Girls Gone Camping 2012

We stayed at a nice house near Heavenly. First night we cooked delicious T-bones (with balsamic vinegar reduction and bleu cheese) and some red potatoes.

On Saturday we relaxed. I took a brief trip to Kiva Beach. Too bad Commando wasn't there as he would have given it 4 paws up. There was almost no one there when I arrived around noon and snagged a prime shady space leaning against a log. I didn't swim but did wade out a good distance to admire the view. Free parking, few people, and a spectacular view!

Met everyone else at Harvey's and tried to eat at Cabo Wabo. As it was closed, we ate at the American River Cafe across the street at Harrah's. It was extremely average if not more so.

We gambled for a bit with no big winner's and then headed back to the house to drink and play games. A card game called "Spite and Malice" was a hit although I am pretty sure that Shirley was just making the rules up. We also played Scrabble and almost everyone drank. Dinner that night was delicious pasta and meat balls.

On Sunday Tami and I headed for Spooner Lake and did a leisurely hike around (2.1 miles). It's a pretty enough lake with aspens scattered around and the trail is relatively level. It might even be possible to take a wheelchair around if one could stand being tilted to one side or the other. We headed off trail to view the various animal tracks in the mud and got covered in some bugs that were feasting on the young willows. The bugs were harmless. It's a nice enough hike but not particularly wonderful. The trail was busy (and will probably be nearly mall-like in the summer). Early spring and later in the fall (when the aspens turn) would be the best times to visit.

We did end up driving an older couple from Boston to find their car. They had passed us on the last uphill bit while we were gawping at some scenery and then discovered they couldn't remember where they had parked. It was just in another parking node but it's always irritating to finish a nice hike and then have to roam around a less than scenic parking lot with sore feet.

We headed back to the house where everyone else was relaxing and probably fighting off a bit of a hangover.

We watched a bit of relaxing TV and developed a crush on a guy named Morgan who was buying some property with his wife. Dimples for the win!

I headed back to Kiva beach. No one was there and, as it was late in day, I stayed on the sandy part and swam. The water was cold but tolerable. Once I'd put my towel on I was warm heading back to the car in spite of the stiff breeze. I warmed up in the hot tub and then drove with Tami and Malene to Mont Bleu. Tami gamble while Malene and I ate some tolerable appetizers. Although we'd snacked most of the day, I was getting hungry. We returned to gamble and lost our usual casino contribution.

Tami and Malene did a bit more gambling at Harvey's while I rested in the car and listened to some coyotes howling off in the distance. Apparently they've added some special chairs to the slots so they move around with the game action. It sounded fun!

Sunday was get away day. We divided up the food and the little remaining booze, cleaned up the place, and left for another year. Next year may be the coast although I would be happy to return to Lake Tahoe every year.

Trip to Bodega Bay August 2011

On Friday we all arrived at the house on Swan Way. It's a great house and we would definitely "camp" here again. Friday night was the usual drinking and staying up late laughing and talking. Saturday we went to the Sonoma County fair and the races there. It was nice to be at a quiet fair. No long lines for food and the crowds weren't enormous. The turkey races were fun.

Sunday we walked around and visited the Bodega Bay headlands. There may also have been some kite shopping.

Monday we packed up and left. Met Donna and Tami at the Rock Creek casino and lost a few dollars before heading home. Click the picture to see the rest of them.

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.

Last morning at 157 Seacliff, Aptos

We stayed at The Tides of Life in Aptos and our visit was just what we wanted. We can highly recommend this as a vacation rental. We walked on the beach every day, relaxed on their comfortable furniture and tried to find the hidden bottle of wine!

This movie is from this morning as we were packing up to go.

More fun playing games

After several spirited games of Scrabble we decided to relax with a few lines.

Sitting outside at the beach rental

711 pm (Sat) I'm outside on the patio overlooking Rio Del Mar beach. There are many people heading to the beach to have bonfires and perhaps stir up trouble.

735 pm (Sat) Still sitting outside but getting a bit cold. Read the frugal traveler in the nytimes. I can hear the waves and folks laughing and talking on the beach.

739 pm (Sat) Just like home the neighborhood dogs are barking across the valley to each other.

541 pm (Sun) After a long day in San Juan Bautista we're watching some parachutists land, presumably safely, on the beach.

849 pm (Sun) After a great chicken adobo dinner I decided to see when the House season premiere is on and knocked over the table next to the couch. Fortunately, nothing was broken.  Gary wants another video.

Altar at the beach rental

We hike to the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

We drove to the Forest of Nisene Marks and up the Aptos Creek road. We were able to drive past the winter gate and park at the second gate. We hiked up the old road. We saw several joggers and mountain bikers. The turn off to the hiking only trail is well marked and is about 1 mile from the start. The foot trail goes along Aptos creek and occasionally goes along an old logging right of way from the early 1900's. There are two stream crossings.

I first hiked to the epicenter in the early 90's. It was pouring rain and I remember taking shelter under a redwood. My memory must be faulty, or they've moved the epicenter because there weren't any big redwoods there.

It's an interesting hike and brings back memories of the earthquake.

The picture is of Donna crossing a log. I crossed the same log a few minutes before she did.

First day at the beach house vacatioin

Well, we've been through quite a bit of wine. One of us is calling to complain about the "rosemary" she bought to garnish our chicken dinner.

Walking down the stairs and first view of the beach house

Good hike, Meh hike

Today we drove up 50 to Wright's Lake road and then parked at Dark Lake to hike on the Barrett Lake Jeep Trail. The gate was closed. That's bad for the jeeps, but good for hiking. It's definitely a road that requires special outfitting on your rig. It's a lot more like a trail than a road. There are still trees down across the trail. For hiking it's quite nice. It's relatively level. It climbs a bit, then is flattish, then drops a bit, then climbs a bit, then drops. We stopped about a mile in at the crossing of the Jones Fork of Silver Creek. The trail is mostly dry and dusty with a few muddy spots. The creek is great. It was running nicely but the snow has melted and the water was warm enough to soak my feet. Commando fished for sticks and spent most of his time hunting rodents on the surrounding granite.

The trail has lots of fabulous views of Red Peak, Taylor Peak and the rest of the Crystal range.

Saturday we drove up 50 again to Wright's Lake road and then turned up the Wright's Lake tie. Just after crossing the cattle guard near the Wilson Ranch meadow we turned left onto a forest service road. From the maps, it looked like we could explore Lyons Creek from some unusual angles. It wasn't much of a hike. We parked and walked along the very bad road and could occasionally see the creek below, protected by steep canyon walls. There were some dusty, rocky, brushy places to scramble down but we didn't try any of them. The road eventually just disappears.

We turned back the other way. The road dead ends at Lyons Creek and the land to the left is marked private property. We scrambled around on the Eldorado side and eventually found shade a nice granite and a sandy pool. I read until deer flies forced us to leave. Commando chased rodents.

Visited Donna, Malene, and Gary for dinner. Donna and Malene were having a quilt fest and I borrowed their sewing machines to do some much needed repairs.

I can recommend the Barrett trail for hiking but Lyons Creek is a bit of a hot, dry scramble without much payoff.

Dinner in the City

Left Sacramento a little late and was the last arrival at the Eureka Lounge near the Castro in the City. It was a very nice place with a homey feel to it. Before I'd even said anything when I entered the guy said, "Oh, you must be the long-lost last member of the Victoria party!"

It was great to see everyone and rehear or retell all the old stories and catch up on whatever we're each doing now. Mrs. Robinson, the Hartman, the Peeps, our plethora or lack of "friends" on Facebook, the famous artist's ceramic pots, J Bird, the kids, the grand-kids, the pets, etc.

Donna's Cute Cottage

Donna's assistants assemble a cottage for her backyard.

Road Trip Vacation to Most Northern Counties in CA - Day 5 and 6

We turned off 395 to Eagle Lake and were disappointed. It's high on a volcanic plateau and isn't surrounded by trees. The water was low and quite a bit of muddy looking shoreline didn't tempt us to try and dip our toes in the lake. We pressed on to Lake Almanor.

We reached Lake Almanor quickly with plenty of time to check out the various campgrounds. After looking at a private campground in Chester and the PG&E Last Chance campground Donna chose the Best Western's last dog friendly room. Donna showered. I took Commando for a short hike along the North Fork of the Feather River along the Chester Warner Valley road. This turned out to be very relaxing. We viewed a pretty campsite, walked along a stream, and played stick.

I also stopped back at the Lassen National Forest ranger station and bought some maps. They had closed but forgotten to lock the door. The woman was startled when I came in, but was very friendly, chatty, and helpful. I told her about the dead coyotes I'd seen along a fence. She laughed when I wondered if the coyote shooter noticed that the coyotes didn't seen deterred. She said her husband was from a settler family and that he had shot coyotes from an airplane when he was young. We agreed that coyotes certainly eat a few cattle but might also keep the rodents who dig holes in the pastures down too! There were a lot of taxidermied animals and birds. I thought the mink might be the animal we'd seen at Blue Lake...it was the right size. She said all of the animals were road kill, except the mountain lion. She had been shot by a rancher. Of course I'm an animal fan, but I see mountain lions as a lot more dangerous to cattle than coyotes so I have some sympathy for the farmers too. At least he'd had the sense to make some use of the cat instead of hanging it from a fence.

She said her husband had been out deer hunting and seen a mountain lion family and hadn't shot any of them. He had been on a rocky outcropping and seen the cats below. He froze, than realized that he couldn't see one of the cats. He peered over the rock and saw the daddy lion peering up at him. He stood up and waved his arms and yelled and the cats tripped over themselves to run away as fast as they could. His pals thought that was nuts and said they'd have bought him a six pack if he'd shot the lions.

We woke up early the next morning and took our time getting ready. I bought coffee and one of the best cinnamon rolls ever and took Commando along the Feather river again for him to stroll around and me to drink the coffee and eat the cinnamon roll. Donna napped and had the continental breakfast.

We headed back along 36 to Westwood and turned north on County Road 21. We turned left onto Silver Lake road and up to Silver Lake. This borders on the Caribou Wilderness. Silver Lake is exceptionally beautiful and has summer cabins. One end of the lake has a volcanic cliff which was covered in snow. We hiked along the lake to where the snow started to make hiking difficult. I continued up to the cabin road to try to get to the top of the volcanic cliff. I stopped at a seasonal creek with a pretty little waterfall. We hiked back along the road.

Donna had gone back and then hiked the opposite way along the shore. I saw her walking along and we got in the car and met her. We had snacks at some picnic tables and I soaked my feet in the lake. The water was so cold I really couldn't leave my feet in for more than a minute. Commando ate his breakfast.

He gives this lake 4 paws up!

We drove along to nearby Caribou lake. There was snow over most of the terrain so we stayed near the parking area. Commando played a bit with a lively gray terrier. He also swam out for a stick that I threw and then had some difficulty getting back through the floating logs. He thinks floating logs and bark are land and then is confused when he has to keep swimming. I was almost thinking I'd need to wade in and get him when he made it safely to shore. I didn't throw any more sticks for him!

We headed out then and back to 36 for home. After checking the map highway 32 looked interesting so we took that to Chico. It's surprisingly not very scenic although we did stop at the Lower Deer Creek Falls. Some federal rangers were having a nice lunch here and Commando took quite a liking to the guy. Donna almost lost her camera by dropping it down the trail. We also hiked a short distance up the creek to a natural spring that falls into the creek.

Commando gives this 3 paws up! It's short, but he likes the water and he liked the guy.

That was about it for our vacation. We continued to Chico and then took 99 south for home. I wish we'd had longer to stay and more internet access along the way.

Highlights of the trip: the beaches, the redwoods, the Garberville pancakes, Juanita Lake, Frank and Luke, Mill Creek Falls, the northern volcanic plateau scenery, the coyote carcasses, a large group of pronghorn in a lush hayfield eating the hay the thoughtful humans had planted, the 5 or 6 deer on their way to the lush hayfield that disappeared before Donna could take a picture, the Leffert trail adventure, the woman at the Lake Almanor ranger station, and laughing and traveling with Donna for 6 days.

Road Trip Vacation to Most Northern Counties in CA - Day 4

We woke up to a beautiful morning at Juanita Lake, packed up, and headed out. We took a brief drive to the Butte Valley Grasslands. This land parcel was reverted to the government in the '40s when drought drove the homesteaders out.

We continued on 161 east until it intersected on 139 south. This area is also part of the Klamath National Forest and we stopped at several places to look at birds. We hit 299 and headed east again to hit Alturas and get gas. For some reason, I thought there were plenty of campgrounds between Alturas and Cedarville. We found one, and it wasn't very scenic or nice. After Cedarville, we drove south on Surprise Valley Road to try and camp in the Warner Mountains off county road 40. Although scenic, the two spots were full so we headed back to Alturas to go south on 395.

We turned on the road at the town of Likely, and headed to Mill Creek Falls campground. We'd gotten a late start from beautiful Juanita Lake and had dawdled along the way looking at the high volcanic plateau scenery so it was dark when we pulled into camp. We were also tired, hungry, and cold. We tried to start a fire but all of the firewood was wet, the matches were wet, and the lighter was broken so we gave up. We had set up the rain shelter, because it was sprinkling, and that took a bit longer too. Eventually, we just turned in for the night to listen to the intermittent rain.

As it turned out, this was a comfortable place for me to sleep in the tent. The ground was softer and less lumpy than at the other sites. Donna froze in the back of the SUV and her sleeping mat wasn't holding air so she was not very comfortable.

I woke up at the crack of dawn and tried to start a morning fire. The same impediments existed as last night and I soon gave up. With no fire, and still cold and hungry, we packed up in a hurry just as the sun was starting to light the camp.

We headed on the trail to Mills Creek Falls and the walk before breakfast and coffee was well worth it. Although the rain and cold were not making us comfortable, it was certainly making all the water features much prettier. We headed into Likely to the lone diner to have coffee and breakfast. I had my usual pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The bacon was good but the pancakes were not good. The diner was filled with kitchen antiques and we both thought of Malene with her collection.

We drove back up to the Jess Valley and to the Blue Lake campground. Blue Lake was nice enough and we hiked along the shoreline for a bit before getting back in the car.

Commando only gives this part of the trip 3 paws up. He got two small hikes and had to spend a lot of time on the leash or in the car.

Road Trip Vacation to Most Northern Counties in CA - Day 3

We left Crescent City and Del Norte county intending to head into Sisiskiyou county to camp and tour. We drove up 199 through the redwoods and into Oregon. We stopped at a botanical area walk along 199 and it was spectacular. It's a dry area so the permanent flora (trees, bushes) are small and sparse. The wildflowers are not. Everywhere we looked along the decomposed granite path there were more and more flowers. My favorite was a electric blue flower.

Commando gives this area 4 paws up!

We drove down I-5 with a brief detour along the scenic Rogue River road and even 99. The scenic road was nice but 99 wasn't worth it. Soon after crossing into California we saw Mt. Shasta far ahead. It it a majestic mountain. We turned northeast on 97. We stopped at several wetlands areas in the Klamath National Forest to look at migrating birds.

We stopped for directions at the Goosenest ranger station in McDoel, CA and were directed to Juanita Lake campground. Outstanding! The lake has a camp host named Frank who was charming. He moved to the McDoel area in 1958 and plans to be buried here in "God's Country." The campsite was immaculate and is built for limited mobility folks and wheelchairs. There is a 1.5 mile paved trail around the lake. Great idea!

It rained overnight and snowed on some nearby hilltops. The snow left a dusting of powder on the pines just like someone has sprinkled powdered sugar over the them. The snow melted away as the sun rose. Frank said there is a nesting pair of bald eagles, although we didn't see them. We hiked around the lake and dropped into a magical meadow just up from the lake. Juanita lake must have looked like this before it was dammed. The campsite was almost deserted with only 1 other camper. Frank had a cute little dog named Luke and he and Commando spent a lot of time frisking around together.

Commando gives this camp, with no pesky leash and a fun dog companion an enthusiastic 4 paws up!

Road Trip Vacation to Most Northern Counties in CA - Day 1 and 2

We drove over to Sonoma and Highway 12 and then 116 to Jenner and Highway 1 as the most scenic route. We stopped just north of Ft. Bragg and camped at a KOA in Westport. The weather was cold so we stayed off the beach and had the campground almost to ourselves. I'm not a big fan of private campgrounds but this one was nice. The tent sites are next to a stream with otters (although we didn't see any). In the morning, we walked on the beach. Commando LOVES chasing the waves and did that till he could barely stand. He was joined by a cute white staffy in wave chasing until both of them were exhausted.

Commando gives chasing waves with a hot staffy 4 paws up!

We kept going up Highway 1 until it ends and joins 101 at Leggett. We had been hoping to eat at Leggett but there isn't anything there. We ended up eating in Garberville at a restaurant completely decorated with cows. I highly recommend the pancakes. They were delicious! I'll go on a bit about these pancakes because I ate them regularly on this trip and these were really outstanding. They were buttery tasting and the edges were reminiscent of caramel. I wish I could remember the name.

We kept driving up 101 through the redwood forests. If there was a scenic route option, we took it. We strolled at Founders Grove with some tourists who seemed to be on a bus tour. We also stopped at a quilt store Arcata. We saw the elk along the way.

Commando gives seeing elk but not chasing elk 0 paws!

We finally stopped in Crescent City. It was very cold and raining. The weather report was for more cold and more rain. We ended up staying at the America's Best motel. It was clean, renovated, and reasonably priced with friendly staff. We bought books on the desk clerk's recommendation at a nearby second hand store.

The Chart House fish restaurant was not good at all. It was disappointing to be in a fishing city and not be able to get a good fish meal.

We really felt we hadn't gotten in enough exercise so we headed to the Jedediah Smith State Park to put in a quick hike. Although it turned out well, our inadvertent adventure does remind me to review a map before hiking.

We turned off on a random road that seemed to offer a likely walking opportunity. We soon saw a sign for the Leffert Loop at .7 miles and the Ellsworth Loop at .2 miles. As it was late (7 pm or so) and raining, these distances sounded just about right. It's normally not that hard to get lost on a loop trail either.

We started out and crossed a bridge and a walkway over a marshy area. The redwoods were lovely. We came to a trail junction sign which was a bit confusing. Fortunately, Donna took a picture of it.

We hiked uphill for a bit, then along a flattish section, then downhill for a bit and then to a trail junction that looked just like the original trail junction. Donna asked which way and I pointed to the direction leading out of the loop. She thought that it didn't look right. I said let's look at the picture and we did. Imagine our surprise when we saw that the text on the sign was the same, but the arrows pointed in the opposite direction. Hmmm.

We headed along the flat section. It was getting darker. Donna had a cell phone but no signal and her batteries were running out. It was cold and wet. We were warm as long as we kept moving but would become very chilled if we had to stop. We decided to keep time on Donna's cell phone and walk for 15 minutes. At about 10 minutes we came to a stream. Should we continue or turn back? Fortunately we continued because within 20 steps we were back at the original sign and were back warm in the car withing minutes.

Phew! Commando gives the hike 4 paws up! He thought the forest smelled delicious and there was plenty of water to wade in.

More video of the trip to the snow

Getting lazy...last two weekends

Donna came up and we took Brianna and Kayla to Red Lake near Carson Pass and played in the snow. We had intended to snow shoe at the yurt, but decided just to sled. Surprisingly, the sleds weren't very sleddy so we couldn't make much progress down the hill. The snow was also extremely fluffy so we mostly got stuck in it.

We also went to the Capitol building. The girls were fascinated by GAS's office and kept quoting that famous movie line. Of course, there were no elected officials working, only state employees.

On Sunday we went to the Crocker Museum of Art and toured around. It's free till 1 pm...great deal. The girls were quite interested in all the paintings, even the older ones. They were surprised at some of the risque scenes and we had some good discussions about the lives of the subjects.

This weekend I went up the Pacific House and hiked around trying to find the forest service road to Jenkinson Lake. There were a few inches of snow of the ground but not enough to wear my snow shoes.

Today, Diane and I went to Jenkinson Lake. We even paid the extortionate entrance fee. Commando cost extra. We parked at the boat ramp near the mid-point and walked to Park Creek Falls. Then we strolled around the campsites till we saw a possible forest service road leading to Pacific House. We met a great retriever puppy and he and Commando played and played by the falls. Nice family out for a picnic lunch with their daughter.

No tick snowshoe

Jodi's cabin was available for a brief two days so Commando and I headed up on Wednesday. We unloaded and then drove around looking for likely places to showshoe. We finally settled on Billie Mack road, at the Donner Lake exit on 80. Many snowmobiles had blazed a nice trail along the stream and we enjoyed the final hour of daylight snowshoeing up and back.

The cabin was nice and warm with the brand new propane heater and we slept great!

The next day we lazed around and took a brief morning walk with coffee. Commando played with a young champagne colored standard poodle and also peed on virtually every driveway we passed. I don't know how he manages to hold so much pee.

The cute guy came to shovel off the decks and we had packed up and took this as our cue to leave.

I thought there would be a good place to go along 89 on the way to Sierraville and there was. We stopped at the Prosser Hill OHV staging area and explored the Prosser dam and a random picnic table. Someone had snowshoed along the 10 + mile Commemorative Emigrant Trail (to Boca Stampede reservoir) and left a pretty big trail. We followed that back after blazing our own trail for a short distance. The snow is GREAT! There's a deep, hard base covered with about 2-3 feet of wet powder. Great snow for shoeing.

Commando is exhausted and has spent most of the evening sleeping with only a few forays out to the backyard to remind the squirrel enemy that he is home.