Foresthill Again

Suddenly winter decided to arrive and there is finally snow! It's down as low as 3000 feet. It's still snowing and many of the highways have chain controls and I wanted to avoid all of that. I drove up to Foresthill as the Divide road is relatively flat with few turns. The sky was overcast at Auburn and it was raining. It was overcast in Foresthill and there was snow on the ground. The road was barely cleared and I drove around a little trying to find a place to park.

I pulled off at Sequoia road and then snow shoed parallel to the road to Georgia road. I went down Georgia road for a bit and then headed back. It was snowing most of the time with some light hail. The snow was nice and dense and very wet. Perfect for the purpose. Some other people had done the same trip and it was nice to walk on their trail.

More Exploring Grizzly Flat

Drove to Grizzly Flat and Caldor Road and hiked in fresh snow up a forest service road. Lovely! Drove around a little and may hike again on a forest service road off of Capp's Crossing.

On the way home stopped and strolled along the shore of Lake Natoma at Nimbus Flats. I let Commando off leash for a little as there was no one there. Then, I stopped by Phoenix Park off of Hazel to check out the dog park. I had to ask a guy for directions to find it. It's not bad. Commando had a good time running around until he crashed head on into a bigger chocolate lab. He yelped and cried, then looked maybe like he was limping. I took him to the gate area and he seemed okay. We went back in and he just wasn't into running around so we went home. There was a good dog there that he liked. They did the running side by side thing that Commando seems to enjoy the most.

Yolo Basin Walk

Commando and I drove to the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife area and took a walk in the area open to dogs and bikes. It was windy and sunny. Commando flushed a pheasant and tried to chase pigeons, swallows, and meadowlarks. Needless to say he was not successful. I pointed out a fleeing jackrabbit but he failed to look where I was pointing and missed it. He also terrified several small rodents and perhaps ruined the foyer of the bolt hole. There was a dead juvenile hawk and he sniffed it with interest and I did not let him eat any of it or roll on the carcass. This is a great trip and I'll be back. I can see where there's a good place to kayak when it's flooded and there's no current and it's sunny and not windy.

Rock City at Mt. Diablo State Park

Donna, Kayla, Mata, Ea, and I met up at Mt. Diablo for a hike. Donna and the kids got there very early and drove into the park and stopped to wait for me at Rock City. This is a perfect place for the kids. They love climbing the sandstone formations and scrambling up into the little caves. The loop hike around Rock City is very doable and the CCC trail to Sentinel Rock is quite exciting. I paid extra for the trail map and it was well worth it.

This kids really enjoyed climbing all of the rocks, although Ea was the only one brave enough to climb all the way to the tip top of Sentinel Rock. Next time, we'll need to take some geologic information to bore the kids silly.

Here's a phone pic of the kids in one of the little caves. You can see how appealing this is! Fortunately, there were no broken bones or other mishaps to mar the day. In fact, no one even tripped, slipped, or so much at skinned a knee!

Light Canyon Road

Drove up the Mormon Emigrant road and stopped when there was a little too much snow on the road. Commando and I hiked on the Light Canyon road. We stopped at the Pilliken fire monument from 1973. It was a nice stroll with light snow on the road and great views of the surrounding mountains.

Although the road is paved, there seems to be no mention of it on Google maps, or on the El Dorado National Forest site. I will visit this area again.

Antibiotics

In just two days I got red eyes, red ear, and pus in my throat. Yum. I'm taking pills and squirting some stuff in my eye too. TMI?

Damn Cold -- Grrr

Got sick Saturday evening on the way back from my fabulous hike. Had a huge fever all day Sunday and started with ibuprofen then. Bad sore throat and stuffy ears and achey left ear. Saw the doctor on Wednesday. He says it's just a virus take Advil cold and sinus.

Went through the anti-meth rigamarole and left with, as it turned out, not enough Advil cold and sinus.

It's now Friday morning and I'm feeling worse, not better. This can't be. My right ear is now stuffy and so achey that I had to take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen to sleep. My eyes are gummy and bright pink.

It still may be a virus, but I'll be reporting these new symptoms to the doctor anyway.

It's time to be better now. Life is too short to spend it sick!

Beale Falls Hike and Cold

On Saturday got up relatively early and went to the Spenceville Wildlife Area to hike to Beale Falls. The trail maps are pretty bad, but I managed to make it to the falls. I started off on the Spenceville road (so far on the map) and soon went off to the right on a foot path that went along Dry Creek. This path will be very, very bad (and perhaps impassable) after rain and if the creek rises. When dry, it cuts off about a mile of distance. The creek is scenic and there are plenty of deep pools and sandy beaches to lounge and take in some water. I suppose this would be a fish hangout too. The picture in this paragraph shows the middle section of the falls. You have to scramble down a steep hill on onto a lava upthrust to get the shot.

Commando enjoyed himself running around like a loon and trying to catch squirrels and birds. Hey, bud, it ain't gonna happen!

This picture shows the deep pool at the bottom of the upper falls. I managed to capture a fence post in my shot of the upper falls.

We met only a few hikers and they were forgiving of Commando being off leash. I stopped him from heading to a family (which I couldn't see) by saying NO in my sternest voice. They were all stopped, no doubt thinking that I was being stern because he was dangerous. I apologized, and we chatted about the trail while the kids gathered around petting Commando on whatever bits they could reach.

In the spring it will be a more splendid hike, assuming it rains enough to prompt the wild flowers to bloom. Although, there may be more people. I'll definitely have to come back with Donna, Brianna, and Kayla for a bike ride. It's a little short for us at only 5 miles, but perfect for the kids.

On the drive back I started feeling sick and by the time I got home I had a nasty cold. Bummer for Sunday.