Treasure Lake

Erick Schat's Bakkerij in Bishop

Today we made an early start and headed for Bishop. I spotted what must have been a California Thrasher on a sagebrush as we entered Independence. In Bishop we collected items for lunch and had breakfast at the amazing and famous Bakkerij. Huge supplies of baked foods with shelves of breads of every description and an enormous variety of pastries - typically Dutch in style. The umlaut y caught my eye. It was going to be a hot today so we pressed on quickly to the trailhead for the walk starting at the car park at the end of South Lake Road.

View south and north over South Lake - John Muir Wilderness

We were off on a 6 mile trail [42] to Treasure Lake, ending at 3200m. The trail sets off with a steady climb above the eastern side of South Lake which has been dammed to increase water storage. Nothing of interest on the steeply banked South Lake but fishermen were out in boats. There is a curious canyon between the main part of this lake and its southern end which might have been artificial. The forests are splendid with firs dominating.

Along the trail to Treasure Lake

Tyrant flycatchers more obvious today but still only the Western Wood-Pewee as far as I could tell. My first parulid warbler of this trip was a splendid male Yellow-rumped Warbler, almost exactly like the picture in Sibley!

Just before we crossed South Fork Bishops Creek, David spotted a cinnamon coloured Black Bear Ursus americanus! The bear saw us and slowly moved off through the timber and up a rocky slope, momentarily looking back at us from the top of a rock. Alice, fortunately, seemed not to pick up the scent and did not react but I missed the chance to get a picture in my concern that she might do so! A short while later we spoke to some State Forestry workers, who were repairing the trail, and they said that they hoped it had not been trashing their camp which was not far away.

At Treasure Lake the views were spectacular. I found some Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, a high alpine species whose breeding range (interior subspecies) extends just into this part of the Sierra Nevada ranges. Alpine meadow plants were abundant near the shorline and additional birds seen in this area were American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Western Scrub-Jay and a few hummers that I took to be Rufous Hummingbird.

Again, no raptors in the mountains but a few Red-tailed Hawk (Buzzard) were seen circling low over the sagebrush at lower altitudes as we traveled up and down the Owens valley. On returning up Onion valley I saw another Lesser Nighthawk. A good walk.

Red Fir on the shore of Treasure Lake, Indian Painbrush, trunk of fir stripped of its bark & Tracey at Treasure Lake with James in the specially designed backpack.

Little Pothole Lake

Start of the trail

On day two we moved up to the Onion Valley campground after breakfast (of freshly caught Trout!) and settled in. Our site was shaded by two of the prominent tree species of this alpine region. The Californian Red Fir Abies magnifica and Foxtail Pine Pinus balfouriana (close relative of the famous Bristlecone Pine Pinus aristata).

California Red Fir, bark and cones

Stunted Aspen

Stunted Aspen Populus tremuloides dominated the understory in many parts of the lower valley but many other alpines were evident. Facilities were excellent and we set off on an afternoon walk of 1.5 miles up trail 35 to Little Pothole Lake. The ascent was on a well graded route traversing the steep hillside behind the camp. The lake is at 2824m.

Gnarled pines, many showing lightning stike, and xeritic sagebrush vegetation dominate the early parts of the climb with patches of the buckwheat known as Sulphur-Flower Eriogonum umbellatum. An occasional small meadow along the way, fed by overspill from a tumbling stream, was full of alpine flowers. Pride of the Mountain Penstemon newberryi; Indian Paintbrush Castilleja miniata; Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium; Sierra Lily Lilium kelleyanum and Mariposa Lily Calochortus leichtlinii were some of the many species seen.

Sulphur-Flower, Bridge's Penstemon, Indian Paintbrush, Sierra Lily & Mariposa Lily

Few birds about and strangely no raptors seen but a Northern Flicker was spotted once, flying off, and at least one Violet-green Swallow was circling over the lake. The only tyrant flycatcher I could make out was the Western Wood-Pewee but there were very few of them about. Flashes of bright blue and grey drew attention to occasional sightings of Western Scrub-Jay and often a pair or small party of them was detected by their loud and raucous calls. A feeding party of Mountain Chickadee was enjoyable on the way down.

A Green-tailed Towhee caused a bit of identification difficulty until I saw an adult male the next day. A headless desiccated body found on the way home was a puzzle to identify. It had two conspicuous white outer tail feathers, the inner narrowly bordered black. It seemed finch-like with generally streaked plumage, dark on the back, but I could not readily get a match from scanning my Sibley. The following day it was solved when I was able to watch some Dark-eyed Junco. The form hereabouts seems to be the Oregon subspecies. I think it was probably a recently fledged young and its richly coloured mantle feathering had put me off the scent. The other puzzle in this region was the identity of the Carpodactus Finches which I took to be Cassin’s Finch, rather than the common House or Purple species, simply on sierra alpine distribution. At this time of year with moulting scruffy adults and many youngsters present I was in no mood to try to sort this one out! James took all of this in his stride carried by Tracey in a splendid tailor-made backpack made by 'evenflo'. A Mountain Bluebird was seen near the campsite at the end of the day and I sorted the conspicuous hummer as the Rufous Hummingbird.

Small lycendid, Sierra Angelica, Lightning blasted crown and David with Alice at Pothole Lake

Off to the southern Sierra Nevada

Panorama from Lower Gray's Meadow

Storm over the Sierra Nevada range

Today we headed for the Onion Valley just north of Lone Pine on the eastern side of the SierraNevada range. This is about 270 miles from Thousand Oaks but a good drive on freeway surfaces all the way. We passed through Mojave with its well known parked rows of mothballed and decommissioned commercial airline jets including at least one jumbo! The Edwards Air force Base is nearby. Traffic was unbelievable until we got to Mojave with a ten mile backup of all three lanes delaying us for a long time. However, beyond Mojave the desert scenery is fabulous with magnificent glacial formations and impressive signs of past volcanic activity revealed by ancient cinder cones and massive lava fields. The campsite for the first night was unexpectedly devoid of much in the way of birds until dusk when I spotted a Lesser Nighthawk and just on dark a Common Poorwill that almost brushed my side as it flew past low to the ground at about 3 metres distance! A couple of Common Raven livened the camp at dawn - their baritone croaks rather more impressive than the unexpectedly insipid calls of the American Crow.

Subaru WRX and campsite 46 at Lower Gray's Meadow

Trout stream behind campsite

Our first camp was lower down than we had intended for our first night because thundery conditions built up in the afternoon and we could see that it was raining in the mountains. We decided to go for a site in the foothills (lower Grays Meadow) only a short distance out from the township of Independence. Later we learnt that two scouts were killed this same afternoon by lightning strike somewhere in the Sequoia National Park to the west of us.

Sleepy James in carrypack

California

Allen's Hummingbird

Well, I am here and it is hot! David, Tracey and James live in a fabulous California ranch-style house on a gentle slope below a hillside covered in coastal chaparral. California Quail run off the driveway as you go out to take a walk down the suburban road! There are Desert Rabbits; at least that is what I make of them, all around the place. They LOOK exactly like European Rabbits but I am certain they must be Sylvilagus auduboni. The only other possibility is Brush Rabbit, S. bachmani, but they are smaller and darker. Two nights ago a small group of Coyote Canis latrans burst into calling just outside the back fence at about 11pm! Fantastic, but I doubt that the neighbourhood likes such bloodcurdling yelps and certainly the local dogs must be scared witless! Alice, the household dog does not like them. I was not ready to sound record the episode but I am now if it happens again, which it probably won't. There are some good birds in the garden including Nuttall’s Woodpecker, California Towhee, Western Phoebe and two species of 'hummer' that were a bit of a devil to identify! Eventually I worked them out as Allan's and Anna's but not easy even when they come in to special sugar solution feeders. The new Sibley field guide is definitely an excellent addition to the already impressive selection of such guides available in the States. I need it with me all the time! Soon after arriving here we all set off for three nights camping in the high Sierras where it would be cooler.

Useful References

Barron, Alan D. 2001. A Birdfinding Guide to Del Norte County, California. Redwood Economic Development Institute & The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. 211pp; spiral bound.

Brockman, C. Frank 1968. Trees of North America. A field guide to the major native and introduced species north of Mexico. A Golden Guide to Field Identification. Golden Press, New York 280pp.

Burt, William H. & Grossenheider, Richard P. 1976. A Field Guide to the Mammals. (3^rd edition).The Peterson Field Guide Series. Field marks of all North American species found north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 289pp.

Carwardine, Mark. 2000. Whales,Dolphins and Porpoises. A Dorling Kindersley Book. Dorling Kindersely, London. 256pp.

Little, Eric L. 1988.The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees. Western region. Alfred A Knopf, New York. 640pp.

National Geographic 2001. Field Guide to the Birds of North America. (3^rd edition). National Geographic, Washington, D.C. 480pp.

Opler, Paul A. & Wright, Amy Bartlett 1999. Western Butterflies (2^nd Edition) Peterson Field Guides. Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York. 540pp.

Sibley, David A. 2003. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. Alfred A Knopf, New York. 473pp. [used in the field]

Stebbins, Robert C. 2003. Western Reptiles and Amphibians (3^rd edition) Peterson Field Guides Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York. 533pp.

Whitehill, Karen & Terry (2003) BEST SHORT HIKES in California’s South Sierra (2^nd Edition) The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. 270pp. [used in text for trail numbering].