Sierras 2017 – Not Your Average Engineer

September 30, 2017July 30, 2018

An Old Tree and an Old Bulldozer

There were some big trees cut down near Camp El-O-Win by the Forest Service. These trees died in the drought.

One of the US Forest Service foresters counted the rings on this tree to see how old the tree was and how often fires came through the area. Up until white people started intervening in fires, fires came through the area pretty regularly. After fires were suppressed, not so much.

This old bulldozer has been abandoned for years. It came out of an old mine that got closed down maybe a dozen or so years back.

Name plate on the Caterpillar.

The casting on the engine block.

Standing on the big stump.

Sitting on the bulldozer. I bet with a little work, the engine would turn over and this thing could get running again.

September 30, 2017July 30, 2018

Upper McKinley Grove Giant Sequoias

We hiked up to the upper grove of giant sequoias at McKinley Grove. There aren’t any established trails up here so you almost never see another person traipsing through this part of the forest.

The trees up here are huge and sometimes very close together.

I love looking up into the canopy. None of the sequoias have died in the drought but a lot of the other trees in the grove have.

Me with a tree.

One of the branches of the stream that comes down through the grove. The stream provides just enough water to keep the grove living.

An old forest locating mark from the original survey of the area. Pretty cool!

Down in the lower grove. This area s really highly trafficked from all of the tourists. I wonder what damage everyone stomping around the roots is doing to these huge trees.

Another view into the upper grove.

These sure are big, majestic trees.

September 30, 2017January 5, 2018

Meadow Restoration Progress at Forked Meadow

The work my parents have been doing at Forked Meadow to restore the meadows to their full glory has been going well. Full meadow restoration will take decades but we’ve been making pretty good strides already.

These logs were installed last year to help retain soil and water and rebuild the center of the lower meadow. A few of the logs actually floated in the middle of the winter from all of the snow and flooding it caused.