Vacation/ Destination The Land of Ishi

[Ishi]

In a few hours we will be boarding a plane headed to California. We will be visiting Yosimite and Sequoia national parks. We have been wanting to go there for a few years now and this year it worked to go. My wife told me to plan the trip because she has been planning our daughters wedding for the last 10 months. So I did with a slight detour. I know how much she has wanted to go to the home of Ishi so I'm taking her there for a few days. Joking aside I have wanted to go there for many years so this was my chance. I've always been interested in the history of bowhunting and how it started. When I was a youngster growing up on a large farming operation I was shooting a bow at a young age. Some how mom let me order a book and I ordered the biography of Ishi in Two Worlds. When I receive the book it wasn't what I thought it would be. I never read the book but some how kept it. When I started to get serious about bowhunting in 1985 I remembered I had the book and I dug around the house until I found it. So around 20 years later I finally read it. This link has the best timeline on the story of Ishi.

- [ ] http://history.library.ucsf.edu/ishi.html#recent_times

So the good Lord willing with much more to come we invite you to tag along with as we visit and experience the land of Ishi

 

[203ntyp]

I envy you & your wife being able to make that trip. I love the biography of ISHI, would have been cool to live in that era and meet him.

 

[Ishi]

The Last Yahi Indian Marker

The plane landed in Sacramento so we jumped into a rental car and started the two hour drive to our base camp in Chico Ca. Along the way we stopped in Oroville to the site where Ishi came out of the wilderness. The day Bowhunting started was August 29 1911

He left his homeland and wandered many miles starving they found him at a slaughterhouse close to where this marker was placed by the Parks Commission in 1966. One of Ishi's friends was his doctor Saxton Pope he became very interested in bowhunting so Ishi taught him the ways of the bow and arrow.

Thank goodness for Google maps. The marker is deep in a residential neighborhood

 

[Ishi]

Sierra Nevada Brewery

Many summer nights were spent searching the internet on the Yahi Indians and Ishi to get tuned up for our visit. Also much was researched on the wilderness itself as far as access goes. There is only forest service roads and they aren't maintained very good. Time will tell. When we travel we try to find local eateries of the area. I found out Sierra Nevada Brewery is in Chico so we booked a tour through the facility. Afterwards we dined in their Taproom and enjoyed a burger and a fresh brew.



The place is top notch in appearance and not a speck of dust to be found. They are very proud of the brewery and they let us see it all. They said by the brewery association they are the third largest Macro Brew in America. After the 90 minute tour we got to sample 7 different brews. It is a highly recommended tour if you are ever in the area.
Today we head to the wilderness and apprehension is high in a good way.

 

[Ishi]

Deer Creek

We headed up Highway 32 to the access road. It didn't take long to figure that California doesn't mark their secondary roads. We couldn't find it. A fella was park at a lookout over looking Deer Creek canyon. I asked him if he was a local he said yes but he had no knowledge of a road that through the wilderness. So we kept on driving to Mineral because there was access also. We talked to a couple on bikes on Turner Mountain about the access. He thought he knew where it was so started in that direction.

I was really getting discouraged as we tried to find it thinking is this leg of the trip going to be a bust.
All of a sudden I seen a street sign that said Poderosa Way. I told the Mrs I seen this sign on the internet. The sign said Black Rock was 25 miles. I said to her make sure you are buckled up cause we doing this. This is all for now I have to get the next story compiled and pics uploaded.


Deer Creek Falls


Deer Creek Canyon

 

[Central Iowa]

I always love an adventure depending on how many flat tires are involved. Enjoy, looks like beautiful country thanks for taking us along!

 

[Rjack]

Sounds like a great trip. Ever wonder if you were born 100 years to late?

 

[Windwalker]

Tks

Tks for taking us along!

 

[Ishi]

The Road to Black Rock and the Wilderness

The Yahi lived in the drainages of Mill Creek and Deer Creek. Many time they were referred to as the Mill Creek Indians.
Back to the sign Black Rock was 25 miles away. The road was gravel and very rough in places and narrow with several creek crossings. The drive was very slow but it was doable. Finally we got to a junction that said Black Rock was 8 miles. After one mile we were on top of the mountain and the rest was down hill.
Now it was very steep much rougher and narrower than the first leg. Over 20 miles we only meet one vehicle. The road was so rough and steep I had to keep my foot on the brakes for 6 miles if not the rough rocky would bounce us off the side. Several times the wife said make sure you stay over. Once we started down there was no place to turn around.


The next pic is Black Rock from the top of the mountain and we didn't even know what it was. From the top it looked like a speck.



This is What Black Rock looked like once we got to the bottom. Ishi reported to Pope that the rock was sacred to the Yahi and his birth place was close.




After Black Rock the roads were much better which made for less stress. It was like the gravel roads in Iowa.

About a mile down the road we hit the northeast edge of the wilderness.


The next post will be the rest of Saturday's visit and Sunday's visit to the wilderness.
Glad to report no flat tires yet

 

[203ntyp]

Awesome, I'm enjoying all the photos and updates. Thanks!

 

[muddy]

Cool post bud

 

[Daver]

Wow, great read so far. Thanks for sharing this adventure with all of us, it looks a super vacation.

 

[Ishi]

The Rest of the Journey to the Ishi Memorial and the Narrows

Once we drove by the Black Rock and the boundaries to the Ishi we had to climb the mountain that divides Mill and Deer creek. As said before the roads were much better. On the Narrows this memorial was made from rocks from both creeks.

There were many things people left on the memorial. The memorial is on the divide between the creeks. The road is the old Lassen Trail used during the gold rush. The wagon trains feared this section as they moved west.

Pics from the Narrows



The road trip was approximately 55 miles. We meet our third car and he said the road did go to Highway 32. Funny thing once we reach 32 we were two miles where we meet the local earlier that had no clue a road went through the Ishi.
Sunday we went to Lassen National Park and took a 4 mile hike to where Mill Creek comes out of the mountains.
In the book Ishi said they went there many Summer's for cooler temps and game to hunt


After the park visit we went to a TH and walked along Mill Creek.




Its time to check out as we are in the Yosimite area. I wish I planned three days there but with four parks to visit time was short.
I hope you all enjoyed the thread as much as we did on our visit. I wish everyone a safe and successful season.

 

[Fishbonker]

A whole new meaning to "drive it like you rented it".

Nice photos, specially the IBA shirt. I have not read the book but from what I have read in your posts that photo represents the time from the start of recreational bow hunting to the present.

 

[madplotter]

Just incredible. Thank you for this thread.