Daily Neet Beat
When we walked into our rooms last night at the Mt Williamson Motel and Basecamp , I immediately knew the person that owned the place cared. The rooms were spotless and clean, our resupply buckets were already in the room, and there were many personal touches like sheets to put over the quilts on the bed for laying out stuff in your pack. They also personally wash your laundry (included with the resupply package) and recycle your supply buckets.
Cris “Strider” Chater , the owner, has a very interesting personal story (click on link if interested) and you can see she is involved with everything at the motel. She really wants this to be a stop for hikers on the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. Although she has only owned this place for 3 years, the word is out. I read about how great this place was to stay on several FB pages and I highly recommend using this place as a jumping off or resupply point for hiking in the Sierras. It is a great “Basecamp”.
Part of Cris’s story involves the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. As part of the business, she contributes to the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation and there is information about the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep in every room. The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are a separate subspecies from the Desert bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep which Ray and I are more familiar with. The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep were on the brink of extinction in 1995 due to disease, unregulated hunting, and predation from mountain lions. Their numbers were down to 100 sheep. In 2000, the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was listed as an endangered subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. Due to efforts of the federal government, the foundation and other groups, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep numbers are now up to about 600 sheep and they are poised to achieve recovery. I love success stories like this but vigilance is still needed to make sure there is a complete recovery.
We enjoy our zero day.
Just the FactsZero Day in Independence, CA at the Mt Williamson Motel and Basecamp
Photos of the Day
Hum. But what about the quail in the mural? Who will speak for the delicious quail?
No fears for the delicious California quail. There are 3.8 million of them worldwide. Maybe there is no Foundation for them because the birds keep saying “chi-CAH-go” which makes people in California think the quail really want to be in the Midwest….