July Adventures

Summer's over. I had some good adventures and ran a few races. In July we did a couple east Sierra trips, I ran Sespe Creek through the condor sanctuary in the Sespe Wilderness, and I did not make it up to Tahoe for a group Desolation adventure because of the Tamarack fire. In August I ran the Kodiak 100K in Big Bear, and in September I ran Mogollon Monster 100. I'll describe the July trips here and the races in other posts.

For July 4 did a short trip to the Horseshoe Meadows area outside Lone Pine. Margo cut herself in the yard somehow, so she was hiking in her cone of shame. It was a fun low-key trip but it ended poorly when I contracted food poisoning on the drive home and ended up in the hospital that night. That was miserable, and the billing has been annoying, but I think my insurance will end up covering everything.

Chicken Spring Lake

Sespe Creek

 I went to Z's house in Ventura to hike Sespe Creek through the condor sanctuary. The sanctuary was created in 1947, and humans are only allowed on a couple trails and in the creek itself. (See map.) We started at the Piedra Blanca trailhead, and went 31 miles all the way through the sanctuary to Fillmore. We were on trail for about 14 miles, then where the trail leaves the creek and climbs up and around, we stayed in the creek. There were a few fun swimming holes, but lots and lots of bouldering in and around the creek, and slow progress. 

 

It's a difficult hike. I'd recommend going earlier in the season when there is more likely to be water in the upper reaches of the creek (but not when it's flooding like this or this.) Even in July during a heatwave the temperatures were milder than they were elsewhere, but the lower reaches have a ton of tar seeps. It was cool to see those at first, but eventually I got really sick of the oil sheen on the water and knowing I might have to drink petroleum. There were a couple springs flowing in from the side that appeared clean, but still, I'd recommend going when it's a little cooler and there's more water. 

If you do the full hike you'll probably need to shuttle and leave one car at the end. There are private property issues (alleged illegal bulldozing) but if you stay in the creek you're golden (contrary to what the sign says). If you go all the way to the end of Grand Avenue in Fillmore you can't quite park at the very end because the city has put up fencing, but 1/4 to a 1/2 mile back you're fine.

We saw no condors.

Bishop not Desolation

An acquaintance designed an off trail route in Desolation Wilderness. I've been meaning to do it for a few years, and was on tap to finally make it this year on the same day as some other friends, but the Tamarack fire expanded dramatically the day before, closing a stretch of Highway 395. So instead Amy and I just went to Bishop. I ran a big loop from North Lake to South Lake over Piute Pass, Muir Pass, and Bishop Pass.

   

The passes were very pretty. Dusy Basin was outstanding, especially at sunset. The long stretch of trail that I'd already seen multiple times, even if it was the JMT, reminded me that I should be doing more off trail, above treeline, and seeing new places. Given that I had no time to plan this, the loop worked out very well though. I even ran part of the day with a couple other guys who were running the exact same loop and happened to start at nearly the same time.