Granite Chief Wilderness additions

I have posted five proposed additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness:

These additions would add about 19,508 acres to the existing 28,374 acre designated wilderness, for a total of about 47,882. By Sierra wilderness standards, this is still pretty small. Desolation Wilderness is 63,960 acres, and many Sierra wildernesses are much larger.

The additions proposed are not refined. Though I have been in each of these areas, I have not spent time figuring out exactly where boundaries should be, nor identifying exactly what human disturbances have occurred. Some of these areas are pristine wilderness, and already in public ownership, and should have been added to the original wilderness, but were not. Other areas have been helicopter logged. And other areas were roaded and logged. The damage from logging is not really due to cutting trees, but to the roads built to haul the trees out to mills. These logging roads are almost always the main source of soil and debris washing into the watershed from rain and snowmelt. The American River Conservancy bought a number of parcels of former logging lands, some of which was added to the National Forests, and some remains with the organization but protected from many uses. I don’t think any of these areas will ever be logged again. The terrain is challenging, the distance to mills in long and much further than it was, since so many mills have closed. Just as with ‘people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’, people who live in homes made of wood should not oppose all logging. However, I think these logging operations were a one-time thing, when mills were closer and logging operations less expensive. Time to add it to the wilderness!

You might assume that as a wilderness user and enthusiast, my main reason for wanting a large wilderness is for recreation. But except for protecting a few sections of the Pacific Crest Trail not currently protected, my concern is not for additional recreation. Instead, it is for these reasons:

Watershed Protection: The additions would round out the Five Lakes Creek watershed, placing almost all of it in protection. Significant portions of the Rubicon River watershed would be protected, though the Rubicon 4WD Trail separates this area from the headwaters in the Desolation Wilderness. For areas that were roaded for logging, it is possible the roads need to be ‘put to bed’ to reduce present and future erosion. This work might take a number of years, and would delay formal designation as wilderness, but the goal should be eventual inclusion. As our climate warms and dries, but with much more erratic precipitation, we must protect as many watersheds as possible to maintain water quality, for nature and for us.

Larger Areas in Which Natural Fire Can Be Allowed: The Forest Service has sadly maintained a policy for putting out fires in the wilderness, no matter the location or time of year. All over the wilderness there are locations of a single tree or a few trees which were put out by the Forest Service rather than being allowed to burn. As a result, there is a huge accumulation of forest debris and an completely unnatural density of trees. Natural fire must again be allowed, to reduce the fuel load and return the forest to a more natural state. The larger the protected area, and therefore the greater distance between natural fire and human infrastructure, the wider the window of natural fires that can be allowed to burn. Human-caused fires of course are unnatural and should be suppressed. Prescribed fire, valuable in other places, it not appropriate for wilderness.

Places Where Nature is Left Alone: Humans have had an immense impact on the natural world. Some of it is reasonable, as our part of life on earth, but much is unnecessary, damaging to natural processes and resources when it did not need to be. As our footprint becomes more unsustainable, we need areas that are left alone, where nature proceeds in its own way. Of course human-caused climate change reaches everywhere, even into wilderness, but at least in wilderness natural resilience can mitigate and slow the change.

These are the reasons that I want Granite Chief Wilderness to be expanded. I’ve turned on these areas on my GaiaGPS map so that you can see them individually or as a whole. The folder is GCW_expansion.

Granite Chief 2026-08-01 maintenance

Leave a reply

This was a short trip, trimmed down from nine days to five days. I’m also a transportation advocate (Getting Around Sac) and sometimes I make the choice to focus on that. And of course all the other traveling and activities I do. But during the summer, Granite Chief Wilderness is my focus.

I went in at Five Lakes Trailhead. I went over the the lakes, which I’ve not stopped at in several years, and enjoyed my time just spacing out and enjoying the coolness. It was very hot in Sacramento, and hot in Truckee. Then on to Whiskey Creek Camp, which was my base. No one else was camped there. It used to be that any summer weekend would see at least one family camped at Whiskey Creek, but that has lessened over time. Unfortunately.

I did some work on the Western States Trail, cutting and clearing several down trees near the beginning, and removing debris. The trail is in good condition for a ways, but I know there is much more work to be done further along, and I did not get to it.

My main objective was working on the Five Lake Creek Trail south to Big Spring, but I got only about 2/3 of it finished, cutting small trees and removing debris, and a little brushing. There were a lot of new down trees since last year, many too large for me to cut. I perceive that the die off which started in the red fir zone about ten years ago has now reached the white fir zone, and a lot of trees are coming down at that lower elevation. The down trees can be stepped over or bypassed easily, except for one that has just come down. The bypasses are largely picked and defined by bears, not people. I would consider this trail maintained, and still recommend the trip down to Big Spring Meadow. Beyond there, the trail is much worse, and not recommended unless you like poor trails. And more wilderness.

In addition to whitethorn, which grows rapidly and encroaches on trails, two low growing and slower growing plants also encroach, creeping honeysuckle and various gooseberries. Cutting these back only lasts one year, as they come back strong the next year, so to keep them back for a few years requires pulling them out by the roots. Early season, this is not too hard, though a lot of detailed work. But by now the soil is dry and hard, and it is difficult to get these out by the roots. The honeysuckle in particular has a very complicated root system as it roots wherever the stems touch the ground. The big problem with the honeysuckle is that if a stem crosses the trail and roots, it produces a hard black stem that is a trip hazard, and one of the common names for this plant is trip-wire.

photo of Five Lake 5 reflection — *Five Lake 5 reflection*

I walked back past the Five Lakes (of which there are a variable number depending on time of year) to the edge above the Bear Creek headwall, and camped there. A good place to enjoy the view east, sunset color and sunrise, and the lake nearby. The moon came up blood red, from smoke off to the northeast, though the smoke was aloft and not down at ground level until the next day. Apparently smoke from Oregon fires. California has had remarkably few fires this summer, compared to all the other western states, in large part because there have been far fewer thunderstorms than most years.

Most of the creeks and creeklets are lower for this time of year than most years. I think this is because the snow melted early, and at middle elevations, a lot of the precipitation was rain rather than snow. I think winter precipitation was only a little below normal, but the pattern was unusual. Small creeklets are almost all pooled by not flowing, or dry.

I went back out the same way. A brief stop in Tahoe City for a shower and picking up fuel canisters at Alpenglow. Alpenglow Sports is a good store, if you need supplies in Tahoe City. Then to Palisades Tahoe for Bluesday (Tuesday) for great music. Then back to Tahoe City to sleep on the lakeshore. And then to Truckee in the morning for tea at Dark Horse Coffee, and the Amtrak California Zephyr home to Sacramento.

August 1 is a cross-quarter day, one of the days in between the solstices and equinoxes, called Lughnasadh in some traditions. It is the time of year when a yellow cast begins to develop, the first of fall changes. Corn lilies are the first to change, in fact many are already dried and black by now. All the plants that will turn bright yellow or red in the fall already have tinges of color. Except the aspens, which are still green. Mosquitos are light but still present morning and evening, with flies of many species taking their place. Mosquitos were light this year, perhaps due to the early snow melt.

I have a new Nemo Tensor sleeping pad, a replacement for one that the valve failed on. This valve on this one appears to be made of a higher quality plastic, so hopefully it won’t fail. In the time it took to get the replacement, I needed some sort of pad, so I bought a Nemo Switchback, a closed cell form pad. It is great for insulation, as good at the Tensor, but of course doesn’t have the padding that my old body now prefers.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720335062069
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Rubicon

1 Reply

This is the fifth of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward, the third was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area, and the fourth was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Steamboat. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions. In the near future I will do a summary post on all the additions.

Rubicon

This area contains mostly pristine areas south of the Rubicon River that were left out of the original wilderness. It is about 5,257 acres, the largest of the proposed additions.

The area includes the north facing slope from McKinstry Peak and Guide Peak down to the Rubicon River, where it connects with the existing wilderness and the Barker Creek area of my first post. Some of the river flats along the Rubicon River were helicopter logged, but were not roaded. The road shown on some maps around the head of Hell Hole Reservoir does not exist, has never existed. Though there are a number of old abandoned and use trails in the area, particularly just east of the reservoir, the only maintained trail, Hell Hole 14E02, ends at the Upper Hell Hole Campground, just outside this addition. I have not been on the McKinstry Trail in many years, and do not know if it is even passable through the brush fields, but it would be included in the addition. Upstream, the addition ends short of the Rubicon Jeep Trail. It is all within Tahoe National Forest and does not extend into El Dorado National Forest.

Land ownership is mostly Tahoe National Forest, with some Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which is the agency that owns and administers Hell Hole Reservoir and associated plumbing.

The map below shows the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. (pdf) The line separating the addition into two parts is an artifact of USGS watershed boundaries, which made the area much easier to map. Note that I have not added these proposed additions to my GaiaGPS public maps. After all five posts have been made, along with a summary post, I will add them.

*Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition – Rubicon*

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Steamboat

2 Replies

This is the fourth of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward, the third was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions.

Steamboat

This area contains some pristine areas that were left out of the original wilderness, but also areas in the Five Lakes Creek watershed that were logged and roaded at one time. It is 1,311 acres.

The area includes upper Steamboat Creek, and upper Buckskin Creek. Though it has been several years since I walked this complex of logging roads, at the time they were all seldom used and rapidly deteriorating. It is probable that stabilization work should be done before inclusion in the wilderness. The north and west boundaries would be the watershed boundary of Five Lakes Creek. This addition, along with the Barker addition, would protect the entire watershed of Five Lakes Creek, critically important to maintaining water quality for the entire watershed. None of these lands should ever be logged again.

It includes the lower part of lower Hell Hole Trail, and the poorly defined route west along the north shore of Hell Hole Reservoir, and east along the north side of Five Lakes Creek. Note that maps do not show the correct location of these trails, and the road along the north and east sides of the reservoir was someone’s imagination – it was never there. The Buckskin Trail, shown on some maps, has not been maintained in over 40 years, and is very hard to follow even for experienced backcountry people. It should not be shown on current maps.

Land ownership is mostly Tahoe National Forest, with some Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which is the agency that owns and administers Hell Hole Reservoir and associated plumbing.

The map below shows the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. (pdf) Note that I have not added these proposed additions to my GaiaGPS public maps. After all five posts have been made, along with a summary post, I will add them.

map of Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition - Steamboat — *Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition – Steamboat*

Granite Chief 2026-07-08 survey

1 Reply

My fourth Granite Chief Wilderness trip of the season was a survey trip. It was also intended to be a trail maintenance trip, working with the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) trail crew on the Tevis Cup reroute, but I injured myself crossing Talbot Creek, and had to bow out of that part.

I went in on the Granite Chief Trail from Olympic Valley. Though this is a nearly 600km climb to the PCT, it is still one of my favorites since it it only a short walk from the bus stop (Clock Tower in Palisades Tahoe) to the trailhead. There are three new trees down on the trail since it was logged out earlier in the season. I headed south on the PCT and camped at what I call Sand Flat, which is a large flat area along the trail that was also being used by many, many PCT thru hikers. It is just north of Washeshu Creek crossing, so easy access to water.

Next day I headed south along the PCT, where some trees have been cut but some remain. I talked with two American Conservation Experience (ACE) trail crews, a small one doing brushing and tread work on the PCT heading north, and a larger one doing trail polishing on the Tevis Cup reroute, west from the existing trail. These trail crew are an AmericanCorps program, so participants receive a stipend but are volunteers. Their tools were packed in by the Forest Service.

I then continued south on the PCT, which has been logged out but I don’t know by whom, to the Middle Fork Trail. This is not an official name, and I used to call it the Tevis Connector, but it may well end up with this name. I walked down across the Middle Fork and up to the existing Tevis Cup trail, and up to the reroute, then back along the reroute to the PCT. I talked briefly to Matt Bromley, the Forest Service person in charge of the reroute project, who works for American River Ranger District.

I then continued south on the PCT, with 27 down trees, no change from my previous trip, and to Whiskey Creek Trail, and then to the Western States (Picayune Valley) Trail. There are 130 down trees between Whiskey Camp and Talbot Trailhead. Many are small, but there are also many large. Some parts of the switchbacks below the saddle are very brushy, almost brushed closed (whitethorn). Except for these issues, the trail is overall acceptable. I met an eastbound backpacker on the trail, and we were both surprised to see each other. Though many people day hike in from Talbot TH, and some people do overnight camps in the middle bedrock section, the trail is overall little used.

photo of lichen & fern, Middle Fork American River — *lichen & fern, Middle Fork American River*

From the trailhead I went north on the Talbot Trail. There were 44 down trees, many in the lowest section, with light to very heavy debris. Talbot Creek is dry at the trail crossing, no unusual, though it flows above and below. High up, nearly to the Tevis Cup junction, a branch of Talbot Creek crosses the trail and is low but flowing. I saw no sign of anyone else using this trail. It has not been maintained since it was constructed. It serves mostly as a connector, not a destination, though the view from the open ridge about 2/3 of the way up is quite nice.

I met the Western States Endurance Run trail crew leaders at Lyon Saddle, and had some interesting conversations. By Saturday morning it was clear that I really had injured myself crossing Talbot Creek, and it was going to be a slow recovery, so I bailed out of the weekend work party. WSER is working in from the west end of the Tevis Cup reroute. If you like trail work and want a crew to work with, consider WSER. There are five work weekends remaining this year. Though some of the crew are returning, and have a lot of trail construction experience, it is not required, and the group is very welcoming, and fun. All tools are supplied.

From the saddle I hiked back eastward, partly on existing Tevis Cup Trail, and partly on the mostly completed section of the reroute. I have not hike the entire existing trail in several years, since I detest the boggy and up and down and up and down middle section, which the reroute will avoid. I continued out to Olympic Valley, to Truckee for the day, and then home on the Amtrak bus. I’ve been going to Dark Horse Coffee for several years on every trip, beginning or end or both, and have recently discovered jalapeno cheddar bread at Cornerstone Bakery. I don’t just go backpacking, I also enjoy Truckee and Tahoe City.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720334741393
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area

2 Replies

This is the third of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions.

North Areas (Granite Chief Creek, north area, and Talbot Creek)

I have mapped these three areas separately, because they are not contiguous, but together they round out the north and northwest boundaries of the wilderness, protecting both pristine wilderness lands and areas that were once logged but are recovering. The three areas total 3,405 acres.

Granite Chief Creek: This is the upper Granite Chief Creek watershed. The creek is tributary to the North Fork American River. The north boundary is section lines, the south boundary is the current wilderness boundary, which is also the watershed boundary along Lyon Ridge. It is entirely Tahoe National Forest. This area is pristine wilderness, without logging or roads. It includes a little less than two miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which is now outside the wilderness. It is 1,419 acres.

North area: This is uppermost part of the Talbot Creek watershed, which is tributary to Middle Fork American River. The north boundary is the watershed boundary, and the south boundary is the current wilderness boundary. It is within Tahoe National Forest and American River Conservancy lands. It was in part lightly logged and had logging roads, but those traces are fading, and there are no permanent roads. It is 398 acres, but the significance is greater since it would round out the upper watershed protection and protection of the Tevis Cup Trail, which were missed in the 2015 wilderness additions.

Talbot: This is another segment of the Talbot Creek watershed. The north and west boundaries are the watershed boundary of Talbot Creek, which is also the Tevis Cup Trail on Red Star Ridge. The south boundary is section lines. The east boundary is FR 51 and the Talbot Trail. It is within Tahoe National Forest and American River Conservancy lands, with a small inholding of private property, which could be excluded or acquired. Some of this area was logged and had logging roads, though there are no permanent roads. It is 1,687 acres.

My original vision was a significant northward expansion of the wilderness into wilderness-quality lands along the Pacific crest, including the Pacific Crest Trail as far as Anderson Peak, however, it turns out that Chickering American River Reserve, which I had assumed was state lands administered by University of California, is actually private lands with a conservation easement, therefore not available for designation as wilderness. I did not want to propose additions that are not contiguous to the existing wilderness.

A map is below, showing the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed additions. It includes a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, shown on the map in orange dashed. (pdf)

Granite Chief 2026-06-24 maintenance

Leave a reply

My third Granite Chief Wilderness trip was for trail maintenance. My original intent was to work on either the Five Lakes Creek Trail or the Western States Trail, but on my way in, found that the ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail, PCT-d segment (my term, not related to PCT segments), and Whiskey Creek Trail needed work, so spent my time on those.

‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail (needs to be renamed by apparently has not been renamed by Forest Service) is now in good condition. Open Street Map shows Five Lakes Trail going by the largest lake and then reconnecting with the ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail, but signing indicates this is not an official trail. I’m calling this ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail all the way to junction with PCT.

PCT-d, the segment between ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail and PCT is in good condition except for one down tree that intrudes into the trail but can be stepped around. I did a lot of spot brushing on this trail, as brush was starting to encroach.

Whiskey Creek Trail was a mess. Four down trees remain, one a slide under and three with good bypasses. At the crossing of Whiskey Creek, there is a log jam where the trail once crossed. You can cross below the jam, going down the bank, using a rock hop (at current water level), and then climbing up beside boulders and willows. I removed or modified several down trees.

Five Lakes Trail is maintained by Truckee Trails Foundation, and it is in good condition. It does not maintain the section west of the largest lake, which is no longer an official trail.

Though this work was not my original intent, at least it will be easier and quicker to get to Whiskey Camp next time. One family was camped at the camp on Saturday night, but I saw no one else there. In times past, it was rare that there was not a group, or many groups, at Whiskey Camp, but use seems to have tapered off.

I spend a lot of time pulling creeping honeysuckle or creeping snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis) out by the roots. The hiker name for this plant is tripwire, as the vines root, creating segments that harden into a black, very strong trip wire. If it crosses the trail and roots, it is a clear hazard to hikers. I have been tripped up a few times, even though I am quite aware of the plant. Cutting the vines simply produces more vines, so taking it out by the roots is the only solution that lasts more than one year. Strangely, I don’t have a photo of the trip wires. The snowberry shrub (Symphoricarpos albus) also has tough stems, but doesn’t grow low to the ground. On the PCT section, huckleberry oak, whitethorn, and sagebrush were the most common plants crowding the trail.

Mosquitos are present, but not abundant. There are probably as many flies, but I did not see the large one with green eyes that bites a chunk out of you.

It rained for a half hour or so on Thursday morning

Sunday morning was a magical cloud day, a great one for lying on the back and making animal shapes of the clouds. It eventually thickened, and there was a smattering of rain on my way out.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720334452840
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward

4 Replies

This is the second of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek.

Granite Chief Wilderness was established in 1984 with the California Wilderness Act, at about 24,000 acres (97 km2). About 10,000 acres were purchased by American River Conservancy under the Granite Chief Wilderness Campaign, some of which were added to the wilderness after restoration, mostly putting an old and barely passable road to bed (see new wilderness boundary), bringing the wilderness acreage to 28,374 (114 km2).

But there are extensive areas contiguous with the existing wilderness that are of wilderness character that I believe should be added to the wilderness. Some sections of the Pacific Crest Trail are not in the wilderness, when they could easily be with slight boundary adjustments. Some of the additions are pristine wilderness, and some are areas that were logged but are healing and could be added now or in the future.

I believe in wilderness, not just for the recreational value, but as areas we set aside for nature to flourish and heal, where we interfere little if any in natural processes. This has become all the more important with climate change and all the related issues including insect die-off and red fir die-off. When we have the opportunity to expand existing wilderness areas, we should. As our use of non-wilderness lands intensifies, we need to balance that will additional wilderness. The Granite Chief is one of those areas.

So, I will post a series on my proposed additions. It is a lot of work to look closely at maps and on the ground to develop recommendations, and then map them accurately. I’m using ArcGIS Pro to do this, and investigations on the ground. The posts may stretch out over a couple of years, and I’m guessing there will be at least six. When the series is complete, I’ll create a single map showing all the additions together.

Caveats

Some of the areas I’m proposing have been logged, many of them just before or just after the wilderness was established. I don’t believe that it will be economically possible, and questionably, environmentally responsible to log these areas again. The distance from the forest to remaining mills is just too great. Barker Pass Road was originally meant to go across Five Lakes Creek watershed to Mosquito Road and to mills in Foresthill or Placerville, but that will never happen, and those mills are long gone.

That is not to say there could not be fuel reduction projects, and perhaps some of these areas should be treated before inclusion in wilderness. Because of the misguided Forest Service policy of immediate suppression of lightning caused fire, even when far remote from human development, there are overstocked forests and years of debris on the forest floor, a conflagration waiting to happen. In the lower elevation forests, this is a completely unnatural, dangerous, and human-created condition. In the red fir and hemlock forests at higher elevations, it is not clear to me what the natural fire regime was or should be.

There are also logging roads associated with that logging. Almost all of these have deteriorated to be 4WD, not accessible for most recreationists, and are used primarily by off-road type users. This, in my mind, is not a valid use of National Forest lands. As an example, old logging roads on the mesas above Five Lakes Creek valley were closed for a while by downed trees, allowing nature to recoup and the peace and silence to return (see Granite Chief 2025-09-13 mesas). The views from the edge of the mesas are incredible, but the vehicle use here is not of that purpose, it is just for using vehicles. Unfortunately 4WD users with heavy chain saws and long bars managed to cut the trees out and return the roar of engines and tearing up of road surfaces. I have no sympathy for this.

Blackwood Creek & Ward Creek addition

The first area I’m recommending I call the Blackwood Creek and Ward Creek addition. It is within the drainages of Blackwood Creek and Ward Creek, which are tributary to Lake Tahoe. It would not result in any road closures. It includes some logging and fuel reduction areas in both watersheds, but these are healing fairly well, with the access roads having been long closed. It also includes much pristine wilderness lands.

The area is about 3,825 acres. A map is below, showing the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. It includes a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, shown on the map in orange dashed. (pdf)

Granite Chief 2026-06 PCT

Leave a reply

My second backpack of the mountain season was not for trail maintenance, though I did a bit of winter debris removal. Rather, it was to see what condition the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and others were in.

My trip got delayed a bit, so I ended up taking the Amtrak bus rather than California Zephyr, to Truckee, then TART to Tahoe City. A short walk from the Tahoe City Transit Center is the Tahoe City trailhead for the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). I headed south on the TRT, through Page Meadows, and up Ward Creek to Stanford Ridge where I camped for the night. The trail to that point has been logged out and is mostly in good condition.

The next day I headed the rest of the way to the crest where the TRT joins the PCT. They are coterminous to the south. There were some snow banks but nothing difficult, and four down trees, moderate winter debris and no brush issues.

I dropped my pack near the junction, and headed south on the PCT to Barker Pass. There are 59 down trees on this section (which I call PCTf, though this is just my terminology, and unrelated to the PCT lettered sections), up to 24 inches diameter but most in the 15 to 18 inch range. Debris light to heavy, some snow patches but none difficult (the wall of snow just south of the wilderness boundary was not difficult, as it is many years). A lot of seasonal creeklets were flowing. Barker Pass Road is now open, and there were a few cars at the Barker Pass trailhead. I passed about 12 people, a few PCT thru hikers and some day hikers.

Returning to my pack, I headed north on the PCT. The brushy ridge section north of Twin Peaks is starting to close in but should be OK until next year. This section has the greatest number and diversity of flowers at this time. Safebrush is freeze burned, from not being covered with snow during very cold temperatures, and other plants lesser so. I camped at a small flat beside the trail, one of the few spots on the ridge. In the late afternoon there was warm air coming up out of Bear Pen drainage, from the high temperatures in the foothills and valley, but the wind shifted from the north and that was chilly.

photo of PCT brushy ridge section, starting to be overgrown — *PCT brushy ridge section, starting to be overgrown*

There is only one tree down before the switchbacks down to Five Lakes Creek, but on the lower switchbacks there were 29 trees down, the largest 21 inches. From the Five Lakes Trail to Whiskey Creek Trail, there is one tree down. The Whiskey Creek Trail has 16 down trees, most small. The crossing of Whiskey Creek has been further complicated by two new down trees which caused a log jam and moved the large down tree that had previously made an easy crossing. The creek is low enough for an almost dry jump, but steep banks and alder thickets make that crossing awkward.

Continuing north on the PCT, there are 34 down trees to the ‘Tevis Connector’ (this trail will be renamed but I don’t know what to). It was finally cooler in the upper Whiskey Creek basin, with the gully creek and Whiskey Creek still flowing but low. From there to the Tevis Trail / Western States Trail crossing, 5 down trees. The Middle Fork American River is flowing well.

photo of arrowleaf balsamroot flowers — *arrowleaf balsamroot flowers*

The north slope of the Granite Chief saddle still has snow, but less than many years. The trail can mostly be followed, particularly with close reference to the mapped route. Seven trees down. I camped at the sand flat north of the meadow and Washeshu Creek, good spot for sunset and sunrise.

The next day I headed to the Granite Chief Trail, and then down to Olympic Valley. This trail is maintained by Truckee Trails, and is in good condition.

Overall, the condition of these trails surveyed is poor due to down trees. Brush is mostly OK but will need maintenance next year. Winter debris is mostly moderate, but very heavy in a few places. There are snow patches, but nothing difficult to manage. Creeks and creeklets are flowing well, though creeklets will dry out quickly. It doesn’t look like a great flower year, but that is alway uncertain. Trail use is low so far, but of course the PCT will be heavily used shortly.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720334246791
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek

5 Replies

Caveats

Some of the areas I’m proposing have been logged, many of them just before or just after the wilderness was established. I don’t believe that it will be economically possible, and questionably environmentally responsible to log these areas again. The distance from the forest to remaining mills is just too great. Barker Pass Road was originally meant to go across Five Lakes Creek watershed to Mosquito Road and to mills in Foresthill or Placerville, but that will never happen, and those mills are long gone.

Barker Creek addition

The first area I’m recommending I call the Barker Creek addition. It is within the Barker Creek drainage, which is a tributary to the Rubicon River. It would close Barker Pass Road at the Powderhorn Trailhead. It leaves open Barker Creek Road, which connects to the famous Rubicon 4WD trail, but it would close the rogue user-created roads off that road. It includes the logging area of West Meadow Creek, which was logged long ago, but is healing fairly well, with the logging road having been long closed.

The area is about 5,611 acres. A map is below, showing the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. It includes a small section of the Pacific Crest Trail, north of Barker Pass. The western boundary is the Rubicon River, which I’ve used for convenience of mapping, though there are wilderness quality lands west of the river as well. (pdf)