Early March Sacramento area

“I plan on being in the Sacramento area in March. I would like to do a two or three nighter somewhere within a reasonable distance from Sacramento. Any suggestions for a hikeable route for this time of year?”

“Ishi Wilderness is nice that time of year. This is a low elevation Wilderness below the snow line. The wildflowers should be starting to appear in March. The area is also the winter range of the Tehama deer herd.

Ishi is about 2 hours north of Sacto, north and east of Chico.”

“Thanks gordon, are there any required permits?”

“Wilderness permit is not required there, but a free campfire permit is required. The Ranger station that administers the Ishi is in Chester, Ca, - a bit out of your way. But you can stop at the Ranger Station in Oroville, Ca on the way. Open regular business hours in March, closed weekends.

The Almanor Ranger Station in Chester is 530-258-2141.

www.r5.fs.fed.us/lassen

Also several backpacking and wilderness web sites will have info. For a little reading about Ishi, the namesake of the area try
'Ishi in Two Worlds' by Theodora Kroeber.”

“Cache Creek is another option and the wintering Bald Eagles should still be around. Cache Creek also has a large herd of Elk as well as your more typical wildlife like bear, mountain lions...

Another option is the S. Fk. Yuba River in the Sierra Foothills.

As mentioned above Ishi is real nice, especially Deer and Mill Ck, consider going up Mill Ck (Lassen NF rather than Ishi W'nss) from Black Rock, in my opinion it is nicer than the down stream route.”

“Thanks Dunk,
Backpacker.com has an article on the Ishi. Sounds interesting.

Dunk I sent you an e-mail but it came back undeliverable. How bout e-mailing me at jtlott@gapac.com.

I plan on being in Sacramento on March 8. If any TT'ers would like to join me please let me know.”

“Going up Mill Creek from Black Rock is a possibility, but you are likely to have snow in the upper reaches. There are a number of old homesteads along the route (protected arch sites). The upper Mill Creek is propsed wilderness, not currently designated.”

“Gordon,
Can you do a loop or is it out and Back?”

“upper Mill is out and back. Lower Mill (wilderness) a loop is possible but would involve some road hiking. The trails mostly run east/west in the canyon bottoms and along ridge tops with a few connectors. The canyon walls are steep and crosscountry hiking can be tough. Mill and Deer creeks should be at high flows in March. That's about the time the Spring run Chinook salmon takes place.
The vegetation is blue oak savannah interspersed with some pretty thick patches of chaparral. Pine stands in protected draws and higher reaches.

The Ishi wilderness has burned three times in the last 12 years and vegetatively is believed to be pretty much like it was 200 years ago.”

“The IW sounds good. I think I will go ahead and order some maps.”

“Leatherneck - We'll have to do a study of beer bottle styles!!

got your email and meant to start a thread along these lines. I am most familiar with the Cache Creek area - lots of beautiful hikes which should be nice this time of year. I'm thinking I wouldn't want to do an overnighter because I don't like to be cold and wet and the weather is questionable that time of year (I am rather spoiled, if it isn't perfect I wait for another weekend). I would be up for a hike on Saturday and would love to meet some other TT'ers in the area. How about you, Obi, up for a dayhike?”

“Try http://www.reflexpoint.org/~afulks/index.html for information about the area I am talking about. I would be interested in The Redbud Trail or the Blue Ridge Trail (if we can get over the creek) because they are both good Bald Eagle spots.”

“Hi PepperDog,
OWC will be in Maui that weekend. Maybe some of the others from the area could join in. Maybe we can work it out so that we can meet up for a day hike on that Saturday. I don't know the area so y'all will have to work on a plan!”

“It's too busy at work for me to commit to anything, but if I can't make it I just want to say welcome to the big tomato Leatherneck!”

“BTW, I won't be checking e-mail or TT again until Monday morning. I'm taking some scouts out for a couple nights.

PepperDog,some of those beers we don't see much of here in the deep south, include those in the plan as well!!”

“Thanks rockbuck, maybe it will work out for ya.”

“Weather for the Ishi Wilderness.

Last 24 hours -- scroll down to Cohasset (south end) or Lassen Lodge (north end) . These are from automatic weather stations.
http://raws.boi.noaa.gov/IRS2/CA_sum24.HTML

Weather forecast: scroll down to Zone 8 for the upper areas, Zone 12 for the lower.
http://www.boi.noaa.gov/FIREWX/SFOFWFRDD.html”

“I might be able to drive up there for a hike. Keep this at the top when the time gets closer so I can find it.”

“I'm getting to the point where I hate to even mention spots...for all the obvious reasons, BUT.... SINCE you're a TT'r...

I love Ishi Wilderness, a good choice, but also check out Feather Falls.

I don't do the HTML or what ever, copy & paste...

http://www.shastacascade.org/butte/feathrfl.htm


Excellent place to visit.”

“Thanks for all the suggestions. Hope to see some of you guys on the trip.”

“I'm interested in any of this March stuff. Pepperdog if we do a day hike would a Sunday work? Then I don't use a vac. day. But if not I'll just take a Sat. off. Leatherneck I'd like to do a two or three day in IW so lets see how this thread and your plans go. Put me on your list as jvz1950@yahoo.com”

“Sounds good jvz. This may turn into a very good trip. So far we have:

Leatherneck
PepperDog
jvz
Snow Nymph
rockbuck
Wanderer ?
Dunk ?
gordon ?”

“I'd most likely be up for something. I've camped on the Fall River which is the feeder for Feather Falls, the fifth highest waterfall in the U.S. -- around 800 ft. It's pretty impressive. I haven't done any hiking in Ishi but would be interested in checking it out.”

“jvz - I guess I could do a day hike on Sunday. It would mean missing dog classes but I guess they already have enough class. I wouldn't mind an overnighter, either, as long as it wasn't wet. I haven't been to the Ishi Wilderness - I am interested in exploring that area and I suspect it wouldn't be much fun between May and October. For a day hike the Feather Falls is supposed to be ab fab, too. I will have to make sure Obi looks at this, see if he wants to tag along.”

“Since most everyone seems interested in the Ishi, lets go ahead and plan to hike that area. OK with everybody? That way we can start to think about meeting points, campsites, dayhikes ect.”

“Hey roseymonster, how bout sending me a e-mal at jtlott@gapac.com”

“done”

“After all this the darned job canceled all vacation till April.They took on a new delivery account to Wendy's and don't have the drivers to cover it. Hope I can do one again with you all.”

“Maybe you can combine the trip with a delivery or two - I suspect the Ishi Wilderness is awash with Wendys'!!!”

“Hey good folks! Just dropping in for a bit. I work Tues-Sat now. I may be interested in this little informal party. I could bail out of work around 2pm on Sat.

Leatherman.. Where are you coming in from? You have transportation?

Shoot me an email @ claudia@ilovejesus.com with the details of where you decide. Happy Hiking!”

“Check your e-mail.”

“Just received my map in the mail. Looks like the Hole in the Ground to Black Rock would be the ticket. We could camp Friday night at the Hole in the Ground and set up shuttles early Saturday.

The dayhikers could start from Black Rock on Sunday and meet the rest of the group.”

“Hole in the Ground will most likely still be under a fair amount of snow in March. Elevation is 4300 feet. Highway 172 from Mineral to the town of Mill Creek, over Mineral Summit is not kept open over Winter. Road access is from the eastern side. The plowing stops just west of the town of Mill Creek. I cannot predict the snow pack a month from now, but is several feet now. There is a small store/cafe in Mill Creek. Two stores and a gas station in Mineral.

I recommend Black Rock.”

“Gordon,
Sounds like we may need to use Black Rock as a base camp and just do out and backs. Is that the best option?”

“I would think so.

You can drive up to Mineral and see the snow conditions. Drive back down to Hwy 36/Little Giant Mill Road junction if too much snow.

I doubt you will be able to access Black Rock from the south on Ponderosa Way either.

Best access is Plum Creek Road or Little Giant Mill Road (both paved) from Hwy 36. Ponderosa Way south (dirt). The Pondo Way intersection is in the middle of a xmas tree farm, with a shake covered house where the roads meet.”

“are we still talking about california?”

“Got your email.... I will take a looksie at all the web sites and info.... Looks like it will be a fun little trip!”

“What web sites are y'all looking at?”

“are we still talking about california?”

“Pepperdog,
The websites listed above, including the one you posted.LOL

We are looking at a hike/hikes from Black Rock campsite on the edge of the Ishi.”

“Leatherneck - the one I posted wasn't the Ishi Wilderness, was it?

The weather has been so lovely for the last week I was thinking backpacking sounded like a great idea. Today is drizzley and cold and I am thinking dayhiking or reading trail guides sounds like a better idea. We'll see how it all shakes out.”

“PepperDog,
The web page you posted has info on the Redbud Trail and the Blue Ridge Trail, both of which sound very interesting. You asked which web sites we were looking at and they are the ones listed above including the one you posted.LOL”

“LOL backatcha.

I hope some locals do take advantage of that website I posted. There are some great hikes there.”

“PepperDog
I can't imagine having places like that to hike and not taking advantage of them. I sure wish I had more time while I'm out there.

The only reason I suggested the Ishi is that most everyone expressed an interest in it. I just don't know enough about the area to do a very good job in the planing.”

“I'm trying to get a grasp here... The Ishi is NE of Red Bluff. Looks likes some interesting trails and neat artifacts from the Gold Rush & indian populations. Which trail is the group looking to do?

I may be in a position to go on the whole trip. If that being the case, I could p/u Leatherman @ the airport. I live less than 10 mins from there.

This sounds like a cool trip!”

“Redbud is at Cache Ck and Blue Ridge is above Lk Berryessa, both rather inhospitable in the summer but nice into spring. I'll be going to Cache Ck next weekend for some backpacking. We do that trip every winter and each time we get rained on. It was really a drag the year I forgot the tent poles. Last year in two trips there is saw 6 Bald Eagles.”

“Freedom:

No gold rush history to the Ishi area. The geology is basalt. It's actually the extreme south end of the Cascade Range. The tribal history is the Yahi-Yana tribe, and home of Ishi, the last wild Indian in North America. Book about Ishi listed in an earlier post. There are some old homesites up Mill Creek from Black Rock. Mostly remnants of settlers from the 20th century. A number of squatters settled in when farms and ranches failed during the Depression. Older maps give place names on almost every flat and wide spot in the canyon. Newer maps leave the names off.

Artifacts are protected under various Federal laws. Don't loot our history.”

“Hey everyone! Sounds like the planning of a great trip!

Wish I could go but I'll be in Arizona.

Have fun and don't forget to do a trip report someone ok?”

“hi! this sonfs”

“hi! This sounds like a great trip”