Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
My Route
Eastman Lake is a 150,000-acre foot
reservoir in Madera County. The particulars can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Lake
The Lake trail is about four miles
in length and amounts to about an eight mile out and back. It can be hiked from
the Southern trailhead near the Raymond Bridge over the Chowchilla River on
County Highway 613 out of Raymond. There is a bathroom at the parking area. The
northern trailhead is located in the group camping area at Eastman Lake.
Inquire at the Ranger Station for directions to this trailhead.
This was my
first time to hike a portion of the trail. I was looking for an eagle’s nest
between the trail and the river. I was told the nest was about a mile out from
the trailhead at the Raymond Bridge. There is a nice bench to sit and rest on
before you get to the part of the trail where you can view the nest. I walked about a mile and a half and was unable
to spot the nest. I headed back to my truck and ran into a group of three
hikers near where the trail begins. I asked if any of them knew where the nest
was and the older of the two men said that he had been there before.
Well, I was on
the trail and had my camera so there was no point in my leaving now so I asked
if I could travel with them. It was fine with Sandy, her son Bill and Bill’s
uncle our designated docent.
There are “rollers” and by this time I was getting a bit
tired and lacked water. After about a mile and a quarter, Bill’s uncle pointed
to a “Bull Pine” (Yellow Pine) on the trail side of the river bank. We had to
walk further to see the nest clearly. You could make out the head of a Bald
Eagle in the nest with binoculars or my telephoto lens. The other eagle did not
make an appearance nor did the eagle in the nest fly out of it while I was
there. I left before they did because I was anxious to get back to my truck and apologetically
asked for a drink of water (It got up to the mid 70’s Monday). Our docent said,
“I have three bottles with me, take one.” This was a true trail angel.
I was glad to
make it back to my truck and headed back to Fresno via Raymond and Coarsegold.
I hope some folks reading this will take this hike for the nice scenery alone.
There are also Red-Tailed Hawks along the way. If you do locate the nest please
respect the birds by staying near the trail. My photographs were taken with a Sony A7R3 and the Sony 100-400 GM with a 1.4X TC.
Coot (AKA eagle food)
Crop Of Nest Photo
Sandy and Bill
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