Sonora-Mono Wagon Trail (Tuolumne County, California)

 

My next destination was a lot different than what I had expected. The website I had found some of today's trails on listed this as the Trail of the Ancient Dwarfs (apparently, "Dwarves" is a Tolkien-invented pluralization of the word). From the description, I was expecting to visit a grove of diminutive ancient pines. While I would never exactly find what I was looking for, I did find an interesting hike along a short distance of an abandoned but historic roadway.

The road leading to the trailhead ends at a barricade blocking off a bridge over Niagara Creek. I park the jeep in a nearby clearing and make my way past the barricade and across the bridge. The route is a paved road, but it is in a state of disrepair. The short write-up that I had read about the trail mentions that it follows a portion of the "Historic Sonora-Mono Wagon Trail". I guess this is it.

The heavy snows this winter (and possibly many winters before) have forced several of the trees to bow under the weight. Some of them now form arches over the abandoned road. The pavement is cracked and broken in m any places and the forest is encroaching on both sides. 

I follow the road around a sharp steep curve and arrive at what was once a trail register box on a pole. The guide mentions this, but it has been beaten and bent into something almost recognizable. The road follows along some granite outcroppings as it passes above the current highway 108. This must have been a pretty hard climb for horses pulling wagons in decades past or even early automobiles.

Continuing on, I pass a number of boulders that have tumbled down the hillside and onto the road as well as long fallen trees, whose trunks are disintegrating with time. It's always interesting to me to visit places like this. It reminds me of hikes long ago with my dad down the partially flooded roads in and around what is now Barkley Lake in Kentucky.

Reaching an area of the road that has likely washed away, I enter a make-shift shooting gallery. Campers/gun-enthusiasts have placed bulls eyes on a dirt hillside and presumably empty their magazines from across the clearing. I explore the area a find a number of stone fire rings and dirt tracks, but eventually decide to head back the way I came.

All along the way, I searched the hillsides for anything that might be thought of as an ancient dwarf, but few trees meet that description. While I find that a bit disappointing, it was still an interesting hike of about 2.5 miles. As I made my way back, I looked carefully for any alternative trails that might lead to the described grove, but I find nothing. I'm not sure if I missed the trail or if the description and name of the trail are just misleading.