Big Pine Creek - October 2019

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Pacific Gas & Electric Company sent us on an unplanned adventure

We woke Wednesday morning with the electricity turned off. A wind event and Red Flag Warning prompted our electric utility to initiate a Public Safety Power Shutoff - now widely known as a PSPS.

Why stay home and listen to the roar of loud, cheap, Chinese generators hastily purchased from the Big Box and talk with angry neighbors?

It took less than an hour to load the truck and escape.

There was wind along the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range and highway 395, but no high wind or Red Flag Warning. It was also time for aspen to be sporting fall colors. We headed south along the Sierra.

We stopped for lunch at Walker Burger in Walker, CA. It was our last meal of the season in their garden setting. Their winter closure began the following Sunday. We ended up back at Ted's Camp near the Virginia Lakes. The cold temperature surprised us. It was 32° at four in the afternoon. The north wind knocked at our back door all night and the overnight low was 19°, convincing us that winter is on its way and reacquainted us with wind chill.

Our first stop on Thursday was Virginia Lakes.

Most all the leaves had been stripped from the aspen in this area.

The aspen grove at Mono County's Lundy Lake Campground usually is a nice setting for fall colors and it did not disappoint.

After Lundy we continued south and wandered along the June Lake Loop. Nothing was outstanding enough to get us to stop and add to the crowd already there. We continued south and drove into Rock Creek Canyon.

All the high campgrounds were closed for the season. We drove through East Fork Campground - closing in a few days, but still open - and found a mostly deserted campground.

We set up and took a long walk along Rock Creek and listened to the flow of mountain waters. We slept well and woke to 16° the next morning.

After a quick stop in Bishop, we continued on to Big Pine Creek. The campground at road's end had plenty of empty spots. It was quiet, the winds were gone, the colors nice.

This was our first visit up here at the site of the old grand Glacier Lodge, now almost lost to memory after being destroyed by fire years ago.

We had a few hours of daylight remaining so we headed up, into the John Muir Wilderness.

There is a place along the North Fork Big Pine Creek that is labeled "Cienega Mirth" on the 7.5' USGS Coyote Flat, CA quad. Cienega is a wetlands in an otherwise arid area, so I'd guess "Cienega Mirth" is a merry wetlands. It was, and it held a beautiful grove of aspen, the nicest we found.

The famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney, loved Cienega Mirth. He and his wife traveled here for summer trips to camp and fish. In 1929 Chaney received permission through the USFS summer cabin program to build a cabin.

I have wanted to visit the Lon Chaney Cabin for many years.

The sign on the door read in part -

"Lon Chaney was a silent film actor in the roaring 1920's. He was known as 'The Man of a Thousand Faces,' for his ability to transform himself into many different characters with cutting edge makeup techniques. Chaney also loved to relax and fish in the mountains. 1929 he hired renowned architect Paul Revere Williams to design and build a summer cabin at a favorite family camp. Sadly, Chaney was only able to enjoy the cabin for a few months before his passing."

The Lady walked around the cabin as I was taking photos. I heard voices as she encountered a man and woman also looking at the cabin. I joined them and made the mistake of removing my sunglasses. I could see the surprise in their eyes as they looked at my right eye. Was Lon Chaney back? My eye lids were ugly purple and black and my eye itself a nasty bright blood red.

"I didn't hit him!" the Lady quickly exclaimed. "He had eye surgery last week. I have not been beating him!"

They looked to me.

"Eye surgery inside my right eye last week," I confirmed. "I'm fine." I added.

"Should you.....................?" the man asked.

I anticipated where he was going. "I'm having no problems. No concerns with the healing. It is going well. I'm following the surgeon's orders - nothing strenuous and don't lift anything over 30 pounds. Any hike up here is not strenuous for me and my pack weighs less than 30 pounds."

I smiled, reached up and put my sunglasses back on, and made a note not to take them off when others were around.

The couple headed out and we continued to look around the cabin area.

"She told me about the lollipop hike," the Lady told me as we started back to camp.

"Lollipop?" I asked.

"Yeah. You hike up this trail to where it branches and take the trail that loops around the Big Pine Lakes and then rejoins the trail in. The route looks like a lollipop. She showed me on her phone. I'll show you on our map tonight. It's only 14.5 miles or so and around 3500 vertical gain. I'll show you on the map tonight and you'll see."

"Promise that I'll see?" I asked with a smile.

The three mile hike back was delightful as we followed the shadows down.

We came upon a mule deer doe with her fawn back at the trailhead. They browsed unconcerned as we passed.

I can function with my recovering eye sight after surgeries in both eyes now, but some things still could use improvement. Photography is hard as I can see none of the settings info in the viewfinder. I can see enough to compose an image. I cannot make out any of the focus points so I am relying on the camera auto focus doing a good job. Quickly changing camera settings such as shutter speed, ISO, or aperture isn't happening. I took over a dozen images of the doe and fawn in the dimming light. The photo above is the only one somewhat close to usable.

The retinal surgeon is cautionary, planting the seed that maybe I should be very happy I have any functional sight at all. I am. I'm very happy.

The Lady dreamt of lollipops during the night. We woke Saturday morning to a blistering 24°. I walked in the warm dawn light around the campground as the Lady fussed in the camper and made coffee. I stopped to chat with two women who had come in after dark.

"Did a bear get you last night?" one woman asked.

"Damn. I'm sorry. I've gone to remember to keep my sunglasses on."

The sun was high enough to warm us as we started out on the lollipop.

We climbed past second falls.

We passed through Cienega Mirth.

The trail is well laid out with nice grades. Nothing strenuous. It was a fairly busy Saturday morning with many other hikers on the trail.

When we reached the loop, we turned right as it seemed most hikers were turning left to hike directly to the lower three Big Pine Lakes. The vistas opened up with stunning alpine splendor as we climbed. Temple Crag dominated the view.

We quickly reached Black Lake.

Our high point was the saddle between Black Lake and Fourth Lake. We stopped for a break and lunch there.

Two of California's 14ers, North Palisade and Thunderbolt Peak loom above the Palisade Glacier Basin to our south.

We continued on past Fourth Lake.

We reached the intersection where a spur trail heads up to the higher Big Pine Lakes.

From here on it was down for us.

The trail became crowded as we descended and were were happy we had gone the direction we had for the lollipop loop.

First Lake was the most scenic of the Big Pine Lakes, we thought.

It was, again, a delightful hike back to camp.

This sure beat staying home with no power, loud generators, and angry neighbors - angry about the power shutoff, that is.

We took the alternate route down from first falls with views into the South Fork Big Pine Creek.

The next morning it was 32°, a tropical heat wave. We packed up and headed down Glacier Lodge Road to 395. The Lady's cell phone sang as we reached cell service.

"Power's back on at home. Came on last night," the Lady announced as she read a text message from a friend. "Time to go home."

We arrived home in the afternoon and emptied out the refrigerator and freezer and made a trip to the grocery store to restock. We experienced another Power Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) a little over a week later. Did we stay home? You can find out in our upcoming next adventure story.