The true Sierra wilderness

During the month of September, I drove west of Edison Lake campground and followed an abandoned 4X4 road that leads to Onion Springs.

If your vehicle can survive this road, there are excellent trailheads that will lead one into the true wilderness and history of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

This 4X4, non-maintained four-mile road has its questionable ruts and boulders to test your driving skills. I’ve driven this road many times in the last 20 years and each year it offers new challenges.

Time and erosion have exposed ruts and be aware of those rocks on its surface because, today, they have become boulders. A Jeep-type vehicle or side-by-side with ground clearance will solve this problem.

During early summer there will be two streams to forge across from the snow melting.

Onion Springs is an old abandoned camping area. The creek running through the area flows year around, so drinking water is not a problem.

One trailhead leads north toward the natural 70 foot arch at the trail high point left of the trail before arriving at Frog Lake. Hike past this small lake and you will arrive at Margret Lake.

Park by the forestry gate and follow the road for two hours to Rock Creek. At this point you have a choice of three directions.

Follow the road to the abandoned forestry cabin or follow the creek upstream to Rock Creek Lake. On the north side of this lake is a trail that will lead to Margret Lake or back to Onion Springs.

If you follow the south downstream, it will take you to the San Joaquin River. This adventure will drop in elevation from 8,700 feet to 6,500 feet following Rock Creek south where I’ll set up my base camp for this outing.

After two hours into my hike I ventured off the trail to explore an area where during the previous year I found a native campsite. This was another area where the American Indians camped during those hot summer months.

I made a quick pass through the campsite and continued toward my destination. Before arriving at Rock Creek, I changed my direction to the southeast.

This change of direction will lead me to the area of my previous base camp. The snowfall since last year must have been deeper than normal; many old growth trees are lying on the ground.

After crossing the creek, up ahead of me was my base camp. The area looks the same as last year except for one tree that fell at the entrance.

I believe the Great Wilderness Spirit has welcomed me back because lying next to the trees root system was a perfect large arrowhead.

I set up my campsite and then spent the remainder of the day exploring the surrounding area. Evening came quickly and supper over the campfire was rewarding.

Since this is another solo hike and I have no one to communicate with, I’ll just enjoy the sounds of nature before crawling into my sleeping bag.

I was awakened twice that night, once at 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m. There is a full moon tonight, so it is much easier for those native residents to hunt.

Those are the sounds that woke me up before morning awaking at 6 a.m. A touch of fall is in the air with a brisk temperature of 46 degrees.

This morning I’ll be searching for the old Indian trail that will lead me down to the San Joaquin River. This old trail was found last year by me and Greg Winslow while we were searching for an easier route to cross the San Joaquin River.

This cross-country path was easier to find this year; I set up trail markers before I departed last year. You will probably ask: How did I know this was an old Indian trail?

After following an old dried up runoff stream down to the river, once again on the trail I was rewarded with another worn obsidian tool. Once I arrived at a small Indian camp next to the river crossing, lying on the ground were obsidian chips and two small fire pits.

When I was here last year, I left my fishing rod and reel in a small cave-like structure. As I looked around, one item was out of place. My fishing rod was not in the cave because it was lying on the ground next to a huge boulder.

The pole was snapped in half and one end had two teeth marks that pierced the cork handle to the aluminum shaft. I guess the bear didn’t like fishing with my pole.

A few other items also left in the cave were not tampered with. I stayed there the remainder of the afternoon. I had to test the water and enjoyed a swim to cool off the hot summer day.

I did boulder hop to the opposite side of the river. I thought that if this was an optional trail the American Indians used, there should be a trail continuing on the east side of the river.

Once on the opposite side, I did find a possible trail and followed it for almost 100 yards but there was no trail marker to identify its location.

Looks as if I’ll have another mountain mystery to solve on my next adventure into this area.

I arrived back to my base camp before dark, fixed supper and started gathering up my belongings for my hike back to Onion Springs in the morning.

This will be a tougher hike back to my vehicle. I’ll be increasing in elevation and it is called a reverse hike.

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.