September 16, Mosquito Wildfire

 On September 6, we saw some smoke coming up the ridge from around Auburn area.  We knew it was pretty far away - but with the dry conditions in the Sierra and the beetle-blight trees, our little community started tracking the fire.  The start point was close to Foresthill, a mountain town across the North Fork of the American River from us.  Only the smoke from the fire has touched us and we feel for the people over by Todd Valley, Michigan Bar and Foresthill who may have lost their businesses and homes.  Our new camp lake (at least new to us) is close to Foresthill and we were concerned that it would get burned as well.  Also the most north stand of Sequoias is in the area and we have been wanting to go see that for a long time.  

The air quality here has pretty much sucked for the last 10 days.  Jim has managed to keep working on the back of the lodge and the new fire escape, while I started moving firewood from the back of the property up to the street to be split and also moved already split wood into our stack bins in front of the lodge. 

I continue to trim trees up 6 feet and remove small brush in anticipation of burn days before the big winter snowfall.  

Today, things changed.  About 15 big dozers and water crews drove down Emigrant Gap Road (Texas Hill Road) headed back to a staging point in already burn scarred Onion Valley.  Cal Fire advised us that they will be cutting a large break up on the SawTooth Ridge, which is back behind the North Fork of the North Fork.  Although I am glad that they are here to protect us, I wish that the fire was more than 20% contained since it has already burned 70,000 acres of the Tahoe National Forest.  

All of this mess can be attributed to a lot of things.  Global warming, Beetle Blight, Drought, but the biggest issue in my mind is poor forest management.  Most of the wild fires in California occur on national forest land.  Land that has not been cleared or control burned in ages.  In our area, logging pretty much stopped in the 1930s, leaving us with scrub trees and cedars and little "cash" trees that any large logging company would need to make logging here viable.  The National Forest Service has had their budget cut and cut and do not have the personnel to manage the forests properly.  Ex-president Trump cut more money away from the forest service and blamed people to live in forested areas for not "raking the forest".  Glad he is gone - but it is time for Congress to step up and allocate more money to forest management (which means either more taxes or tax money taken away from other things).  If something does not change, the only management we will have are they enormous wildfires.  

Anyway, off my soap box and time for some other updates. Many of the people here at Emigrant Gap and Fulda Creek have put together a neighbor contact group on Signal (an app that is rather like chatting for groups).  Since that started, quite a few people have started showing interest in our area's history.  I have referred them to the pages on our blog and to the various historical groups around Colfax and the summit.  There is also a big interest in old hiking trails, waterfalls and missing narrow gauge train engines.  So, I have started digging into the past, once more to help those interested learn more about the logging companies here at Emigrant Gap and Fulda (a town that was once between Emigrant Gap and Blue Canyon).  So far, we have found a few contacts that know a bit about the possible missing train engines and the whereabouts of old track (see Stories from the Summit for new photos and information on the logging in the area).  

For hiking trails, I referred our Signal Members to Russell Towles amazing website and quite a few people have now followed in his footsteps, relocating hiking trails that have not been tended in ages.  This is great!!!! Many, many photos are being posted about these adventures!!!! One of our greatest adventurers is our own next door neighbor.  He, and a group of hearty EGers, have belayed, hikes, swim, droned etc a lot of the trails described on Russell's website.  

And finally, with the resurgence of interest in the History of Emigrant Gap and our area in general, I have gotten back in contact with Jim White (one of the authors of Stories from the Summit) and hope to interview him soon.  

So that is our update for this week.  Temperatures are already changing and believe it or not - it may snow next week.  Hoping for a very white winter and an end to this hideous drought. 

View of Mosquito Fire Cloud (illuminated by sunset). 

Old photo found of mapper looking west to Emigrant Gap from Rock above Bear Valley.  Circa 1942.  Love this photo!

Another view of the smoke cloud from the Mosquito fire (before the smoke got really bad here).   

Back of cabin progress for fire escape.  The tarps were to keep Jim shaded as he works. 

At this point most of the siding is up  - except in the attic which will not be able to be reached until the fire escape work is done.  

 

September 6, 2022 Labor Day

We are seeing some very hot weather this week at Emigrant Gap.  Another example of global climate change I guess.  Over the last couple of weeks, Jim and I have done some exploring here on the slope.  We returned from our vacation at the Rogue River a bit early (due to the heat and forest fire smoke up there) and decided to spend some "glamping" time at the lodge.  No work - just fun.

There are many places that I have wanted to explore in the nearby sierra, but never seem to have the time to do.  We started with a map search of the summit and the lakes in that area.  I had heard that a few of the lakes up by Royal Gorge Ski Area are open to the public.  A few years ago, we visited Kidd Lake (which is a PGE lake that offers group camping so semi-public) on the Royal Gorge Road.  At that time we wanted to visit the lakes further down the dirt road there, but did not have the time to explore.  It turns out only one lake beyond Kidd is "public".  To get there, you drive to the end of a very rutted and rocky dirt road, then hike about 3/4 of a mile up the Pallisades Creek trail.  You get to cross both Cascade lakes at the dam.  Cascade lakes' water is owned by PG&E but the shoreline is privately owned.  

Long Lake, our destination, is above is often visited by short backpack groups and folks from the summit and Truckee,  It is a natural lake and it  beautiful (photo below).  The water is clear and the boulders around the lake provide a great lounging area and "jump off" rocks into the cool water below.  Behind the lake is Devils Peak, a gorgeous volcanic mountain with faceted uplift rock (Like Rainbow Falls near Mamouth) and bubble out volcanic rock on it's side.  We visited on a pretty busy day - but still were able to get in a refreshing swim.  Totally worth the ugly dirt road drive from Serene Lakes area.  I would recommend those without high clearance vehicles to avoid driving to the end of the trail.  It is pretty rutted and full of big rocks.  

Pallisades Creek trail  goes on to additional smaller ponds and finally ends at the American River somewhere near the Royal Gorge.  We were hoping other lakes would be accessible, but most in the area are under private ownership or part of .orgs.

 

The following day we decided to drive to Bowman Lake following the road that goes through Graniteville.  I had read that Graniteville was a bit of a ghost town and had wanted to see it for years  We started our drive down highway 20 toward Grass Valley.  Google maps showed us a short cut through Harmony Ridge Road at Harmony Ridge and we decided to take it.  It turned into a pretty steep dirt road heading down to the Yuba River and Edwards Crossing Bridge (an old steel bridge with a wood plank top).  

We continued up to North Bloomfield Road, a dirt road that took us to the ghost town of North Bloomfield and Malakoff Diggins Park.  There we saw some pretty cool buildings and a really interesting cemetery.   Malakoff Diggins was a hydraulic mining site that caused a lot of sediment to be floated down the Yuba River at the tail end of the California Gold Rush. 

And. . . . we probably should have stopped there, but I was really wanting to see Graniteville and see if we could actually make it to Bowman Lake.  So onward we drove on the dirt North Bloomfield Road.  We finally got to Graniteville and unfortunately it was not really a ghost town.  It is a cluster of historic homes and cabins, built along the creek and road.  No restaurant, no services, nada.  But it was a pretty little town on a dirt road and worth the drive.  

And. . . . we probably should have stopped there.  But we decided to trek on - toward Bowman Lake.  The road to Bowman was OK for a while until we turned onto Meadow Lake Road. As we could see Bowman Lake off in the distance, the road got steeper and steeper and rockier and rockier and harder and harder to drive - even with our high clearance 4 wheel  truck. 

 We drove downhill toward the dam and I was silently white knuckling it as Jim used some quiet profanities.  I kept reminding him of another adventure ride I took us on in the Canadian Rockies that had ended in a disappointing end (just to keep him laughing).  When we finally got to the dam, we discovered that the ugly rock road only went on the north side of the lake to the campground - an adventure we decided to leave behind, and down to the bottom of the dam to get out to Bowman Road and home.  

We did hike down and take a dip in the way to big lake and sit and look at the glorious view before we decided which path to take out - neither seemed like a great option.  And we were hungry.  We had no food in the car, only altoids.  Since we already knew just how bad Meadow Lake Road was, we decided to try Bowman Lake Road (also known as BAD ROAD).  I can not say which road was worse, since they were equally rutted, rocked, steep and ugly.  But Bowman had the added fun of cars trying to come into the lake on the narrow, steep and winding road as we were trying to get out.  We climbed down the road to the base of the dam and back up at about 2 -3 MPH. 

After a lot more white knuckle and words, we finally reached the somewhat paved road and we breathed a huge sigh of relief.  We did get to see an amazing water canal that went right into into the side of a rock mountain along the way with an interesting sign showing a stick figure person drowning in the canal cave.  I think the Goonies movie had at sometime got people thinking they could ride the canal through the blown out mountain - not a good idea apparently.  Oh - and there was a cage across the opening.  

We finally reached the turn off for Lindsey and Carr Lakes in the Grouse Lakes Region and knew we were safely out of the "breakdown without hope of help" area.  I am beginning to think we need to take the road from Faucherie Lake into Bowman next time (not). 

Since then,  Jim has been working on the backside of the cabin, and I have had the opportunity to interview Mary, one of our Fulda Creek neighbors, about her time here in Emigrant Gap (see Stories from the Slope tab). 

As have also been conversing with our friends at Emigrant Gap on Signal, about future hikes, history and wild animals in the area.  There has been much discussion about the Lost Locomotive called out on Russell Towle's website. 

Just over a week ago we hosted our annual Cal Friends get together.  It started with a trip for 5 of us and two dogs back to Long Lake (our new favorite small lake).  Unfortunately, just before the event, one of our long time friends went into the hospital with a serious infection.  Since he was in Reno, everyone had decided to each take a day to go for a hospital visit (a possible challenge since COVID is still surging). After the arrival of two more friends and one more dog and a nice and lively dinner and night trip up to Blue Canyon airport to look through the telescopes there, we found out that our dear friend had surprisingly passed away.  That ended our get together since we had all become too sad to continue our annual celebration.  

Since then, one of our visiting fur babies also passed away.  So it has been a sad time at the Gap.  

We returned back home to the bay area for a week (first Cal Football game), and are now back at the lodge for our friends memorial service.  Jim is still plugging away at the back of the lodge, working on the siding and the fire escape repair.  I am getting ready to do some chair upholstery today.  Wednesday is the memorial.   I will be taking my driver's license driving text on Thursday (they finally found out from Kaiser that I am blind in one eye).  Wish me luck.

Though we love summer hikes, driving adventures, exploring and swimming, we are beginning to feel ready for the cooler days of autumn.  

July 2, 2022 - A Memorial

 I can't believe it has been almost a year since I have posted to our blog.  A lot has happened in that time.  First, by September of 2021, we completed the re-siding of the east side of the lodge.  We added about 9 feet of Hardie Panel to  the lower basement wall for fire prevention.  Then replaced the old cedar siding with new which we caulked, primed and painted (just like the west side of the building).  This project took most of our summer and went a bit into fall.  The photo below is before we completed the painting. Usually I do all the caulking, priming and painting - but by the time the siding was up, I was pretty busy preparing for fall visits, so Jim and Jose did a great deal of this side of the building.  

In October, while my sister Mary and her husband Lynn and my mom were visiting. my mom suffered a massive stroke.  We had just visited Reno the day before and mom bought 4 sweaters for winter.  We had lunch at drive through JimBoys (since we were still in COVID) and headed back to the lodge.  The next day while chatting at the dining table and eating chips, mom suddenly slumped over.  We were unsure at first if she was having a mini seizure (something that occurs when you have A-FIB), but we figured out pretty quickly that the situation was quite different.  We called 911 paramedics and they told us things did not look good.  Next, at their recommendation had her helicoptered to a Sutter Hospital in Roseville - a Stroke Center (where our sister Pat joined us).  Since the hospitals were still following COVID protocol, we were lucky that they allowed the 3 of us to stay each night, and allow the rest of the family to visit and say goodbye.  Mom never regained consciousness and passed away 3 days later.  My mom was 92. We are still coming to terms with her passing.  She was the center and anchor of our family.  She is deeply and daily missed. 

Also in the fall, our dear friends from Oakland, decided to purchase the two railroad cabins across the street.  It is so much fun having them live near us again.  

In December, we hosted our semi annual Christmas event (Snow Christmas). On December 26th, a huge storm came into the Sierra and everyone had to leave fairly quickly and sooner than expected (traveling on a closed and snowy freeway).  Jim, Katie, Mary Beth and I stayed on with 3 days of freeway closer and being snowed in.  It was heaven- no freeway noise, no road noise, no train noise.  Just the sound of snow.  

In January, out friends Wade and Mary came up for a visit.  Fun skiing and snowshoeing. 

In February, our nephew Bill, Adam, their families, friends and cousin came for a visit to the lodge. At about the same time, our niece Jessica and her family and Mary and Lynn came up.  It was fun and silly and noisy - just the way we like it to be.  

We had some late snows during springtime  and some big thaws and rain which resulted in our neighbor's gravel driveway losing it's gravel, which blocked the huge road drain by our back access road.  This resulted in TONS of water going down the back road to our portable and our neighbor's house (the old school house), We did what we could to create a blockade on the road to route the water and gravel down our hill.  Later Jim and many of our neighbors dug out the big drain and routed the water back to it.  It was pretty crazy.  Photo below of neighbors digging.  

In April we went over to an Ashram in Grass Valley area to see 17,000 tulips.  My mom would have loved it.  Photos below.  

The late spring slowed down the beginning of our final siding - the back wall.  To work on the back wall, Jim has had to remove our fire escape and add 4 stories of scaffolding.  During the teardown, he discovered that we needed to reset 3 windows and a door that were installed incorrectly by the previous owners and he had to replace a major wood beam across the back of the building (between the lower floor and basement).  Now that the beam is replaced and the windows are reset, we are adding back in a window that had been removed sometime in the past to the back bathroom on the main floor and adding ventilation to the attic.  As this is being done, Jim is adding the siding, floor by floor.  We plan to have the last wall complete by the end of this summer.  

On June 22, Katie hosted some of her friends from Crockett to a weekend of fun at the lodge.  They got to hike to the falls, swim and kayak at Lake Valley and hike the train tunnels.  We believe this may become an annual event (like the one that Mary Beth hosts for her birthday). 

On July 2 we hosted a Celebration of Life for my mom.  Much of the northern California family plus Adelaide and Sylvester and a few select friends were able to attend.  To prepare for the event, I built a rock garden in the back yard (to hold some of mom's cremains).  We also set up the picnic table for rock painting and wood burning and set up the pavilions for a big BBQ.  My mom had asked that her cremains be at the lodge so she could look out over her entire family.  She also requested no big deal, just dancing, singing, and eating.  We think we did that justice. At the end of the weekend, it seemed like the end of an era.