Forbidden Universe
Paranormal => The Paranormal & Ghost Society => Topic started by: AngelOfThyCosmos on February 12, 2018, 08:34:51 PM
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Two weeks later and we were already back at it again ready to explore more of Summit Canyon so we could find more remnants of the town. I have to say during my years spent in the high sierras it becomes an obsession especially with all the great things to see in that mountain range never a dull moment. We had talked about perhaps hiking down to lower Summit City. Keep in mind this town had a lower and upper section separated by a couple of miles.
But Summit Canyon is rugged so its a bit of a workout to get to it because if you go further into the canyon you also have to hike further out of it. For me its not an easy task with a blown knee, torn tendons in my ankle etc so getting to do those types of hikes is something ill have to work up to. Hopefully by next year ill be climbing peaks once again which is one of my more favorite interest.
But Chris had told me about the lower hike and he was right its pretty intense. Not as steep or treacherous as some of my other hikes but one wrong step on a rock, tree root or muddy area and you might have to be carried out of here. Parts of the lower part of town are very overgrown you can lose site of the trail easily and its not really at all very maintained which is the case with most trails at this elevation in the sierras.
Chris and Mike picked me up again we had discussed Raymond City and Pleasant Valley. Its not that hard to get to when you split to Blue Lakes to the right prior to that you just go left. There are allot of lakes, ponds and other gems back here. But we did not go to Raymond City we all decided instead to take a second shot at Summit City. Do not get me wrong Mount Raymond its awesome I climbed it twice, seen a white wolf here, camped on a hidden lake and had explored that area well but still did not find the town so in the future will work with Raymond City.
But on this adventure we wanted to explore more of Summit City see if we could find any mines, gravesites, foundations and maybe make it down to the lower part of the town. That was our goal not that anything remains of lower town its possible we might find something since all of us do like to leave the trail. I love going primitive in the sierras that is how I find dens, hermit camps, caves and even most of my bigfoot evidence. Its risky though believe me you could face getting lost, run into some bears or end up hurting yourself because once you leave the trail there are hazards trust me on this. So do not do what we do unless you are experienced outdoors.
I have done allot of crazy things in this area before climbing the cliffs, crawling in dens, pushing through red brush etc and this canyon can turn people into true adventurers but it can make or break you to. I mean I have read some stories about people losing the trail, having issues finding the town etc. Luckily we already been here so we had a good idea of what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. So we ended up parking up at upper Blue Lake so we could hit the Evergreen Trail.
Lower Summit City California
The Evergreen Trail is really nice but it does climb for a bit then you can descend over the lip into Summit Canyon. This time around not as many flowers out as a matter in fact the creek did not have as much water flowing around it. When we parked up here there was not many campers then again it was not Labor Day. The less people that are up here the better that is really when you see the strangest things in this range.
We would only come across a couple of hikers with a dog. I knew we would run into them eventually because I seen the human and dog tracks ahead of us but they were not heading back. Generally most people go for hikes with there dogs do not hike for to long. Some people just go out for a stroll in the woods so I did expect to run into the dog and its owners eventually which we did about a half hour into the hike.
But from that point on we never seen another soul I mean its so desolate out here chances are if you backpacked then spent the night up here you might be the only human in that canyon for miles. It was a gorgeous day the guys had coats on it was cool like natural air conditioning. I was not cold but that wind cuts right through you and it was much windier then our first jaunt back here.
We had gotten to the upper part of town then veered off a little to go look for the Glad Tidings Mine. As a matter in fact you cant see the mine near the trail unless your willing to climb a marshy hillside full of brush. Once you get past that you will see a massive mountainside of rocks and crushed up ore. You can tell that this is a mine the dump pile is spread out in every direction for a few hundred feet in this one area.
As a matter in fact there are also two stone walls the masonry work is marvelous all the stones fit like lock and key. But in between the walls is about 6 to 8 foot path. If you follow the aisle between the two walls you can kind of seen what appears to be a collapsed mine entrance in the hillside. This was one of the more major mines in Summit City its probably why the town existed in the first place. If you had a way to get through all that collapsed rock there probably are some silver shafts in the mountain no doubt.
There is just allot of crushed up rocks allot of them probably were removed from the mine then thrown anywhere on the hillside around it. This was a great find and glad Chris found it because a couple weeks ago we never found any mines. I heard about them but never even knew where to look or what they might look like. I mean allot of the walls at this mine site are collapsed yes but the two walls that stand are probably one of the most extensive remnants remaining of this little silver boom town so we must preserve it through our work because so much is already gone.
I mean honestly you would never think about climbing a three foot steep hill above the trail pushing through brush and stepping through wet marshland to find something but we did. Because we did we seen a site very few folks will ever get to see not even hikers can see it because its not on the trail.
I also found an old wooden board along the Evergreen Trail not sure if it came from the town but its very aged at least a 100 years or more old. I did not see that board last time. But see the town only gives up a little so if its a board or a post or a rock wall will take it because that might be all that we have left to remember Summit City by.
The guys and I worked really hard we spent a couple hours id say trudging through meadows and marshland. But we were trying to find remnants of the town at times we lost the trail so we just would cut across to get to where we wanted to go. Because allot of times Chris GPS's certain coordinates to certain sites but the thing is that once you follow it the thing might take you through rugged terrain. So we were on hunt for Adaline Winaford Pleasant's Gravesite.
In turn that took us through a very marshy meadow where we had to climb up this hill just to get dry land in the middle of it then cut back over to the woods. The thing about pushing through tall grass and high brush in marshland is what lurks in it. You have massive holes hidden under tall grass, water flowing everywhere call them mini creeks, mountain lions, bears all which hide in it and of course tickets. But I also know that hiking in these marsh lands in the sierras reveal good bigfoot tracks because some of the earth is muddy and soft so it allows you to track what lurks back here.
We were on a primitive trail at one point through the brush it was hard to follow. I mean its easy to lose the path when its only a foot wide, overgrown on both sides and there is brush growing all over. At one time we had to make our own paths and there was this area that dipped down for three feet where a seasonal creek ran through. Mike jumped it but with my weight that could mean if I slipped I could break a leg so I climbed down it to be safe then back up. There was holes everywhere you had to hike through here staring at the ground at one point Chris stepped in a hole it probably was a couple feet deep just a black hole in the ground with grass growing almost over it so yeah definitely some ankle breaking hiking.
Its easy to get turned around here but the deeper you hike down into this canyon the better the views. I seen quite a few peaks some still had a bit of snow on them. Snow can stay on these peaks in this region all year around its pretty awesome. I am glad that Chris and Mike are not sissies when it comes to hiking because honestly I love primitive hiking you will find more if you do it believe me because the sierras hold their secrets well.
Also while in the woods I found allot of berry bushes with berries on them. I found some fresh cub stool then not to far away we found a much large pile which was probably momma bear. So that told me there was a momma and her cub in the area. Then again I found dozens of piles of bear droppings everywhere for about a half of mile on the trail. Their are bear back here we never seen any but when you find over fifty piles of shit and meadows of berry bushes its safe to say that this is a bears playground. Just like in the canyon above Summit City is a trail you hike down to the Fourth Of July Lake which is very similar. Allot of berry bushes and bear droppings but never have I seen a bear in this area.
Not sure we would want to run into a bear and her cubs but based on the stool I examined you could tell there was some cubs in the area and also some 600lbers as well. So you should be careful if you hike in Summit City with winter coming up people are going to see them because they will be looking for food and to eat many of the berries that grow around Summit City just a FYI.
Their are allot of animal paths in the marshy area the meadows are lush because dozens of tributaries flow through them. When some dry out they leave holes but in one case there was a dirt path where not much foliage grew along where Chris pointed out a track to me. It was a giant track over an inch deep yeah I get it the ground is softer here but me being 220lbs did not even leave an impression here yet this track was pressed over an inch into the ground. My entire foot fit in the track I take a size 12 this thing was longer then my foot and wider. Bigfoot? Hard to say for sure but sometimes when you find large tracks in the sierras you tend to ask yourself do I really want to run into whatever made that?
Eventually we came somewhere onto a trail and were in the woods which the GPS marked the grave site of a 14 year old girl Mr Ackers great aunt who was married and sadly had her life cut short. The coordinates only gave us a general idea Chris said we would have to scour the woods to find the grave along with a memorial. I read that this is the only gravesite in Summit City but I beg to differ.
The area we were looking for Adaline Winaford Pleasant's gave may have been a cemetery. I seen allot of different small piles of stones everywhere. Some of them looked like primitive gravesites I see plenty here out west. We may never known unless we can dig around find bone fragments. Otherwise they just look like piles of rocks and while some may think hey this is natural no that is not the case. The settlers gathered volcanic and granite rocks on the steeps sides to the canyon they did not just magically make there way here. You needed these rocks to build cabins, walls etc and yes even for gravesites.
Records were not kept if a miner died you were buried right by the mine with a small pile of stones maybe a wood cross but chances are the winds or snow destroyed such wood markers. So what gets left is piles of stones with no name or even knowing who might be buried here.
But I did do some hiking around where Chris's coordinates were was a pile of stones some looked cut. But about 30' from there was a small stone ring. Its not a fire ring the stones have actually over the years sank into the earth and are halfway buried with a massive flat stone in the center of the ring. I think this is her gravesite and I think the memorial was once on top of that center stone. But maybe vandals took it Chris said it was concrete but in theory the newer memorial would have been but if someone took it then all you would have left is the original stones that were placed on the grave.
Their is allot of things people have robbed from Summit City there is no more cast iron stove pieces left behind, cabins no longer stand, mines are collapsed etc its a sad site to see that almost 90 percent of the town is simply gone. But there are some relics of the past for example Mike found some hand blown purple glass looks like it came from the neck of an old bottle good stuff while Chris found another square nail when we revisited the Williamson Cabin Site. So just because you do not see it does not mean nothing of the town remains it just means remnants of this town remain buried within the earth. When Mike was off the trail he found some rusty wiring to me it looked like it may have been a part of some old fencing I cant say for sure it was twisted and all but still an odd little find in such a remote area.
I cant say for sure we found this girls gravesite but it was really close to the coordinates and the trees from the book match up. So all the hiking we did through marshes may have really taken us to a really special site maybe a town cemetery. In Chris's book you see a picture of the grave with the two trees one is larger then the other. So I do think we found it but hey could be wrong maybe we stumbled on the town cemetery. Even though archeologists documented this ghost town and platted it they still missed allot.
We would then make our descent into lower summit city but prior to that we once again breaked at the Williamson Cabin site where we had dinner. I had a turkey sub, cantaloupe, beer, fruit bars and a bunch of other goodies. I wanted to fuel up because the hike down to the lower part of town is strenuous but the further you descent the better the views are and pretty soon you start to hike along a deep ravine where deer creek flows.
We went about a mile down the trail till we could see Devil's Corral. Their is a tributary called Devil's Creek that flows through there. The scenery back here is stellar while I have seen some peaks I stood on Devil's Corral is phenomenal I mean some of the canyon cliffs where these peaks tower above us there are 2000' cliffs. I mean when you stand below them you feel small plus anything could be down there at the bottom of the canyon. As you descend you can see the entire canyon below you just the tops of the trees, cliffs off in the distance and it just seems to go on for miles.
We almost made it to the bottom of Devil's Corral to be honest with you I want to sometime get back here with the guys maybe do some hiking along the creek. If there ever was an area that bigfoot or a tribe of them would be this place would be it. Its like a jungle down in here and you could see that from a mile away looking into the canyon. Not much remains of Lower Summit City but we can find the town site I can do EMF readings and EVP. The foundations may be gone due to the great thaw of 1923 which flash floods wiped out the lower part of town but the ghosts have not gone anywhere guaranteed.
We had to start thinking about getting back to the vehicle the sun was going down fast behind the mountains so it gets dark early here. At night your sure as shit not going to see anything although it might be fun for a bigfoot encounter this is an area you can get turned around easy in. Even if you were to climb above the canyon there are cliffs everywhere and its either steep or simply to overgrown. So your sort of trapped back here once nightfall sets in and with parts of the trail being nonexistent who knows where you might end up.
But not to far from the lower part of town along the trail are small dump piles or small hillsides that had some placer mining. Its possible the miners spent a few days here and there seeking silver but found nothing therefore they left behind some small ditches, gulches etc. its possible if they found more silver up here this town may have been around for much longer but there was no revitalization efforts here because simply the ore was not that high of a grade. When the mines ran out the town went bust and most of the mines here were not as profitable as the Comstock Lode or other boom towns.
It was an interesting hike though we found a tree with this weird stuff growing from it. A bunch of large truffles man I wish I knew which ones were magic mushrooms lol. But we also found a tree with huge claw marks in it from a bear and another tree where the bark was pulled off. Like I said the bear are abundant here but for some reason on this hike they all were probably hiding either that or entertaining themselves by watching us.
Another thing is many of the bigger trees appeared to be down the closer we hiked to the lower part of town. That is why the trail was getting more rugged you had downed trees, rocks etc on it. We will definitely come back to hike to the bottom of the canyon eventually only next time there wont be no marsh explorations lol will just hit the Evergreen then descend down to the bottom of the canyon to look for the rest of Summit City if there is anything left. Chances are we may have to get to the town site then push through some foliage to maybe find a notched log, foundation etc. Its all trial by error at this point just because nobody has found anything don't mean we wont.
So its a work in progress and there is still more to see. This project is more tedious because its a spread out ghost town hidden in the Mokelumne Wilderness. This is a massive canyon and with all the snow melt, creeks etc its also very overgrown so remnants of the towns existence are rare.
For example we found a pile of stones with a wood post. The wood is really old its not smooth like a forestry trail marker either. I know that the town had a few corrals maybe this was an old post from one but I cant say for sure. But if you walk along the trail you will find a series of rocks you might even see some wood that may have been a part of a structure. Chris also showed me the Fugit Foundation again too its just a dug out with collapsed stone walls around it. What is fascinating about the structure is that you could tell it was built into the hillside so that meats or foods could be stored under the cabin perhaps so they would not spoil which is common in ghost towns even here in Nevada I have seen it like with Mark Twains homestead in Unionville.
Another thing I want to mention is we found an old wagon road after hiking through the marshes. We stumbled upon it and you can clearly see it meandering through the woods. I thought this was a nice find as well and I have no idea if this is part of the original route that went through the town. But you could clearly see that it was an old road wide enough almost for a vehicle but small enough for a stage to fit on it.
It might not be much but these little things are what is left of the existence of a town. When the thaw occurred in 1923 allot of structures were washed away and debris was carried. But this road probably has existed for a century and half still visible today. Back in the day you had horses with wagons traversing them and allot of times these roads were the only means to get to and from town. So the road is more symbolic to the town then anything.
On our way hiking back we had quite a good mile of climbing till we veered off to the Evergreen Trail. I seen on the trail someone had taken a stick and wrote in the dirt BSA not sure what that is maybe someone's initials. But I thought it was a strange find in the sense that there was nobody up here and I never seen it earlier. But its possible we skirted around it with all the primitive hiking we did. People have a tendency to mark up the wilderness time to time for example we found a heart carved into a tree it was in some really thick bark. Sometimes people write messages on hiking trails to so who knows what the BSA means.
About a mile maybe a little over that before we turned off on the trail or even seen the BSA I heard two long screams. It sounded like a woman from afar but its hard to tell. Yeah there are birds that make odd sounds in the sierras but you can tell the difference this was not a tweet or chirp this was a scream. It was a couple miles away. You have to understand that these canyons carry sounds so if bigfoot does a vocalization it travels for miles if someone gets killed screaming same thing. Their is no way to pin point certain sounds I can estimate the distance but I cant tell you where it came from since sound travels through the canyon like a wind tunnel.
But being what we experienced our first time then the large track and downed brush on both expeditions something was making these strange noises. Summit City is a creepy ghost town I always feel watched back here its not an ill feeling but its so remote, overgrown and at one point there is areas the trees grow so close together in the woods that they are dark even during the day because the sun gets blocked out. When I hear shrills, screams and other sounds I cant recognize you have to wonder what made them if there are no humans around.
Over the years in places like Summit City I have found peoples clothing hanging off trees/brush like last year ago on a camping trip my son and I pushed through the forest to some hidden lake no trails just wilderness. We came out near a clearing that had a tree a few hundred years old but hidden back behind it in the bushes was a woman's sock then further away her underwear then a bra etc. People in the sierras vanish sometimes all that you find left are the clothes of whomever the person was. Summit City is just that kind of place there are certain things that never add up with it. Because so very little is known about this ghost town most people do not even know it exist and archeologist have no idea of everything that remains except for what they found but their is allot of things that remain unfounded to.
It will take sometime but when eventually I can get this on my website I am sure were going to find that there were some EVP's captured back here. Whether anything cryptid roams the canyon could be possible to between the downed brush, strange vocalizations and that track. Its all starting to come together and we definitely will make a third trip in the future to get to the bottom of Devil's Corral and look for anything that the great thaw did not destroy in the lower part of town. We probably wont be returning to next year. But I will say this is a spooky area I think if you were hiking alone back here you might get a bit spooked just sayin' between the seclusion, bigfoot, ghosts and how vast this canyon is. Anything could be back here hell a giant hungry bear waiting behind a tree to make a meal out of you for all I know lol.
The sunset on our way back was really nice the woods were almost orange but dim by the time we left in the vehicle it was almost dark I had just enough time to snap a photo of the purple dark sky behind upper blue lake before the mountains merely looked like dark shadows in the night. It was a productive day my legs were full of mud, feet were went and I was happy to just toke while riding home. We must had hiked about five miles so we covered allot of hidden areas in the canyon that probably most people will never get to see or that at least gets if your lucky a visitor once every so many years.
We did not have time to find a homestead or rather cabin that sits at upper blue lakes. I seen it many years ago but at night back here its so dark you cant even see your hand in front of your face. Mike drove around a bit but we did not find it maybe on our next trip will visit the cabin plus the old sawmill site. One thing though I did see at night was an old wooden barn because we took this back road between the two lakes. I tend to find that when I journey in the high sierras ill find old homesteads, barns, cabins and definitely corrals. Back in the day when Summit City was long gone then sheep herders and cattle ranchers came on in during the warmer months. Not much has changed and allot of these old ranches today still exist hidden in the wilderness its real House On The Prairie type of stuff love it!
When I had gotten home I had Chili's on the go I love that place its just good over all pub food. I had garlic mashed potatoes, garden salad, honey chipotle chicken fingers and some asparagus with onions and tomatoes. It was a really good meal and boy was I beat. I almost could not make it up that last hill before we made it to the vehicle had some serious hamstring spasms they were killing me. I have so many ailments going on and that is the one I hate most is the issues I get with my legs if they do not work I do not go anywhere. I was just happy to complete the expedition and I patted myself in the back because I never fell on this hike. It was so muddy and there was so many holes I am surprised that none of us wiped out wooo it was primitive back here. No less we had a good time made some good memories and in the future will be able to put a nice compilation of our adventure together.
Between Upper and Lower Summit City I have done hours worth of filming. I want to give my viewers a perspective of what this canyon is like and what the settlers would have had to endure. It was not easy trust me because not much has changed there are no amenities this place is high up at over 8k in a wilderness area far away from home. Its just you and mother nature not much has changed since 1860 the settlers would have seen the same views, crossed the same creeks we did etc. I mean its hard to imagine that hundreds of people lived back here just a short time after the west began to be explored if you had a small lantern and lived in a cabin back here imagine how scary that would be? How dark? Its so quiet back here its almost terrifying so when you hear a scream, branch break or find a massive track bigger then yours your imagine runs rampant.
But regardless the one thing I do know for sure is that pretty soon nothing will be left so we are all glad to have gotten to see the town site and do some research here. It really is an honor to journey with Mike and Chris the nice thing about all of us working together is we all have a common goal plus were able to contribute to such a project. I am behind on my site but I can imagine this will be stellar when I can get it out there publicly. We worked hard on Summit City and I can rest easy knock this place off my bucket list since I have been trying to get others to look for Summit City for years. It takes a special breed to do what we do you wont meet many people that love ghost towns as much as we do that is the truth!
Lord Rick
PGS Founder