Lovers Leap

Lovers Leap is a prominence on Moody Ridge that overlooks the North Fork of the American River. I've often seen it from the east, standing at Iron Point and thereabouts, and yesterday I got a blocked view of it from the south at Giant Gap Ridge. Today I decided to stand atop it.

Residences are scattered about the privately owned land on Moody Ridge but the public can access Lovers Leap. The dirt road started getting rough some five hundred yards shy of Lovers Leap, so I parked my truck and walked the remainder of the way.

From the highest point (4139ft) of this tree covered ridge, a trail winds southward, until one reaches a final few steps down to a small ledge. On the south end of this ledge, overlooking the canyon, rises a stone outcrop some three feet high. At the sides of this ledge are...sheer drops. How far straight down, I don't know. I was by myself and I didn't want to make that final descent onto the ledge to find out more. Others have gone there, for their graffiti is carved into the rock. As for me, I preferred to stand back to take my photo.

The ledge - the North Fork can be seen
in the distance to the left of it

I turned around and walked uphill. At the top I proceeded east, down a trail that led to another overlook. This overlook was far more inviting than the first. Although it had its own rock outcrop with sheer drops beyond, there was more room to move about. So I stood there and pointed my camera east, and took photos of Iron Point, where I begin my hikes to Euchre Bar. The peaks of the Sierra in the distance were dusted with snow from the recent storm.

I left Lovers Leap and drove northeast about two miles, as the crow flies, to a point by the railroad tracks, to get a photo of Lovers Leap and Giant Gap.

 

While in the area, I stopped to look at the rocks where over countless centuries Nisenan women ground acorns into meal. The Nisenan camped here during the warm months and I'm sure they enjoyed the view of Giant Gap.

Giant Gap Ridge

I've seen Giant Gap many times from the east. Today I wanted to see it from the south rim of the canyon. I drove up Foresthill Divide to Sugar Pine Road. Patches of snow covered the ground at the turnoff. I parked my truck where Sugar Pine Road meets Iowa Hill Road. These are paved roads. I walked up Elliot Ranch Road, an unimproved dirt road muddy from the recent storm. I passed a camp of deer hunters. Deer season ends tomorrow. I would pass several deer hunters driving the roads this day, and hear shots in the distance.



Elliot Ranch Road

A water ditch paralleled Elliot Ranch Road for a short distance. This ditch is not on the topographical map. I would guess it dates to the Gold Rush. Ditches are common along the North Fork of the American River and Bear River. Some are still in use but this one was dry.

A Gold Rush water ditch

Forest scenery

I walked to the south end of Giant Gap Gulch but large trees blocked a good view of Giant Gap.

The most I could see

I backtracked and then headed north on Giant Gap Ridge. A large pine tree had fallen across the road. The damage looked fresh and I wondered if the tree had fallen during the storm this previous week. I crawled over it and continued on.



Fallen tree

I reached my destination, the northernmost point of Giant Gap Ridge. Down below (2250 feet below) was the North Fork of the American River, and the bridge at Euchre Bar was 2.6 miles to the northeast (129 degrees). But tall trees blocked a full view of the magnificent Gap. I could not see what I wanted, but still it was a great day for a hike.

Northernmost point of Giant Gap Ridge

Last Hike of the Year on Donner Summit

Storms arrive tonight and Donner Summit is projected to get 18 inches of snow by Tuesday. So today I took in my last hike there for this year. I went with a friend. The elevation at the parking lot is 7108 feet, and Donner Peak is 8019 feet. The winds were brisk, bringing the wind chill probably down to freezing, but we had plenty of layers of clothing. From atop Donner Peak we had a full view of Donner Lake. The members of the Donner Party spent the winter of 1846-47 in camps east of the lake. These emigrants reached the wall of the Sierra too late, for the deep snows prevented their crossing. Food ran low and people died. Some members resorted to cannibalism to survive.

The trails should be mostly free of snow and ready for hiking by mid-June.

My friend at the trailhead

 

Me with Donner Peak in the background

 

View of Donner Lake from Donner Peak.
Interstate 80 is to the left.

 

Panama, California

Panama is a small town in California, in the San Joaquin Valley, a few miles southwest of Bakersfield. I think most of the residents are of Mexican heritage.

Buck Owens' Crystal Palace

Work sometimes takes me to Bakersfield, and if I spend the night there, I try to take in dinner at the world famous Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, on Buck Owens Boulevard. It's a marvelous place, filled with mementos of the musician's long career, plus the food is excellent. Buck was a Dust Bowl emigrant to California and here he made it big. Very big. Perhaps my own Okie heritage draws me to the Crystal Palace. My great-grandparents (born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks) with most of their children came to California from Shawnee, Oklahoma, and spent the Depression years in the Sacramento Valley. It wasn't a desperate life straight out of the Grapes of Wrath, but it wasn't a comfortable life either. My great-grandparents are buried in Sacramento, and their children are buried throughout California.