Thursday, May 10, 2018

Exploring Fraser Flat

It has been two years since my husband and I camped at Fraser Flat. We could only remember the beautiful hike on the Sugar Pine Railway Trail from Fraser Flat to Strawberry. We had forgotten the peacefulness of this campground.


Fraser Flat Campground is located along side the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. It was once a logging camp in 1927 called Camp Fraser. Just down the road, by the bridge, is the start of the Sugar Pine Railway Trail, an old railroad bed.


After setting up camp and eating lunch, we hiked the trail from the bridge up to Old Strawberry Road, 3 miles one-way.


For the majority of the way, the trail runs parallel with the river. One can hear the river below the trail.


This time hiking the trail, we crossed many seasonal creeks flowing down the hillsides to the river. Last time we hiked the trail was during the drought; so, none of the creeks were flowing.


We were lucky in coming across a couple of snow plants just starting to peek out of the ground. It's such a surprise seeing the vibrant red plants popping up in the forest's different shades and textures of brown ground cover.


 As we neared the end of the trail, close to the Strawberry end of the trail, we noticed this sign. Someone didn't want folks getting lost or wandering in the field close to the trailhead.


At the parking lot by the Old Strawberry Road trailhead, we noticed this sign.  There was an area with a level area that one could camp. We wondered if this sign got posted because the owner of the land was tired of people camping and trashing up his land. We have seen that within some National Forests of people leaving trash at dispersed campgrounds. After reading the sign, we made our gradual descent along the trail back to camp.


Back at camp, we set up our Biolite Camp Stove to make yummy pizza. We used Trader Joe's gluten-free pizza and added lots of toppings. The black on the pizza stone is the cornmeal. The bottom of the pizza wasn't burnt. The pizza came out nice and crispy on the bottom, perfect!  After cooking the pizza, we continued to fuel the stove with wood for a nice campfire by our RV. We had positioned the stove just under the awning of the RV so that the heat from the stove would be captured by the awning. That heat kept us warm for an hour as we listened to the night sounds of frogs and other campers before heading to bed for a restful sleep. 


The next day after a lazy morning and breakfast, we headed up the hill, 4N13, to explore the Philadelphia Ditch. This ditch is part of PG&E's hydroelectric system.


Water is diverted from the South Fork Stanislaus River about 1.5 miles upstream from the campground.


From there, the water flows though the ditch and across numerous wooden flumes for about 4.7 miles to Spring Gap Foreby. From there the water travels down a 1 mile penstock to the Spring Gap Powerhouse.


After exploring two of the wooden flumes, each in different directions, we opted to walk the fire-road that runs parallel above the ditch. I didn't want to try crossing the flume with our dog. We only encountered one Jeep traveling the road; otherwise, we had the road to ourself while enjoying the beauty of this area.


We discovered an area along the Philadelphia Ditch Trail that would make a great spot for a picnic. So, next time we come out to camp at Fraser Flat, we will set up camp and then head up to this area for lunch and more exploration.

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