Diario de sekihiker

I presented a poster a the Northern California Botanists Symposium in Chico, CA, on January 14. see: http://www.sierrahiker.com/NorcalPoster14Jan2020small.jpg

I had my left hip replaced on June 5, which cut into my field season. At the suggestion of Chris Winchell who I met during the poster session in Chico, I visited Corral Mountain in the John Muir Wilderness on a three day hike in August. I found several more L. leeana plants, extending its distribution several miles to the north and east of the study area and increasing total observations in the area to 637.

Later that month, I spent four days in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness extending L. leeana's distribution to the north. The area was very dry and no L. leeana plants were blooming. The plants were easy enough to ID but most of them were in horrible shape. Alpine gentian was thriving and almost made up for the sorry state of the L. leeana plants.

For a summary of the field season, visit: http://www.sierrahiker.com/Hiking2020/index.html

The link below is to a page at my hiking website that shows what I did this summer for my ongoing project to map the distribution of Lewisia leeana in the North Fork Kings River drainage.

http://www.sierrahiker.com/Hikes2019/

For a poster progress report, go to: http://www.sierrahiker.com/Lewisia_leeana_progress_report_27Nov19.jpg

Here is a link to a summary of my 2018 field season: http://www.sierrahiker.com/Hiking2018/index.html

This is a link to a powerpoint for a lightning talk I was unable to present at a California Naturalist meeting in Nevada City, October,2018.
http://www.sierrahiker.com/under-studied_areas_of_Sierra_NF.ppt

On October 28, 2018, I gave a lightning talk at the second California Naturalist Regional Rendezvous in the Sierra Bioregion at Nevada City, CA. It was my first talk at a conference after poster sessions at the 2017 California Naturalist Conference and the 2018 California Native Plant Society Conference. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete my talk, in part due to too much light washing out my slides on the screen, but mostly due to poor planning on my part. I put a poster copy of my last slide on one of the tables at the venue, but no one was interested in discussing it with me. I was a little bit disappointed in the lack of interest. I'm learning that preparing these progress reports is mostly for me. It forces me to make a snapshot of my project.
Progress through 2018 can be found on the poster at: http://www.sierrahiker.com/L_leeana_progress_poster_Oct2018.jpg

I presented a poster on February 1, at the California Native Plant Society Conference at LAX. The poster dealt with my ongoing project - mapping the areal extent of Lewisia leeana in eastern Fresno County. It was fun to get feedback and to meet, in person, some people I have met on iNaturalist. A small version of the poster can be found at: http://www.sierrahiker.com/2018CNPS_Conferencesmall.jpg

On 8 August 2014, I posted an analysis of Lewisia leeana observations in Fresno County found in the CCH database.¹ At that time, 20 observations were in the database. On 26 October 2017, 25 observations were listed.² Three of the five new observations were duplicates of earlier observations. The other two were newly listed. The older was by F. D. Klyver on July 17, 1926, on Potato Hill which is today's Black Mountain. Potato Hill/Black Mountain is in the Dinkey Lakes area. The younger observation was by S. M. Kaune on 28 July 1962 and was “Near 1st Dinkey Lk, ca. .5-1 mi. S.E. of Dinkey Lk.”
Under the Comments column, location changes were added for three of the observations since 2014. For JEPS17289, the location made by A. J. Perkins in 1920, was changed from the middle of Shaver Lake to the Dinkey Road directly south of Bald Mountain. The location for observation SBBG47692 by E. R. Blakley in 1971, was changed to match its duplicate, UC1541198. The location for observation UC64167 made by Hall and Chandler in 1900, was changed from a subdivision near Alder Spring to a west facing slope on the 9,000 foot contour west of Eastern Brook Lake.
In summary, three new duplicates and two new observations have been added. Both new observations are in the Dinkey Lakes area. Of the three locations that have been changed - the older two appear to be guesses.

1 https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/sekihiker/3293-analysis-of-consortium-of-california-herbaria-cch-records-of-lewisia-leeana-in-fresno-county-ca
2 http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_consort.pl?taxon_name=Lewisia+leeana&county=06019

This was my second trip out of Cliff Lake Trailhead this year and it turned out to be as fruitful as the first. It was my first trip beyond the Nelson Lake turnoff. The trail remains heavily forested to Cliff Lake and to the pass leading to Dinkey Lakes. The purpose of my hikes for the past several years has been to document the areal extent of Lewisia leeana and this was one of the most fruitful I have taken.

During the hike to Cliff Lake, I was distracted by 18 plants and one amphibian. Three of them were new to me. They included bud saxifrage (Micranthes bryophora), muskflower (Mimulus moschatus)and a Sierran treefrog (Pseudacris sierra).

A little before noon as I approched Cliff Lake, I made my first observation of Lewisia leeana. I wasn't expecting to see it because it had never been reported in the area. Near the inlet stream at the north end of Cliff Lake, I observed L. leeana in the wettest environment I have ever seen it and it was surrounded by moss. During the hike to the divide, I made a total of 13 observations of L. leeana. L. leeana was not as abundant on the north side of the divide until I got to Rock Lake. During the remainder of 23 August, I made eight more observations of L. leeana.
See : https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/23

On 24 August I divided my time between two areas in Dinkey Lakes. During the morning, I hiked from my camp at Second Dinkey Lake to Island Lake down to Fingerbowl Lake and back to Island Lake via a different route. The granite ridge north of the trail between Second Dinkey and Island was barren of L. leeana and I didn't see any of it until I crossed the Island Lake outlet stream. The slopes between Island Lake and Fingerbowl Lake were a different matter - I made 20 observations in that area. Returning to Second Dinkey I walked the ridge south of it, returning via a more westerly route. I made 20 more observations of L. leeana on that circuit.
See : https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/24

I decided to return home on 25 August. I made a couple of more observations of L. leeana north of the divide. South of the divide I took the Bullfrog Lake trail and made an additional 25 observations of L. leeana on the way to the trailhead. In addition, I made my first observation of ballhead sandwort (Eremogone congesta).
See : https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/25

The Dinkey Lakes area has more observations of L. leeana in the Calflora database and iNaturalist than anywhere else in Fresno County. It is heavily visited because of its beauty and more recently due to its easy access. I visited about half the area and the density of L. leeana was at least equal to anywhere I've been.

Was it Bald Mountain or Bear Mountain?

Three years ago, I wrote in my journal on iNaturalist about a trip up Bald Mountain.¹ I was inspired to go up Bald Mountain by an observation of Lewisia leeana made by Hall and Chandler in 1900.² I found no L. leeana up there and the environment did not look suitable for it. The summit of Bald Mountain (7,826) is almost 1,000 feet lower than than the lowest known elevation for L. leeana anywhere else in Fresno County (8,713'GPS, 8,720'map).³ It is more than eight miles west of Dinkey Lakes, where the nearest other observations of L. leeana have been made. In her comment to that journal post, Belinda Lo, aka belinda on iNaturalist, noticed that Hall and Chandler recorded an elevation of 9,000 feet for their observation and she wondered if it was possible they could have recorded the wrong name. She pointed out that the nearest peak with close to that elevation was Bear Peak [actually Bear Mountain]. I thought, Bear is similar to Bare, could be possible.

In 2016, I headed into new territory. I had never used the Cliff Lake Trailhead and I was going to try to get to Bear Mountain from there. I went to Nelson Lakes and crossed the divide to their west, and stayed at Chinquapin Lakes. Despite decent snow fall the previous winter and spring, the Chinquapin Lake area was extremely dry. There was no hint of L. leeana in the area and nothing else was blooming. I was so discouraged, I turned around and came home the next day without even attempting to continue to Bear Mountain.

On 16 August 2017, I decide to try for Bear Mountain again. The way was familiar to Chinquapin Lakes but became more difficult to follow after that. Finally, I made it to Sportsman Lake where I set up camp. There was plenty of light left after finishing dinner, so I went up the slope north of camp where there were plenty of plants in view. I made several observations on the way to the top of the ridge and crossed over to the other side. To my delight, I spotted L. leeana and recorded three observations of it.⁵

The next day, I headed for Bear Mountain. I stayed near the top of the ridge west of Sportsman Lake and managed to make several more observations on the ridge's north flank before reaching the Swamp Lake four wheel drive trail. I continued westward and saw many more L. leeana plants until I stopping halfway up Bear Mountain.⁶ Without seeing Hall and Chandler's field notes, I'm convinced that this is where they found L. leeana, not Bald Mountain.

1 https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/sekihiker/3298-day-on-bald-mountain
2 http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_consort.pl?taxon_name=Lewisia+leeana&county=06019
3 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/819752
Since then lowered to 8,640 feet, see: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1818140
4 http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/819752
5 https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/16
6 https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/17

I planned a five day trip to the Blackcap Basin which was aborted due to mosquito density. My destination for the day was Scepter Lake via Chuck Pass. I went cross country from the Little Rancheria/Woodchuck divide and passed through prime Lewisia leeana country to Chuck Pass. At the pass, I contoured around the ridge to the north, finding no L. leeana and eventually being turned down slope by massive talus piles. Eventually, I found my way back to the trail and hiked on to Scepter Lake. Heeding the advice of a couple of hikers I had met west of the Duck Lake turnoff that morning, I set up my tent. They suggested I pitch my tent to avoid being drenched by afternoon showers. Almost as soon as my tent was up I was in it and protected from a massive deluge which lasted a couple of hours. Mosquitoes were out as soon as the rain stopped and I wondered if I would be able to continue on.

The next morning, the mosquitoes continued to plague me and I decided to return home. My modified route took me past Crown Lake to Crown Pass and to the summit of the ridge east of Woodchuck Lake. I made numerous observations of L. leeana on the ridge and on my way back to trail. Showers and mosquitoes convinced be to get home as soon as I could. Even though I was turned back by rain and mosquitoes, I made 41 observations of L. leeana and two species new to me, shaggy lupine and giant red Indian paintbrush. See: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sekihiker/2017/8/2