Trek feel to it-
all rocky and desolate. Felt kind of staged.
Awesome little dayhike.
Went with ryan, danny, danny’s brother, his wife, glenn,
mark, chris, and another couple
08.08.2004 The Watchtower and Heather Lake, Sequoia National Park
8.2 or 9 mile hike, whether you believe the sign or the book.
~1900′ of elevation gain (7200 –> 9100). Starts at Wolverton
parking lot, and goes and goes, and you get up to the watchtower,
which is this giant stone edifice that I was too much of a wussy
to go on out to – the 1500 foot straight drop down intimidated me.
So I watch some of my group go out there. Then we continued on to
Heather Lake, a beautiful little alpine lake thing. Then the
others went on to the next lake (Emerald Lake) but I stayed
and waited at Heather Lake because I was having trouble with the elevations.
It was gorgeous up there. On the way down there was a stag in the trail.
Went with ryan, danny, chris, mark, glenn
Hike 47 under Sequoia in California Hiking.
08.15.2004 Fall Creek Trail
Did about 4.5 miles total, I would guess. This trail is barely listed,
But if you go up the Angeles Crest Highway, then turn on to the Angeles
Forest Highway, go for a few miles, and then park at Hidden Pines,
right after a tunnel, then go 500 feet up the road, the trailhead
is signed. Nominally 3 miles to the creek, but it was really hot
and boring, so we saw at about 2.25 miles that the creek was still
many hundreds of feet beneath us, and decided to turn back.
Goes on a sandy dirt path on a chaparral covered slope, with much
loose packed up and down. We saw a snake , too.
Me and rax.
Sequoia was freaking rad, despite the elevation being reasonably difficult for me. It was the first time I’ve ever been camping.
I need to go more. Word. All the rest of it was pretty cool too. I hope to go hiking each of the next two weekends before burningman, too. We shall see. Also, I’ve actually managed to go “running” (going slightly faster than a walk, around the block) for the last few days. This is something I keep picking up and then letting fall to the ground again, but every time I manage to do it for even a few days, I feel much the better for it.
Still very conflicted about the Isshinryu club out here – I love the style, and I want to keep practicing in it, but the sensei out here just has so little focus on detail and balance (mental and physical) that I just find it isn’t really giving me what I want or being very fulfilling. But every now and then he says some amazing things…I don’t know. Life is hard all around, eh?
Edited to add :
View down into Fall Creek Gorge, into which we did not make it
In Sequoia. There are people in this image on that rock that you basically cannot see.
At Valley Forge, we took the shorter trail
