San Joaquin River to Mono Crossing

My hiking today will be exploring four miles without trails along the San Joaquin River.

The steep canyon walls and irregular topography will create an interesting afternoon of exploring. My destination will be Mono Crossing.

During the trek I’ll attempt reaching a higher elevation along the river for my return upstream.

The following morning I met up with Kelly, another experienced hiker. He was hiking downstream to fish and exercise his two wolf dogs. An interesting sight watching those wolves perform in the wild.

A wolf running solo would stay close to us, or search us out to check our location. If both wolves were together they would run off exploring and would not return for quite some time, especially if they found game to chase.

Kelly stated in the past they would disappear for hours, but always returned.

Now his wolf dogs were exploring when Kelly and I arrived at his fishing spot. I invited him to join me on my adventure, but he refused and wanted to spend the day fishing. So I continued forging my way down stream searching out my new adventure.

On a few locations next to the river were a few trail markers probably placed by a fisherman because they ended up at the riverbank. So I continued trekking and established my own pathway from previous experiences taught me from my mentor, Tom Addison (Silver Fox).

When one starts cross-country hiking, always look for game trails, they make bushwhacking much easier because animals will pursue the line of least resistance. One mistake I made was not climbing high enough to stay away from the large exposed rocks along the riverbank.

Soaring above me were two hawks and at times they would pass within 30 feet of my location. They are beautiful birds of prey with white markings on a dark brown dominate color.

Their tail is a huge fan shape of brown and white feathers with a reddish tint. What a beautiful sight watching them use the wind to soar in graceful circles. Throughout the day I could see other hawks maneuvering over the river and canyons below me.

While skirting the mountainside, I looked down at my feet and surprise — I’m following deer and bear tracks. A few tracks were fresh and others were a few days older. Those tracks led down to the river with body slide marks from the steepness of this area.

As I trekked down river I could not discount my main objective which was to look for any small American Indian hunting camps. I found three huge flat rocks that would be ideal for habitation, but no trace of human activity.

At 2 p.m., I arrived at Mono Crossing. No one was at the location but there were fresh boot tracks from someone crossing over to the west side of the river.

There is no bridge at this crossing, so if you want to hike on the opposite side, you will get your feet wet. I decided to relax and have a snack before starting my four hour (estimated time) back upriver.

There was a flat area next to the river that I skipped earlier. It was located below me but too steep for descending to the location. I’ll check this area out first before climbing in elevation to start my return trip.

There were no grinding holes at this location but I did find a two-inch tool made out of obsidian. If this area was a campsite many years ago, it had been picked over or time has erased all traces of habitation. Today is one hot day with temperatures in the 90s.

When I finally reached the summit, I was rewarded with a Native American gathering area. Huge stones placed in a circle used as setting rocks. I wonder why the largest rock is facing east? Is that rock placement the same on all setting rocks?

I was told later that it was placed there so the eldest family member could see the sunrise before other members. As I increased in elevation and looked across the river, a famous landmark called Devils Table came into view.

This is a flat mesa-type formation formed millions of years ago when the earth was cooling. It has an elevation of 7,222 feet.

To my surprise as I continued climbing I found tracks and scat maybe four to five hours old from a cougar. This may not be a solo trek! The location is in a small canyon just before reaching the summit.

This must be my day for excitement. After passing through a cluster of trees, I looked up and this huge bird passed directly over me then circled around and repeated that same maneuver.

It was an Osprey that was white with a brown trim underside. It is a huge bird. Maybe he was just curious who this was hiking through his territory. The underside of his wings and tail were white and dark brown. After his second pass, he dropped down to the San Joaquin River and continued searching for his evening meal.

During the next two hours I started descending to the San Joaquin River but I still had Bacillo and Creek Number 62 to cross. The foliage was very thick at each crossing, but a great place to cool off from this extreme heat.

Only one obstacle remained and that was boulder-hopping the San Joaquin River before arriving back to my campsite.

This was a full day of an exciting wilderness adventure. This hike is not for the beginner or new hiker.

If you decide to attempt this journey, take someone experienced with you and plan for an enjoyable eight hour trek.

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.