Trip to Snow and Hunting Area

On Saturday Donna came up with Brianna and Kayla. We went with her family and the dog to the Lake Valley Reservoir. There was less snow than when I was up last weekend but the roads were even icier! We sledded around and then hiked to the lake shore. It was beautiful, partly iced over, with the moutains rising above it. There was sun and we enjoyed a nice picnic. The bathroom even had some toilet paper left from the fall!

On Sunday Commando and I drove up to Farwest Camp reservoir and then on to the Spenceville Wildlife Area. Commando and I explored a field that had harbored cows. There were some hut like structures with an old engine block and perhaps a rusted washing machine. There was also a rusting, probably no longer running backhoe. Someone had dug a big hole into the rock (at least a story deep and then put up a barbed wire fence). Interesting.

Hunting was still going on and I could hear shots off in the distance. I was wearing red but I forgot Commando's yellow vest. Fine!

Yuba Gap Walk

I had tried to hike near the Emigrant Gap exit off 80 but my car was just not up to the moderate amount of snow on the road. I drove to the Yuba Gap exit and went to the forest service road that follows one side of the Lake Valley reservoir. Commando and I hiked along enjoying the winter weather and the views of the partly iced over lake.

Van Vleck Snowshoe

Drove up the Icehouse road and snowshoed a little way down to the Van Vleck bunkhouse. It was about 25 degrees F which is cold for sunny CA. I could have used my ear muffs, but they are hidden somewhere.

I made Commando wear his yellow slicker and I put a lap blanket under it. The blanket didn't last long, but he wore the slicker the whole way. I also made him wear some dog boots to protect his feet from the snow. He didn't like those either. He did the silly "high walking" step and then settled down with them. They were slippery and didn't give him a good grip.

The two on the right side kept coming off, so eventually I left them off. Then, I noticed a little blood in his paw print and put them back on. We'd been out for about an hour or so, so headed back. About halfway back, Commando kept lying down waiting for me. Hmm, unusual. I checked the boots and they looked okay. Finally I took all of them off again and he galloped around like the pup he is all the way back to the car. I'm not quite ready to give up on them so Commando is going to be forced to wear them at least once more.

It's a great hike. It slopes down relatively gradually (which means it's not a hard slog back up). The snow was hard and crisp. Even going off the road onto a meadow was good. There are great views of the Crystal Range too.

I'm going to have to think more about cross country skis. It would be nice to slide downhill instead of plod along. It's nice to not break bones too, so maybe I should keep plodding!

The Ravine

A guy with a golden lab suggested that we try the ravine, an abandoned quarry near the Granite Regional Park. Finally made it early enough to explore in the daylight. It's a great for dog walking. It's in a pit, so the dogs are naturally constrained, although they can run up the sides. It's got lots of willow type trees and plenty of trails. There's a big pond with water birds. The round trip on the most obvious trail is about 2.6 miles, so it's a good walk. There haven't been too many dogs there, although I've encountered them.

The picture is from the first trip, after the sun had set and looking over the pond. The colors are from Gimp.

Full Moon Dog Walk

Walked along the river last night with the full moon. The sky was mostly cloudy with some stars showing through. It was bright from the moon, and the lights of Sacramento shining onto the clouds. The temperature was perfect. Peaceful and quiet.

New Year's Day

Went out to the Rancho Seco county park and it was sort of a bummer from a dog walking standpoint. There's a small lake if you like to fish. There's some "exotic" animals (deer, emus, etc) but you can't hike down to them. There's no trail around the lake. There is a long trail that will be interesting in the spring, but no dogs are allowed on it. Looks like it crosses some private rangeland and they must not want to bother the cows.

Then drove up to the Fleming Meadow trailhead and poked around in the remaining hour of daylight. Got lots of good pine smell and it might be a fun trail with the bike as it's not too difficult.

Commando seemed to enjoy the driving around searching for Rancho Seco and smelling the air through the open sun roof.