Fleming Meadow - January 2024

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On the Monday MLK holiday, five of us drove to Sly Park, via Pollock Pines, heading east on hwy 50. The Fleming Meadow loop walk, new to all of us, turned out to be one of the best general hikes in recent memory.   

We started off heading in a wrong direction, on a muddy road. After 15 minutes Donna and I checked the AllTrails app & we doubled back. In the 4th photo, we are on the official start of the trail and left to right are Diane, Marcia, Donna, and Jean.

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (with some exceptions). 

start of the walk

burned & cleared  area

heading back to the start

There were a lot of burned trees with no foliage, wiped out more than two years ago from the destructive Caldor fire. But we also saw trees that survived, with burnt trunks yet retaining higher-up foliage, and near the end of the walk we even saw a forest with no fire damage at all. 

Admittedly, the worst fire damage can be seen starting a little further east on Mormon Emigrant Road, and the scope of destruction continues all the way to the junction with hwy 88, and beyond.      

	in the woods		winter light		Common hairmoss (also called golden maidenhair)
		Foxglove		high voltage ROW with a Hawk above		hilltop at 4,000 ft.
	after a lunch stop		these trees looked pretty good
				hair moss again at lower right		large Manzanita
					almost back

On the AllTrails app, you had to be constantly watching because the main route might be a 20 ft. wide road, and then it is a foot path, thus, we overshot a few turns & had to double-back. A 5.1 mile walk became a 6.7 mile walk, which was OK with us.

After our lunch break, I was at the back taking photos and was impressed by the quick walking pace the group maintained on two extended uphill sections, a great workout. Total elevation gain today was about 800 ft. 

Back at the carpark, the hikers expressed appreciation for the interesting & challenging walk. It had the added benefit of being close to home for all, and because of the holiday, the freeway drive up & back was uncrowded. 

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Postscript - Jean and Donna and I stopped in Pollock Pines for an early dinner at Paco's Taqueria, a new place, where we found good food & service and had a beer.