Sun, Dec 20, 2020
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A very good dirt road runs all the way through the reserve heading
south,
passing through the Upper San Antonio Valley. Bulldozers had widened the road
in an effort to make a firebreak during the summer with only limited success.
It managed to stop the fire crossing in some stretches, but in other places it
was apparent the fire had jumped across the roadway and continued east towards
the higher elevations around Mt. Stakes. I followed the road for more than
three miles, through
several gates as the road climbs ever so gently to
the Stanislaus/Santa Clara
county line
marking the crest of the range. Here,
where the road goes over a saddle, one gets views
looking south deep
into the Henry Coe SP backcountry. The fires burned without a fight in this
remote location with few human structures. Still, there were places where the
fire line could be seen to have petered out on its own, saving
chaparral-covered slopes in various pockets that will help with regeneration.
The road goes around the west side of
Peak 2,460ft, but the fire had
burned off
the vegetation, making for an easy ascent for the hundred
yards of cross-country travel. I took
photos looking
around me
from the rounded top, then beat a retreat
back down the road.
The road shows sign of regular use and I had passed through at least one section
of private property that had me a little nervous. I suspect most of the traffic
was from the summer fire-fighting efforts, but was happy to find no vehicles
come rumbling up the road to wonder what I was doing out there. On my way back
towards SR130, I left the road for a bit of easy cross-country
as I made my way northeast towards the second summit, Peak 2,580ft. This summit
lies in an island separating Upper and Lower San Antonio Valleys. The summit
lies a short distance outside the reserve boundary to the north. There is a
sprawling ranch property to the east in the valley below, mostly a collection
of rusting trucks and cars from the looks of it. It is far enough away that it
is unlikely to be of any real concern, but one is visible while walking along
the ridgelines towards the summit. Old firebreaks that others had described in
their earlier visits had been freshly renewed for the latest fires. They seem
to have been mostly ineffective as the fire
jumped across the
too-narrow break with ease and
ignored other sections altogether. The
bulldozer didn't quite go over
the summit, leaving about 20yds of
heavy bushwhacking through dry, head-level chaparral. The highpoint
appears to be a small collection of rocks at the base of a surprisingly healthy
manzanita bush. I left
a register here as an easter
egg for those willing to suffer the short thrashing through the brusy. There
are really no views and little to recommend this second summit. I returned back
to SR130 following the route used by Marcus Sierra and others in previous
efforts. It was almost all along freshly bulldozed
firebreaks heading
west back to the highway. I
finished up
shortly before 1p to call it a day. It would be interesting to return in
five years to see how the recovery from the fire was progressing...
This page last updated: Wed Dec 23 12:19:01 2020
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