As I wrote in a previous blog about our experience in getting into Wishon-and making the final decision of staying turned out to be well worth it in the long run.
We did tour around to see some of the worlds largest trees, but I think the memorable was inside the campground itself. As I mentioned in our first few days there we had a Mountain Lion cross our path as I was cooking lunch one day. She meander right across the road and up the hillside-not caring in the least that we were around.
A few nights later, were were woken by this most eerie sound. It sounded like at kitten meowing-but in a man’s deep voice. It kept it up for several minutes. Later on-we learned that it was a lion cub crying for his momma. Leah thought it was an animal hurt and wanted to see what it was-Brian made her go back to bed.
On another night, I was awaken to our bear proof trash canister lid banging several times. Knowing we had no one camped near us-we knew it was not human. After talking with a park ranger-we learned that it was a bear. Of course I was too chicken to get out of bed to investigate! As for Brian-he snored right through it and Leah heard it-but curled tighter under the cover!
As you enter into Wishon Campground there is a split in the road; one heads right into the campground itself, and the upper road goes to a day-use parking lot for fisherman and a closed lock gate. Behind that locked gate about 3/4 mile is a community called Doyle Springs (establish in 1916). What we thought was just a few small cabins-we later learned that there are actually 50 homes back there. The community is very private and won’t hesitate to directly tell you that you are trespassing and to turn around.
Anyways one Saturday morning after Brian wakes up, he looks out and all of a sudden started to count at least 7 sheriff’s vehicles going towards the community. A few minutes later, parked next to us was a fire truck, a few private vehicles (EMT’s) and eventually Porterville’s ambulance. So curiosity got the best of us and we had see what was going on.
We learned that one of the gentleman in that community had boarded himself in his home and was threatening to burn it down. Fearing not only for his safety-but the safety of many others, including us campers, the cavalry was called in (meaning every deputy, EMT and Fireman). What was thought would only be a few hours turned into an 8 hour stand off. Unfortunately the poor guy gave in and shot himself. So our heart went out to those in that very remote community…..
As our time was drawing close to an end, we had seen Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, checked out “Giants of 100 Trail”, hiked the trail inside the campground. The last thing to explore was the forest road in our campground. They hadn’t open the road to disperse camping yet, due to fire danger extreme. So we hiked around the gate and knew we had that section of the forest to all our selves….well sort of…..
We are walking along and I’m shooting pictures of spring flowers that are blooming all over the place. The road is just like the rest of the roadways around here; switching back and forth, slowly climbing higher and higher. Enjoying ourselves immensely, listening to birds singing. Then I think I hear a different type of noise, like something huffing. Brian and I both stop to listen, then all of a sudden just below us we heard this very load ROAR! we looked at each other, hear another ROAR, concluded that yep it’s a bear, and an unhappy one! So we turned around, I grabbed Brian’s hand he’s trying to keep me calm and I’m in panic mode! We walk back in the direction we came from-not wanting to keep going and crossing that Bears path. As we are heading back-a second panic button hits me, for now I realize that the bear could still probably sense us-since we have to meander below it on our way back down! Brian keeps assuring me that it’s not following us, but we both keep looking back and listening. We think it was a momma with cubs and she was warning us that we were just a bit too close for comfort. We did make it back safely to the campground. We soon realized that this was actually our first time ever hearing a bear out in the wild-so how cool was that-after the fear leaves you?
We again ran into another Forest Ranger as he was going around to make sure that all campers leaving had put out their campfires. He informs us that they are expecting some very heavy rains in the area and that the road into Wishon could get closed off due to mud slides.
So we opted to leave a few days early so not to get stuck up in the mountains. We leave with the most memorable of memories so far on our trip across California.
Next stop: Yosemite!!
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