Kern-Kaweah Chapter Owens Peak Group P.O. Box 1569 Ridgecrest, CA 93556

Executive Committee

Chair: Dennis Burge
Vice Chair: Steve Smith
Secretary:
Treasurer: Jean Bennett
Outings: Dennis Burge
Conservation: Jeanie Stillwell Haye
At Large: Joann Barbee

Meetings: are held monthly usually on 4th Mondays , 7:30 p.m.at the Maturango Museum, 100 E. Las Flores Ave, Ridgecrest, CA. and are open to all. Call Dennis (760) 375-7967 or Jeannie (760) 375-8973

No meeting in June or July or August because everyone is somewhere else. But you can go hiking!!

Outings:

"All participants on Sierra Club outings are required to sign a standard liability waiver."

June 14 (Sat) OLANCHA PASS AND ROUND MTN (Located just W of Sage Flat, SW of Olancha; Olancha Pass, 9220 ft max elevation, 3400 ft elev. gain, 9.6 mi RT; Round Mtn, 9884 ft max elevation, 4000 ft elevation gain, 14.8 mi RT. We offer a trail workout to Olancha Pass, and, by request, a further optional extension to Round Mountain just to the S of Olancha Pass. Olancha Pass is a well used eastern lateral to the PCT and a part of the eastern approach to Olancha Peak. Sage Flat has been flush with lupine in the past, and there are notable hotspots of wildflowers on the sandy slopes through which the trail passes below Olancha Pass.Ê Round Mtn is an additional 5.2 mi RT and 660 vertical ft beyond Olancha Pass and a nice objective as seen from Owens Valley. This tough conditioning hike will be good preparation for our summer adventures. The hikes to Olancha Pass and Round Mtn are both strenuous due to distance and altitude gained, with the latter just more strenuous (roughly 2/3 of a one day climb of Mt Whitney). Meet Sat, June 14, at 7:00 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. Note the earlier start time.Ê For more information, June 14 (Sat) OLANCHA PASS AND ROUND MTN (Located just W of Sage Flat, SW of Olancha; Olancha Pass, 9220 ft max elevation, 3400 ft elev. gain, 9.6 mi RT; Round Mtn, 9884 ft max elevation, 4000 ft elevation gain, 14.8 mi RT) We offer a trail workout to Olancha Pass, and, by request, a further optional extension to Round Mountain just to the S of Olancha Pass.Ê Olancha Pass is a well used eastern lateral to the PCT and a part of the eastern approach to Olancha Peak.Ê Sage Flat has been flush with lupine in the past, and there are notable hotspots of wildflowers on the sandy slopes through which the trail passes below Olancha Pass.Ê Round Mtn is an additional 5.2 mi RT and 660Ê vertical ft beyond Olancha Pass and a nice objective as seen from Owens Valley.Ê This tough conditioning hike will be good preparation for our summer adventures.Ê The hikes to Olancha Pass and Round Mtn are both strenuous due to distance and altitude gained, with the latter just more strenuous (roughly 2/3 of a one day climb of Mt Whitney).Ê Meet Sat, June 14, at 7:00 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot.Ê Note the earlier meeting time.Ê For more information, call Dennis Burge at 760-375-7967 or Jim Nichols at 760-375-8161.

July 12 (Sat) SUGARLOAF, ROUND, AND LOOKOUT PEAKS FROM COYOTE FLAT (Located SW of Bishop between Owens Valley and Bishop Creek, 11261ft max elevation (Lookout), 1500 ft elevation gain, 4.6 mi RT (all three peaks)). We will climb these peaks on the outer edge of the enigmatic Coyote Warp, a prominent feature of the geology of the great Eastern Sierra Fault.Ê Sugarloaf and Round form the "gunsight" easily seen looking N on the S edge of the Coyote Warp as you drive up Owens Valley from Lone Pine.Ê Lookout is on the N edge of the Warp overlooking Bishop and Round Valley. The road to Coyote Flat is probably one of the most elegant but easy 4x4 roads in the eastern Sierra.Ê And the high altitude flowers will be reaching their peak here in July. The hikes up all three peaks (if we have time) are easy, but at high altitude.Ê Meet Sat, July 12 at 7:00 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot. Note the earlier meeting time. Call Dennis Burge at (760) 375-7967 or Jim Nichols at (760) 375-8161 for more info. Aug 12 (Sat) BRAINERD LAKE AND FINGER LAKE (Located up the S Fork of Big Pine Creek, 10800 ft (Finger Lake), 3000 ft gain, 8.8 mi RT)Ê Finger Lake is arguably one of the most lovely lakes in the Sierra.ÊGlacier fed by the Middle Palisade Glacier, the lake has striking turquoise color which makes a gorgeous foreground for a panorama of some of the most rugged towering Sierra peaks in the Palisade Range.ÊThis area is the jumping off point for climbs of Middle Palisade, Disappointment, Norman Clyde, Temple Craig, and other great Sierra peaks.Ê Brainerd Lake, 600 ft lower, will make a somewhat easier objective if desired.ÊThis hike to Finger Lake is strenuous due to the altitude gain, but only moderate to Brainerd Lake.ÊMeet Sat, Aug 12 at 7:00 AM at the Ridgecrest Cinema parking lot.ÊNote the earlier meeting time.ÊFor more information, call Dennis Burge at 760-375-7967 or Jim Nichols at 760-375-8161. call Dennis Burge at 760-375-7967 or Jim Nichols at 760-375-8161.

BLM is looking for volunteers to help with various projects - contact Marty Dickes for more info, (760)384-5444:

2.  Cleaning-up marijuana farms in the Sacatar Trail and Owens Peak Wildernesses

BLM Law Enforcement  found and busted 3 substantial marijuana farms in Little Lake, 5-Mile, and 9-Mile Canyons this summer.  The culprits have been apprehended and the plants confiscated.  What's left is a ton of irrigation tubing, trash, camping gear, and in the case of 9-Mile, terracing of the hillsides.  We would hike into the sites, cut and bundle the tubing, bag the trash, and assemble piles of debris to be airlifted out of the area (sling-loaded by helicopter).   These are beautiful riparian canyons that really need to be cleaned up and restored to what they were two  years ago.  Come out for a day and/or if you like camp out with us overnight and put in two days worth of work.  I've set up the following dates for the following canyons (the cleanup of 5-Mile will be scheduled soon, probably during the work week):

April 26-28, 2008.  Marijuana Farm Clean-Up and Restoration of 9-Mile Canyon (Owens Peak Wilderness).  Contact:  Marty Dickes, Wilderness Coordinator RFO, 760-384-5444 for details.

To Kern-Kaweah Chapter page and Roadrunner Newsletter on-line

Back issues here too. Get ALL the news!!

Local and regional environmental Links

Giant Sequoia National Monument Planning Process - VERY important that you pay attention to what's going on!!
see at http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/giant_sequoia.index.htm
Sierra Club and others have been successful in blocking some of the stupid logging projects they wanted to do. Keep an eye on um!!

Owens Valley Committee keeping an eye on the Lower Owens River rewatering project and what's going on at the Lake. ***!!! December 6, 2006, WATER PUT INTO THE OWENS RIVER. !! The river is recovering nicely! Go visit it at any one of the bridge crossings.

Mono Lake Committee Links page - an incredible resource of links to birds, government stuff, everything about the lake, etc. etc.

Ridgecrest area BLM has some issues going right now. Check news.

Active Fire Maps - wanna see what burned this calendar year? Or where active fires are now in CA and NV. A most interesting map!! Takes a while to download.

Inyo National Forest page with lots of great info about the attractions nearby, planning documents, etc. Also place to comment about the proposed Roadless Areas in National Forests, Inyo wants to get into logging now too.

Sequoia National Forest contact points, etc;

Region 5 USFS You can get a whole bunch of info here, find out about Giant Sequoia National Monument, see what other issues are being worked on right now.

Giant Sequoia Natl Monument planning efforts

California State Parks Many park fees raised again, visitor centers being closed! Our Parks are in very poor shape!!

National Parks ; revised front pages not much good - click on "in depth" button to get to the original pages with lots of info.

Death Valley National Park official web page

Death Valley Tourist Info lots of info, numbers, etc. which is not on the official DV page; done by Janet W.

Mojave National Preserve , lots of useful stuff on our lovely park. Major fires and floods hit the place lastAugust!! Kelso Depot is OPEN as a Visitor Center- drop by to see this most elegant building in action, finally!!

1. Meet the new Sierra Club President
http://sierraclub.org/currents/fahn.asp

2. Sierra Club 101, the long-awaited primer for new volunteers
http://sierraclub.org/101

3. A new Board of Directors list
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/committees/board_of_directors.asp

4. An updated volunteer leaders directory
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/docs/volunteerleaders.doc

5. A call for nominations for the 2007 board
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/committees/call_for_nominations_board.asp

6. New schedules for the Sierra Club Training Academy
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/leaders/training/

and the Sierra Student Coalition summer trainings
http://www.ssc.org/trainings.html

7. New talking points on forest fires and the horrendous energy bill.
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/talking/

8. New stories, art for chapter and group newsletters.
http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/go/tools/newsletters/

To Kern-Kaweah Chapter page, and Roadrunner Newsletter on-line and links to local issue items

Sierra Club, California Chapters

The Sierra Club Home Page

Owens Peak Webmistress
Janet Westbrook

Updated5/08