Not much of a walk

Although I'd planned to go to the snow several times over Turkey Day weekend I ended up not going at all. The best walk we had was on Tuesday at Cache Creek Regional Park near Rumsey. It's interesting terrain...dry...rocks and rock layers upended and twisted in many directions from the active fault lines...plenty of evidence of seasonal bad flooding in spite of the dryness. In the summer it will be hot and dusty. On this almost winter day it was cool. I saw no one the entire day. We hiked up the main dirt road. It's blocked at highway 16 due to a dicey bridge crossing or two. There's a cool stone barn that someone has spent a bit of time sprucing up. It has new doors and it looks like someone has mended the metal roof. The stone is volcanic rock and must have taken some hardy pioneer a bit of effort to put together. It is a nice bit of engineering and rock work though as it seems to be ready to stand straight and level with nice square corners for at least another hundred years. Took a picture of this weird plant. I have no idea what it is and I've never seen anything like it. It was fist sized, a small fist. That's two weird plants I've discovered. I've got to find a botanist so I can identify these.

Snow plow

Lots o' snow

Drove up 80 to visit the snow. I didn't even bring my snowshoes, but next trip I'll have to. We ended up at the scenic overlook on Hwy 20. The snow was about knee deep and very fluffy and dry. I couldn't make snowballs.

We really just strolled around in the woods and followed a soon to be x-country ski trail. The trees were blazed but no one had skied yet.

There seems to be a known sled hill there as some kids were leaving and some arrived as we were leaving. The roads weren't too bad.

Gambling and hiking along the Mormon Emigrant Trail

Met up with some of the BOE folks for a bit of gambling and the delicious buffet at Red Hawk. Commando napped in his luxurious palace in the back of the car. I was a loser at all the games I played. Scott was the big winner.

Then drove up MET to see if it was clear to Highway 88. I turned close to the end as the snow was noticeably deeper and I really do NOT want to get stuck. We hiked along the Light Canyon road in light snow, or maybe it wasn't Light Canyon. We strolled for about a mile paying close attention to the interesting animal footprints. We got to a road crossing that hadn't been driven too since the snow dropped. There was a rock fire pit and a nice place to camp or picnic. I briefly considered going overland on the unmarked road, but decided that it would be wiser to just retrace my steps.

I tried several times to take a good picture of the Crystal range. It was glowing with the late afternoon sun. Unfortunately, in my cell phone pic, it was a tiny whitish smudge. Someone else with a better camera will need to snap the picture.

Sitting at Icehouse Lake in the Eldorado National Forest

I wasn't in a very good mood today but forced myself to head up and do some hiking. I'd originally planned to hike around Wright's Lake, but there was a bit too much snow on the road. The vehicle has 4WD and snow tires, but they don't seem to be really good snow tires. We drove back down to 50 and then up to Icehouse. We parked along the Wright's Lake Tie road and hiked down to the lake and then along the shore. I tossed sticks for Commando and found one that he really liked. He carried it for a long time.

I stopped in some shade to lean against a rock and just look out over the lake. I like this picture because I think I framed it nicely.

First snow (for me) winter 2010

Drove up to Wright's Lake again. Just before the Lyon's Creek trailhead it was starting to rain and snow at the same time. After Lyon's Creek it was snowing and with every little bit of elevation the snow got deeper and deeper. We parked at the main lot for the Bloodsucker lake trail and hiked through the campground and along the trail. We could have crossed the creek if we'd wanted to wade through the calf high, freezing water but we wisely chose not to. Instead we followed a clearly delineated trail. It's not marked on the map, nor is it evident on Google Earth. The route started to get quite marshy and so we headed back.

Commando really LOVES the snow and he ran everywhere. I hope this snow is a harbinger of a great snow shoeing season.

Low elevation hikes

It rained on Saturday so drove up to Colfax and took the Yankee Jim's road up to Foresthill. We tried to hike up the American River at the bridge crossing but found that Shirttail Creek was a bit treacherous to cross without a human partner to report on any broken limbs. We ended up hiking around the forest near Foresthill road and the Christmas tree place. Commando chased a deer.

On Sunday it was nice an sunny. We drove up to Colfax and then up Iowa Hill road to the Foresthill area. The river crossing was busy with folks so we didn't stop there. The hoary denizens of Iowa Hill were out in full force and stared at our unusual car when we drove by. We ended up hiking in the forest and on some OHV trails and then at the Fork House trail and also on the forest service road near Fork House.

I put two pads in the heel of my problem foot and it feels fine. Maybe I just need to make absolutely sure that it's fully elevated and I'll be healed.

Go Giants!