Snowshoe Adventure with Sally and Raven at Fish Camp

Sally and Raven headed to Fish Camp to check out the recent snow. We drove them. When we told the dogs it was ok to unload, they were off. They sure love the snow and so do I. We saw some great snow, beautiful reflections in the creek and got a good workout in our snowshoes.

Where: Fish Camp, Sierra National Forest
Distance: 5.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Elevational Range: 4,990′ to 5,440′
Date: November 17, 2015
Maps: Ahwahnee Topog

We drove north on Hwy 41 and just before the Tenaya Lodge, we turned right on Jackson Rd./Big Sandy Rd. We drove down, just far enough that we could park well off the road so we wouldn’t block any snow equipment or cars using the road. We started walking down the road toward the Pack Station a short distance. We had to be careful with the dogs because a vehicle could come whizzing by at any time.

We hadn’t headed too far before we spotted dogwoods and their colorful leaves were covered in snow.

The Black Oak leaves were also gorgeous as they lay on the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left the road, heading along a trail that headed down to Big Creek. The low morning light really lit up the Black Oak leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then wandered along Big Creek, taking in that gorgeous views every way we looked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued up the creek and saw some beautiful reflections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The frosty trees were gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you ever look at the frost really close?

We continued up the trail, which wasn’t always so easy. Deb blazed the trail over a down tree, and she did it gracefully. That means she didn’t fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed past the Yosemite Trails Pack Station and the conditions looked great this year. We are hoping that the snow keeps coming and they can begin offering their sleigh rides with their Belgian Horses pulling the sleigh soon because the last couple of years were kind of pitiful for them to be able to do them. After the pack station, we then broke trail on the shortcut up to the old cabin.

The snow was wonderful!

We made it up to the old cabin and took a look around.

It was a good time to land at a lunchspot. We had brought our snow seats for the occasion and I am not talking about some fancy store bought contraption. Deb utilized one of those sunshades for a car windshield and I stomped down my landing spot well with the snowshoes then used a black, plastic garbage bag.  Both methods worked very well. The dogs were not quite as happy with the arrangement though. They had worked up a good appitite and even though they had received power bars throughout the morning, for some reason they thought they were entitled to our lunch. So, we had to ask them to behave while we had our lunch.

After we had eaten, we gave them some of their treats, then they were off to the races again and we had our entertainment.

After lunch, we headed up toward the waterfall.

The icicles along the creek were really cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we headed back, we followed the road instead of the trail that we had broken. This way we got to go by the old corals. I just loved the way they looked with the snow on the railings and the scattered Black Oak leaves on top of the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a wonderful day with the dogs in the snow. We both got some great exercise and were able to see some beautiful scenery without driving too far. It just doesn’t get much better than this!

 

Sources:

Yosemite Trails Pack Station