| An Old Road, Sycamores, and a Tarantula Exploring the North Fork Kaweah River, November 7, 2004 On Sunday it was gloomy and my spirits were in need of a lift so I went for a drive up to Three Rivers. Three Rivers is a town about an hour away from Springville and it sits along the Hwy 198 entrance to Sequoia National Park. It's so named because 3 forks of the Kaweah River join there, the North Fork, the South Fork, and what I guess is called the Main Fork at that point. But further up the Main Fork splits into the Marble, Middle, and East Forks. The North Fork was the only fork in which I have not really explored so that's where I headed. In the town of Three Rivers you take North Fork Drive which is a good paved, two lane road for a few miles, then it progressively gets worse. First it narrows then becomes only a lane wide. Then the pavement deteriorates and then finally disappears completely. But that's my kind of road - one lane, bumpy, and dropping off hundreds of feet on one side :) North Fork Drive is an old road. In 1887 a group of people calling themselves the Kaweah Colonists starting building it. They wanted to create a socialist society, a utopia, and their main source of income was going to come from logging. So they acquired land in Giant Forest via the Homestead Act and set about building a road up to it. Not an easy task... I've heard this country described as "steep as a cow's face." It's extremely steep, rugged, rocky, and between about 1,000 and 5,000 feet dense impenetrable chaparral grows. In amongst the dense brush are tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and poison oak. But despite these obstacles the Kaweah Colonists continued to painstakingly build this road by hand. In 1890 just before they completed their road they were told by the Federal Government that their Homestead Claims were null and void as Giant Forest was being included in the new Sequoia National Park. But they didn't give up and tried to fight for their land. And when they were not successful they then tried to acquire parts of land near the Atwell Mill Grove. That land was also given to Sequoia National Park so once again they failed. I can't help but feel sorry for those folks, even if they intended to log in what is now one of my most favorite places on Earth. And if you ever drive on the road that they built by hand you probably will identify with their ambitious nature if nothing else. It's a beautiful time of year to explore these west-side Sierra canyons like the North Fork Kaweah because the sycamore, alder, and red bud are in their fall colors. Sycamore are one of my favorite trees. Their leaves are yellow, gold, and rust and they contrast so beautifully with the tree's nearly white bark. I stopped at a couple of places along the river and hiked a little. I was wary of poison oak that grows pretty much everywhere there and this time of year is without its leaves so it's hard to identify. But I managed to get a couple of nice shots of fall foliage along the river. I also encountered a chocolate brown tarantula about the size of my fist! On the way back I stopped to take a picture of the tiny Kaweah Post Office which serviced the Colonists and is still in use today. Anyway, here are a few pics :) |
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