Another Rock Creek adventure

This adventure took place one year after my previous dated article of Rock Creek in 2004.

This was a solo hike, another adventure without a hiking buddy. Sometimes it is difficult to locate someone with the same available free time from their personal commitments. Since this will be my third hike into this area, I was not worried of this challenge.

Once again I departed from the Onion Springs area and followed the abandoned dirt road descending to the Rock Creek stream. Then I followed this water source to the crossing that led to my previous campsite.

It still looked the same as last year and I’m looking forward to new adventures. After setting up my campsite, I decided to gather some firewood before retiring for the evening. The temperature this evening was in the low 80s, so I removed my shirt.

Unknown to me, I did not realize this action was a big mistake. Now my profile blended in with the surrounding landscaping and I also attached to my hat an owl feather that I found hiking this afternoon.

On several occasions, I would bend over to pick up a few pieces of firewood. On one occasion I heard the flapping of wings behind me. When I turned and looked, a red tailed hawk was terminating his dive only 10 feet above me.

He must have spotted the feather and became confused before stopping his dive. My body color and clothes blended with the terrain and the owl feather in my hat didn’t help the confused hawk.

In the wild, hawks and owls have a major dislike for each other? The owls would raid the hawks’ nest at night and the hawks would return the attack during the day. Thankfully, the hawk lost interest in me and continued searching in another area.

Another lesson to remember: when visiting these wilderness areas, don’t put a feather in your hat. After watching the small fire in my fire pit burn down, I managed to seek the warmth of my sleeping bag inside my tent.

Daylight came at sunrise the next morning and I was ready to start a new adventure.

Today, I will cross over to the opposite side of Rock Creek. This is the area that Greg and I found those 12 questionable 18 inch footprints with a six foot stride. Maybe this animal is living in this area so I spent the entire morning and afternoon hoping to find new footprints.

I searched at least one quarter square mile and no new footprints anywhere. I found bear, coyote, deer and cougar tacks but no signs anywhere of 18 inch foot prints.

On my way back to camp I found a fresh fallen pine tree extending across the creek. So I decided to attempt a balancing act to the opposite side.

On the other side in the fresh soil were animal tracks. Bear, mountain lion, raccoon and bobcat prints were scattered all around this fallen sentinel. This tree must be a new bridge for the local residents to cross this creek.

This gave me an idea so I set up my camera on the hillside, and if I’m lucky I’ll photograph one of them crossing this natural bridge. It was almost dark when I gave up on that idea.

So without any new photos, I decided to hike back to my campsite. After looking at my map by the light of my campfire, I’m going to spend another day and hike upstream following Rock Creek to Rock Creek Lake.

It was early the next morning when I broke camp and started my hike following upstream to set up my next campsite at the road and creek crossing. After looking at my map, I will have to search the area for that abandoned trail that led to Rock Creek Lake.

It was almost noon when I arrived at the bridge. After another hour of searching the area, I finally located that forgotten trail. This trail was abandoned by the American Indians over a century ago and the grazing of cattle stopped when the area was declared part of the Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Another change of plans. I decided to set up camp at the beginning of this forgotten trail and extend my adventure another day. I’ll hike beyond the lake and follow the trail until it intercepts the trail over the mountain past the natural arch, then back to Onion Springs. I’ll have just enough food to complete this extended trip.

I departed early morning on this rough and almost impossible-to-follow trail. Actually, it was not that impossible to follow, I just kept the stream within hearing distance.

Within the first mile I stumbled into an abandoned cow-camp. The area was overgrown but the old rusted camp stove was still standing with old wooden rounds with major deterioration surrounding the fire pit.

Almost two hours later I arrived at Rock Creek Lake. This lake was larger than I expected.

I now see why Rock Creek does not dry up even during a drought summer. I rested and ate a quick lunch and I was back on the trail within an hour. This was an easy trail to the junction following up over the pass, then descending down to the trailhead at Onion Springs.

I arrived back at Edison Lake resort before dark and celebrated with a home cooked meal and a cool beverage.

Tony Krizan describes himself as an “adventurer” and he explores the Sierra Nevada range on a regular basis. He can be reached at tonykrizan@hotmail.com.