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Renfrew & Hiker's Explorations Around (mostly) California
photo by LindaJaneHiker
Email: renfrewsciencelife@gmail.com YouTube: @renfrewsciencelife.com Facebook: Renfrew Science Life
A view of the Piute Mountains in the southern section of the Sierra Nevada taken during a little excursion in April 2023 trying to connect to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from Hwy 14 at the Dove Springs area in Kern County. After a few "Oh-oh!" moments and some work-arounds I connected to the trail. I was taken by the views of the Piutes and now inspired to go exploring over there. The tallest peaks in this view are a bit over 8000', but I'm not sure which are seen here. Maybe Piute, Brown, or Liebel??? Note the Joshua Trees in the foreground and then the sage scrub covered hills. I love places that offer a diversity of environments within a short distance. This view traverses from the desert to the snowy mountains.
photo by LindaJaneHiker
Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park. This shot was taken in September of 2023 on a backpacking trip with friends Jayson and John. We started out from Agnew Meadows near Mammoth Mountain heading northward up the middle fork of the San Joaquin River before crossing over and into the Shadow Lake basin, then north to Thousand Island Lake. From there we continued northward up and over Island Pass and Donohue Pass then down into the Lyell Fork of the Toulumne River and on into Toulumne Meadows. After restocking from our supply drop there we turned south and climbed into the Cathedral Range. Eventually we entered the Merced River system following the water down to amazing Nevada Falls and into the Yosmite Valley.
photo by LindaJaneHiker
The "Wally Tree" stands on the ridge approaching the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell. photo by LindaJaneHiker
What tree is this? This is the Wally Waldron tree and it sits high up the trail from Vincent Gap on California Highway 2 nearing the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell. This beautiful tree is estimated to be 1500 years old and is named for the Boy Scouts leader Michael H. "Wally" Waldron (1). This is a magnificent specimen of a Limber Pine tree scientifically known as "Pinus flexilis" in Latin (Genus: Pinus putting it in the plant group commonly referred to as pine trees; species: flexilis, meaning flexible, supple, or pliable) . Waldron led a large group of scouts in a project to construct a monument to Lord Baden-Powell on the summit of the peak that bears his name. (2) The Boy Scouts to this day maintain the American flag on top of Mt. Baden-Powell. This peak was once known as North Baldy but was renamed in 1931 to honor the founder of boy scouting in America. Nearby Mt. Baldy is the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California and can be seen in the background in the flag photo.
Scientific names use Latin because this out-of-use language doesn't evolve and was the "lingua franca" of the middle ages for science (Ancient Greek is also used in science for the same reasons. It has been replace with Modern Greek which millions of people continue to use) (3). According to the online Oxford dictionary that means it is a mixture of languages used by people who do not speak the same native language. This naming system was devised by Carolus Linnaeus and established with the publication of his "Species Plantarum" in 1753 and "Species Naturae, 10th edition" in 1758 (4) . Linnaeus was an interesting person, renowned in both medicine and botany and one of the founders of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1739. His work in taxonomy, the science of classification, especially of organisms, influenced both Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin. Linnaeus asserted that "a country’s welfare depended on science-based administration."(5) I like that.
(1) https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-wanderer/five-famous-trees-to-visit-around-socal
(4) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus/Other-contributions
(5) https://universalium.en-academic.com/241980/Linnaeus%2C_Carolus
Below- Renfrew on top of Mt. Baden-Powell. The flag photo credit to an anonymous friendly hiker.
Standing on top of Mt. Baden-Powell with Mt. San Antonio, "Mt. Baldy", over my shoulder and next to the American flag maintained there by the "Boy Scouts of America". This is a steep climb switchbacking up almost 3000' in about 4 miles. I say "about" because posted distances on the trail don't agree with each other and they don't agree with trail guides, so I averaged them. It's a good workout through forest all the way including oaks at the bottom and a selection of conifers all the way to the top. The views are worth the effort.
photo by LindaJaneHiker
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