Ironhorse at New Melones

Went back to New Melones for our first RV camping of the new year. We were at site 21, which is towards the end of the one peninsula at the Ironhorse campground there at the Glory Hole side of New Melones Reservoir. 

It was a beautiful warm January day with highs about 70. After setting up camp and eating our lunch, we head off to hike the Frontier trail that parallels the road and comes to a junction at the smaller parking lot a the end of the road. 

As we approached the bridge, we could hear the water running down the hill. There was one other stream that's a seasonal one, but this is the larger stream that seems to run most of the year (minus the drought years). 

The picnic table is still just up from the bridge. Last time we came here we could barely see the top of the picnic table. When we arrived at the Buck Bush parking lot we decided that we had time to hike the Angels Creek Trail. 

We took the shorter route by traversing up the hill and over to the other side, which cuts off a small portion of the trail.  Manzanita is in bloom already. It smelled so sweet!

Since it was getting late and we had at least two miles of travel back to campground, we decided to walk the road. We could see a portion of a halo around the sun as we were heading back. The sky now had clouds and a portion of a rainbow formed because the ice crystals in the clouds were refracting the sunlight. This is also a sign of weather change. 

When we got back to camp a group of Scouts had set up their camps near to us. At first I thought they would be loud since it was a group of teenagers with older adults, but I was wrong. As darkness came, they got quiet. We had a quiet and peaceful night. 

The morning sky proved to show that there was a change in the weather with what looked to be snow clouds forming. No rain was in the forecast for the day or the next couple of days; just a change in the sky with clouds. 

We took a walk around the campground. Walked down to see if the osprey were building a nest or had one. Instead we found a turkey vulture sitting on the tree that once housed the osprey's nest. I do hope the osprey find a better location this year for their nest. We will find out in future visits!

 

Ironhorse 19

Headed back to New Melones before the weather gets too hot. We got lucky with a site that has a view of the lake. 

A turkey and...

came to our site to check us out, while the opsrey and bald eagle observed us from above. We could hear the woodpeckers and see lots of turkey vultures. It was a birder's paradise. 

We did one of our favorite loops, the Tower Climb. It was nice seeing the lake full again.

Most of the time the trail is just dirt and rocks with occasional pretty flowers. We were surprised to see a rib cage from some animal long gone. The turkey vultures must have enjoyed that meal too. 

Second day's hike was around Angel's Creek trail. It was a long moderate hike that day, 8.3 miles. Happy to be back at camp to relax and enjoy the views. Did I say how quiet the campground was both nights. First night, Saturday, had tired fishermen, while second night, Sunday, was just one person next to us. 

February Getaway

 We headed back to our favorite spot at New Melones since spring weather was in the forecast.

We hiked one of our favorite hiking routes with wonderful vistas of a fairly quiet lake.

Along the hike, we came across a white ceanothus in bloom! It smelled so sweet and the bees were enjoying the blossoms.

I did not know that there are white ceanothus since all I have seen in the nurseries are the blue to purple flowering ceanothus.

Down by the closed boat launch, there were two seaplanes parked at the water's edge. Most likely two pilots having a meetup. We later watched the planes take off.  One plane headed west, while the other plane headed north.  Such a fun way to spend a beautiful day! And it was for us too!

We Back!

 Did a one nighter at our favorite spot at New Melones!!

Only six campers in the entire campground because there were no boaters camping over the weekend. The Parks closed down the lake to boaters due to the invasive mussels. Normally there are a couple of boaters that camp overnight in the area we like to camp; they always pick the pull-throughs. Since they weren't there, the campground was the quietest we have experienced. 

We did our favorite hike along the shore and marveled at how still the water looked and how quiet the lake was too!

We entertained ourselves in the evening with making pomanders for Christmas. Got two done, more to go!

Finished our overnight stay with a hike down to the picnic table on the Cougar Point Trail. We almost always find some thing interesting down at the point. This looks like a bird carcass. 

Acorn Campground

 We went back to one of our favorite sites at New Melones Lake for a two night stay.

Site 43 at Acorn campground in Tuttletown has one of the best locations and...

views of the lake and bridge. 

It was the weekend before Halloween and most of the campground was empty. Maybe folks stayed away because the spirits were already busy.

Between finding dead animal bones and...

a fire, the area seemed a wee bit creepy. 

We did a google search to discover that this weekend was a schedule burn close to the fire-watch tower. 

We had many wonderful views of the controlled burn while hiking the trail the second day. At one point one could see the huge flames of red and orange just along the ridge. By late afternoon the fire was put out by the fire helicopters. 

Next day's hike was still creepy with this shrine of some type.

Regardless of creepy things, this is still one of our favorite places to hike and camp in cooler weather months.

Every Four Years

 My husband said "I'm a creature of habit" when I told him we are headed to Clark Fork Campground.

We even got the same site we did eight years ago when our daughter went camping with us in August 2016. 

We were last here in August 2020 with MeeOk. Yup, seems ever four years and in August when school has started and most of the kids are back in school. Mainly just old folks or families with young kids camping in mid August. 

After settling in and having lunch, we did the tradition of hiking over to the Arnot Creek trail for a four mile roundtrip. Sadly, there still isn't much growth of new redwoods. There are lots of sage brushes and a few flowers, but otherwise it still looks like burnt trees. So we headed back to camp and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. 

The next day we headed to the end of Clark Fork road to hike the Disaster Creek trail. From the map it looked like an easy three miles out and back along the creek. The plan was to go as far as the junction post at 3 miles.

What I didn't realize was that the start of the trail is a steep climb up with many switchbacks on the west side of the Iceberg. And that the creek flows down in elevation to the parking lot.

From the Iceberg the climb became less strenuous, but still an ascent.

Once we hit the meadow the trail leveled. The trail junction was at the far end of the meadow, but somehow we missed it. We believe the post was down and later when we were deeper into the woods someone else saw the downed post and re-erected it. 

Because of missing the post, we continued on another 1.5 miles until we came to the conclusion that we had somehow missed the trails' junction. Since the trail looked less traveled and the growth was getting more dense, we turned back. On the return was when we saw the post and the junction for the trails. I also spotted the tip of the Dardanelles while crossing the meadow. During the hike, I spotted numerous California native plants. One, is one of my favorites, the California Columbine. The first for me to see it so plentiful in it's natural habitat. We can now check off that we did 9 miles roundtrip of the Disaster Creek trail and it wasn't a total disaster! 

Dogwood Trees

The Dogwood trees are in full bloom in the Stanislaus NF right now. Traveling to our campground this past weekend was such a delight. Dogwood trees were one of my parents favorite trees. They had numerous ones growing on their 2 acre wooded property. I don't recall those Dogwood trees ever looking this beautiful.

We camped at Wakalu Hep Yo campground by the Sourgrass Recreation area. 

A mudslide destroyed a portion of the campground and the bridge back in 1999.  

This is the bridge today. At the far end of the bridge by the bend is the entrance to the campground on the right and location of the mudslide. 

The view from the bridge is gorgeous! The mighty North Fork of the Stanislaus River is high this year. On Mother's Day weekend there were no folks out fishing, which was a surprise to us. On past trips here there have been numerous folks standing on or near the large rocks casting their lines. 

There are excellent views of the bridge along a small portion of the campground trail closest to the bridge. 

Since the campground was almost empty, we decided to try a site in the back area.  In the past, we have alway stayed at the sites closer to the entrance and camp host site due to the back area being full. 

Site 44 has a very nice area with a picnic table and area for tents. The plus to this site is that there are no neighbors!  It is situated away from the other sites in the back area. And perfect for the travel trailer!

It is also located close to the historic Miwok site. From our site is a path leading up to a clearing. 

Last time we were here at this clearing it was just grass and stones. Looks like someone is starting a spiritual maze. There was also a large firepit that looks like it hasn't been used. 

We hiked our favorite hike along the 4X4 road. This Mother's Day weekend only a couple of hikers were on the road. We were rewarded with numerous seasonal waterfalls. This waterfall was new to us and such a delight!