NEW YEAR DESTINATIONS
Rex Burress
I see there was a New Year Day hike to North Peak in the Sutter Buttes. That was an ambitious destination to attain the 1,865 foot summit and be on top of things on the new year and prove you've got the sweat for it! Wouldn't you say, guide leader Mike Hubbartt?
Such an effort is commendable though, because it connects you with nature from a lofty viewpoint, and elevates the spirit on a new beginning. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings; nature's peace will flow into you like sunshine into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, and cares will fall away like autumn leaves.” So said John Muir. If you're incapacitated, choose a smaller destination, but be alert to the wonders of the world...as long as you can
Through the years, I've tried to have a local New Year's destination wherever I am. Each community has a special point of interest worth attaining for inspiration. When I lived at Westminister Retreat at the edge of Las Trampas Regional Park in Alamo, CA, the New Year Day destination was Eagle Peak at 1,720 feet, about the same as Sutter's ButteNorth Butte at 1,865. Naturalist Gary Bogue had popularized the annual occasion for Contra Costa County, and in addition to the grand view, nature sidelights made the oak and madrone forest highly interesting and photogenic. Many times I had stalked the golden eagle that landed with a kill on that hill.
Another particularly favorite wild spot near St. Helena, CA, was Fern Springs in the Mayacamas Mountains next to Sugarloaf State Park. The Fern Springs Trail wound along a heavily forested mountainside and finally went up and over a ridge once the rim of a crater, and then down into the basin centered with a bubbling spring of sweet water and an acre of giant, 8-foot Woodwardia Chain Fern. The view wasn't as far-reaching as elsewhere in the range, but the strenuous attainment was quite worthy of a memorable New Year Day experience. During the year that my family and I lived there at White Sulphur Springs Retreat, I added a staked, self-guiding nature trail into Fern Springs. The transition zone had it all; redwoods, oaks, fir, madrone, rare flowers, spring-fed creeks, hot sulphur springs, and exciting wildlife.
The Oakland Hills in the Bay Area has many park destinations for any day. Joaquin Miller Park has Lookout Point with a view, and nearby is the Fremont Monument from where Pathfinder John Fremont named the Golden Gate while camped at that spot in 1846—long before a bridge crossed the strait [1933]. Naturalist Paul Covel held a gathering there every year on Fremont's birthday. In upper Joaquin Miller Park is the Big Tree Trail where giant 32-feet-in-diameter coastal redwoods grew before they were cut in the 1860's. Stumps remain on “Trail of the Giants.” The secondary redwood forest now culminates at Redwood Peak, [1,619]. Short of climbing the tallest, Mt. Whitney (14,505), which is snowed-in on January 1, lesser peaks on west are good destinations.
Some outstanding places to visit on a New Year's Day is Oroville's North Table Mountain, [1,565]. The famous valley oak at the parking lot is a good choice even before wildflowers.
Botanist Wes Dempsey led a New Year's Day hike up to the 'caves' along the North Ridge in Bidwell Park for years. I was privileged to join one to see the Indian rock-shelter and the mortar holes one year, although the first blooming wildflowers in the “Banana Belt” micro-climate was the main objective. It is enthralling to see the first of something.
“ We must live through the dreary winter/ If we would value the spring;/ And the woods must be cold and silent/ Before the robins sing. The flowers must be buried in darkness/ Before they can bud and bloom,/ And the sweetest, warmest sunshine/ Comes after the storm and the gloom.”