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| Sacatar Meadows/Little Lake
Canyon & Monache Meadows May 21-22, 2016 |
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| Basalt flows from Volcano Peak. Formed cliffs
where it stopped by Little
Lake (Distant Argus peak right of center) |
| Both Dave and I had been eyeing the Sacatar
Meadow trail for years. We had both found the bottom of it and wanted to
hike down it rather than up. I once hiked up a couple hours from the
bottom with my dog Mya and decided against tackling it from that
direction. It took a while to find the trailhead at the top because of
private property. We left my Cherokee at the bottom and took his Grand Cherokee
to the top to start and neither of us brought our dogs. The route is
about 8 1/2 miles an drops about 3500' mostly in the second half. The
hike took 6 1/2 hours with several hours of vehicle positioning. (About
40 miles driving between them) |
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| The upper few miles were mostly in the Pinion
Pines before giving way to Joshua Trees and desert at the lower
elevations. (Wild flowers were in bloom) |
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| Red Hill |
Basalt flows in the mid range around the Coso
Geothermal area |
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| The basalt cliffs form the backdrop behind
Little Lake and also provided the material for the water to cut through
to form Fossil Falls. |
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| Sequoia National Forest |
| After the hike we drove back up and retrieved
Dave's JGC. We spent the night at Kennedy Meadows Campground. The Kennedy Meadows campground is being
abandoned by the US Forest Service on June 1st. The Kennedy Meadows Stove is taking
over operations. The campground is free. It used to be free 20 years
ago. You can make a donation at the store if you chose. The Pay slot at
the front of the campground was taped shut. |
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| I removed a rock covering the
pick up for the Powell Meadows tank to get it back to good flow. |
| Monache Meadows |
| After breaking camp Sunday morning at Kennedy
Meadows Campground we decided to go up to the Black Rock Ranger Station
area to check the gate situation. The Road north was open and since we
found the Monache Jeep trail open we decided to go to Monache Meadows.
Dave had never been up that Jeep trail. They weren't grazing cattle yet
in the meadow and we saw only a handful of vehicles on the trip in and
out. |
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| Dave fording the upper South Fork crossing in
Monache Meadows. (Olancha Peak in the background) |
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| My Cherokee at the lower South Fork
Crossing in Monache Meadows |
Monache Meadows toad guard |
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