Anyway, excuses aside lets see how much I can remember of the trip out there. :p
I have been out to cherry dozens of times but we always go out Cotton wood road because I live in Sonora and it cuts the drive time down by about 45mins. This time however because Cotton wood was closed we drove out to Groveland and went out Cherry lake road for this first time. That was an adventure in of itself to see how that road is, (So many ups and downs lol) and to see how intense the burn really was through that area.
It was also amazing to see how much new growth there already is though, and how pretty something so devastating can be.
We drove out there on a Saturday when it was forecasted to rain. We didn't really know how much or for exactly how long but we did know that it was suppose to be on Saturday only and the rest of the trip should be good weather. After having it rain for the entire drive out to Cherry I was a little concerned about how the road was gonna be out to Eleanor because I could not remember if it was gravel or mud. After having driven the first few miles out to the backside of Kibbie ridge we were pretty impressed by how nice the road was until we made it around the next corner Where they had cut fire breaks in and new dirt roads for moving machinery around. At this point the road turned to a steep (up and down) road made up of a very sticky mud soup. Quite the Surprising end to the road I must say. Being that we were in a lowish 2 wheel drive car I was a little afraid we might get stuck in the mud or in one of the very large puddles we had to cross but we decided to just gun it and go for it and we made it to the parking lot.
After getting our gear in check and making sure everything was as covered up from the rain as possible we trekked out across the damn and around the lake to look for a campsite. It was a steady foggy drizzle the whole way, foggy enough that we could not even see the other side of the lake most of the time.
after realizing that it was only around 11 and the rain was not scheduled to end until around 4ish we decided we better just trek the extra mile or so and see if we could find this cabin that neither of us had ever seen. took us about an hour hiking in the rain from the car to make it to the cabin but it was well worth it. By the time we got there we were thoroughly wet from walking through some pretty big puddles and pushing through some very wet brush. While we waited for the storm to pass we had lunch and played cards on the porch in the cabin while letting our wetter clothes and rain gear air out.
As soon as it stopped raining we jumped at the opportunity to get outside and get a fire going.
Was not a hard task as there was already a pile of brush near the ring as well as a ton of dead and half burned cedars and other brush laying around.
After we got the fire going and our gear starting to dry we setup camp and I then took the opportunity to snap some pictures of the clouds blowing off the lake from beach just in front of the cabin.
The next day after getting a little bit of a late start we decided to hike up frog creek and head to Laurel.
Frog creek falls
We covered all kinds of area hiking up that river, going from full on granite waterfalls, to boulder creeks, to burned forest. All of it was amazing even the parts that had burned. (As a side note, we noticed that the water in frog creek was the cleanest clearest water we had ever seen. Worlds largest charcoal filter anyone?)
Eleanor slowly got farther and farther away as we climbed upwards.
Because of the late start and all the things to see while going up the creek we didn't make it to laurel until dusk. But the sunset from up there was beautiful.
You just can't even start to capture the colors that your eyes see with a cell phone camera.
The next day brought another bright and clear day and this time we had our sights set on making it to the main inlet, Eleanor creek.
Super slippery but very vibrant colored moss
View of Eleanor.
Made it to the falls! Here we ate lunch and enjoyed the view before we headed back to camp.
As we walked back the sun slowly set over the lake giving us new colors and picture opportunities every few minutes.
The next day we were planning to pack up camp and drive up to the Shingle springs trail head and hike to Kibbie and back and then head home but because a friend of ours who really wanted to make the hike up there couldn't make it we decided to just hike a little more around the lake and then drive out and see how cherry was looking. Tuesday ended up just kinda being a lazy day with us just exploring some of the little roads I had never been on and seeing how the fire affected our favorite areas around cherry.
For those that haven't had a chance to see some of what it looks like out there since the burn has happened here are some pictures taken from the parking lot at the lower access to Eleanor
Here are all the pictures I took during the trip.
