ENFIA Interpreter February 1, 2021 Vol. 3 ​ ​ ​ A Message from the station and Silver Lake Cabin. If any of you have interest in participating in President these activities please contact Carl or The Board wishes to thank all of you Karen. for staying with us while we navigate Stay safe and enjoy fresh air. these uncertain times. We are eager to get back to exploring the Eldorado “Bad weather always looks worse thru National Forest with you once we are a window” Tom Lehrer able to do so and hope the arrival of spring and a coherent vaccination Larry Moore President policy will allow us to do so. Meet Our USFS Liaison, While resuming our interpretive Kristi Schroeder activities and opening the Carson Pass by Board Member Keli Gwyn Information Station is our goal, your safety is our first priority. We at ENFIA are privileged to have had Kristi Schroeder serving as our With the Forest Service as our USFS liaison for the past twenty partner, we will be establishing safety years—and hopefully for many more to come. Her vast experience, wealth guidelines for resuming our activities. of knowledge, and ability to quickly pinpoint the core issues in a situation In the meantime, Carl Gwyn is are tremendous assets that serve us leading a group looking at offering well. Having worked with Kristi this activities along the Hwy 50 corridor past year, I’ve had the opportunity to and Karen Heine will be leading a see her on the job and to get a peek at Carson Pass group for managing the one of her off-duty interests during the excellent interpretive training what the US Forest Service does workshop she presented this past and how to interpret and explain December. Eager to find out more, I our methods, projects, and the asked Kristi three questions that give environmental issues to the public. us all a better understanding of what makes her so cool. Here are her 2. When did you join the Forest answers in her own words… Service, and what positions have you held? 1. How did you first become I am unusual for a Forest Service interested in our national employee in that my entire career forests? has been in one forest. I started out My family recreated on the working seasonally in Recreation Eldorado and other National in various areas; such as, Forests. When I was in college developed recreation, off highway several of my friends worked vehicle programs, volunteer summers for the Forest Service, so management, and conservation I checked into it and applied for education. I advanced into several jobs in Biology and Recreation Management and Recreation on various forests. eventually became the Visitor Recreation on the Eldorado NF Center Director in 2000. I started called me back first. My degree is working closely with ENFIA as in Conservational Biology and I the liaison at that point. In 2006, I was intending to become a moved into Public Affairs when Biologist. After several summers the Center was closed. I have working in Recreation, I was set to worked with volunteers throughout return the next season in Biology my entire career and with ENFIA when the for the last 20 years. I periodically take on details (special assignments) as a Recreation or Resource Officer in one of the districts and I also serve as a Public Information Officer on wildfire incidents. Cleveland Fire happened, and they 3. What do you do for fun when did not hire a Biology crew that you’re not wearing your many year. I returned to Recreation and USFS hats? my supervisor moved on and I For 11 years I was heavily ended up in her job. The fast pace involved with the Boy Scouts of and complexity of the Recreation America as an Assistant program hooked me, and I never Scoutmaster and Advancement ended up working as a Biologist. Coordinator. I stayed with them My degree and background were for several years after my son aged still very useful for understanding and eagled out until they could find a replacement. My current is the highly abridged story of Monte Wolfe. Greg got my attention and interest by sharing his stories and experiences deep in the wilderness and at the cabin. One of the things these rangers would do back in the day was to put ropes across the Mokelumne River to help the Tahoe to Yosemite hikers. Amazing! Sorry got off track there. Doing some research we determined that it was too late in the year, 2016, passion is rehabbing wildlife with to attempt this expedition. We Sierra Wildlife Rescue. I patiently waited for Summer 2017 to rehabilitate Raptors (hawks, owls, etc.) and serve as the Raptor Team arrive. Leader, as a member of their Education Team, as the Director of Summer arrived after a long snowy Avian Care, and as a Board winter, now we had to wait for roads Member. Keeps me busy and I to open, creeks flows to reduce, we love working with these majestic are not patient men but wait we must. birds. Mid August we were ready to head out, we packed enough gear for Summit City Canyon and approximately 4 days. It would be Monte Wolf’s Cabin about a 30 mile trip on a not well Adventure maintained trail and some nasty cross (part 1) country to boot. By Mark Sandperl Gear packed, we headed out starting First a little background. In 2016 I at the Evergreen Trail, near Upper became friends with a man, Greg, Blue Lake. The trail heads down to who among other things had been a the old town site of Summit City, then Wilderness Ranger in the mid to late continues on following Summit City 1970s. He told me about Monte Wolf’s cabin and his desire to return Creek, finally dumping into the there. Monte built said cabin in what Mokelumne River. The trail starts at is now the Mokelumne Wilderness. 8200 feet and ends at 5400 feet, a lot Monte was a recluse, trapper and a of down on the way in, you know fishing guide, and he disappeared off what that means? A lot UP on the way the face of the earth sometime in the out. The trail was in pretty good shape early 1940s, the cabin remains. That and easy to follow until we passed by Telephone Gulch. Not only were there my boots off and crossed in the water. LOTS of downed trees, the trail was I guess we were following a “trail” just plain overgrown and/or just gone. there used to be one here. This was The rain of course complicated things, once part of the Lake Tahoe to we didn’t know where we were going Yosemite trail system. As long as we to camp. After about 8 miles we kept SC Creek to our right (westish), gross navigation was pretty easy but picking the route with the least obstacles became the goal. At times we were on trails and sometimes we were just winging it, often learning what lives between the 40 foot contour lines. Let me digress for a moment, our target, Monte’s cabin, found a little flat spot, just big enough was only a tad over 1.9 miles away for our two tents, then the sun came from our campsite, crow miles that is. out and there would be no more rain. Our round trip journey today, sadly, Meals cooked, stories told and called would be quite a bit more than 3.8 home, yep we had cell service, Mt miles. Reba was in the line of sight from where the camp was set up. Just a little side note, while heading down the canyon we were counting and taking the location of downed trees for an upcoming trail maintenance expedition. We got into the 20s before it started to rain and we gave up. After a nice warm night, we awoke to a brisk morning that would soon change into heat but we were not there yet. We had coffee and breakfast and packed our day packs. We planned to head deeper into the We needed to leave the “trail” all bowels of the Mokelumne together and start to head north/east Wilderness. The first major obstacle cross country towards the cabin. We was crossing Summit City Creek. My chose an area that looked promising. sure footed friend was able to rock We had talked to a couple of people hop across, I on the other hand took about this, they all concurred this would be the most perilous point of different track than we were on the the journey. Our trek now took us way down, always good to have loops over exposed granite. You know what in your track logs. One more stop likes to live in the granite? before we got back to camp, we saw Rattlesnakes. And remember the heat that there is a spring listed on the I mentioned earlier? Hot exposed map, nothing like nice cold spring granite, with snakes, great! So now water to top off our water supply. We we were scrambling over boulders, got to the spring and the little stream climbing rock cliffs all the while that is running off of it. Greg stepped trying to avoid snakes. This part of over the stream while I was getting the journey was brutal, and I told my water bottles out to fill up. Wait myself I would NEVER do this again. what is that sound, barely audible We would climb up about 400 feet in over the bubbling stream sound? Yes just over two tenths of a mile when there was rattlesnake number 2, we called it quits.