Commando at day care

Took Commando in for his first day care visit at Grateful Dog. He seems to have enjoyed it. He spent some of the morning playing with a white shaggy dog and then played fetch with a Cairn terrier in the afternoon. He even let the other dog get the toy out of his mouth. So, if he enjoys it and it seems like he is tired tonight I may repeat this every other Monday. He was certainly hungry when he got home.

Bassi Falls

The road was clear all the way up to the trail head. I didn't want to hike from Ice House road, instead, I wanted to see if there was a good route off trail to the top of the falls...and then try going upstream.

Just before the trail turned right and started dropping Commando and I forged off into the pine forest. I could see some brush ahead, but thought that the pines would keep the brush to a minimum. Wrong! We worked our way through rabbit brush and mesquite picking up many scratches in the process. We finally made it down to the upper part of the falls by following a rough and (mostly) dry creek.

I enjoyed the first of my two sandwiches just lazing on the granite and looking at the view and listening to the falls. Commando ran around and smelled stuff. A family was a bit upstream (still on the granite) and asked if there was a trail down. I said no and they said they'd bushwhack back down just like they'd gotten up.

After studying the terrain a bit I decided to head straight up the granite face and then hope there was a trail through the brush covering the ridge. I had to admit, it looked pretty impenetrable.

After climbing up (and then relaxing some more) I saw a guy coming from upstream but close to Bassi Creek. I started back down and he was soon joined by his pal. I thought, hey, they look like they know what they're doing! Wrong.

I headed upstream until we got to a tiny creek. The decomposed granite is a little hard to track through (or maybe the guys had never gotten this far) so I had to choose staying on "my" side of the tiny creek or crossing it to Bassi Creek side. Both ways looked choked with brush. Unfortunately, I chose the Bassi Creek side. I soon lost any hope of a trail and just scrambled through the brush (tearing holes in my shirt) and really hoping I didn't break a leg.

There was a small waterfall that I could almost see. In the summer, it will be possible to just hike up the granite, but I had no wish to be swept downstream in icy water. After much more bushwhacking, I made it back to the granite.

I was a bit tired so decided to head down to the lower area as fast as possible as it's all granite and then a nice trail. At this point, if I never see another mesquite it will be too soon.

Naturally there's no trail so there was more bush scratching, except this time with a steep drop over what is essentially a brushy cliff to keep me paying attention. I actually had to help Commando down at one point.

We made it back and I soaked my feet in one of the icy rivulets before making the final push to the car. It really was a beautiful day and I'll look forward to hiking this again in the summer (and maybe with a machete).

Oh, the dog in this link looks just like Commando, except he doesn't have a tail. She's even got the running bug!

More Lake Spaulding

Took the marked foot trail all the way to the lake. The snow is melting fast but there are still plenty of 3 foot deep drifts. The streams are running well from the snowmelt too so I didn't need to carry water for the hound.

The high water mark is a good 50 feet above the water line and it's strewn with plenty of driftwood. I relaxed at the top of a cove and read some of my book and ate my lunch. The only people I saw the whole day were two guys and a kid with two dogs headed out for camping somewhere along the lake.

Then we followed the high water mark along until I got high enough to intersect the trail again. I threw a big piece of driftwood for Commando to chase in the water and he grew quite attached to it. Unfortunately, when our route took us between two boulders he was forced to abandon it. I sat for a while watching him try to figure out how to get the stick through the gap. A nicer owner would have rescued him from his plight...but I guess I'm just not that nice.

Hike to Lake Spaulding

Drove up 80 to 20 and took Bowman Lake road the hike to Lake Spaulding. Stopped at the road just below Fuller Lake (perhaps called Fuller Road?). I could see quite a bit of snow from the paved road so I took my snowshoes. Almost as soon as I got onto the snow though, I could see bare dirt ahead.

That would mark most of the trip...snow...dirt (or mud)...snow...dirt...granite, etc., etc.

We made good time up to the open canal where the dirt road ends. We took the short but steep way onto the granite outcropping and then bushwhacked our way down closer to the lake. Although it wasn't particularly difficult, we had to route find through impassible manzanita stands, impassible cliffs and other impediments. We didn't make it all the way down to the lake "shore" but made it most of the way. We stopped for mid-hike snack on a nice rock overlooking the lake, Old Man Mountain and 80 while in the sparse shade of a bristlecone pine.

On the way back, we intersected the signed trail which took us to the bottom of the steep hill where we'd left my snow shoes. There were also some significant snow drifts to get through so I really missed them!

The signed trail is a little strange. It leaves the dirt road to duck under a HUGE water pipe and across a stream. It then follows a nice trail at the foot of either a steep cliff or really, really steep hill until it gets to a dry creek crossing from the PGE hydroelectic facility just up the hill. There are signs warning you that PGE may release water at any time so stay out. Well, why have the trail go here then? The dry creek crossing is substantial and you'd have no hope of clearing the boulders if any water started rushing down. You then duck under another HUGE water pipe and then parallel the lake, presumably coming down the water at some point. I think this trail goes east a while and eventually ends up at the Grouse Ridge area.

If I were the trail builder, I would have avoided the many dangerous creek crossings and gone over the granite dome and back down.

We had to scramble up the steep, steep hill in the forest area to retrieve my snow shoes...then I slid back down the snow covered dirt road on my butt. Fun!

Not very interesting hike at Hope Valley

Drove up 88. Was planning on going to Salt Springs Reservoir but missed the turn (just after Ham's Station). Stopped briefly at Bear River reservoir but there were a lot of people and snowmobiles and the snow covered terrain didn't look too interesting.

Drove to Hope Valley and hiked randomly on the Nevada side of 89 to a small saddle. The going was a bit interesting as there was really no trail and bare dirt then deep snow. The terrain wasn't really open so no view eastwards. The view west to Carson Pass was spectacular though. There was also a small stand of very healthy bristlecone pine at the top of the saddle with a spray of winter aspen leading down the hill.

We enjoyed ourselves, but it wasn't a very long hike for all the driving.

Bosworth Meadows

Drove up to Ice House and hiked along to Bosworth Meadows. The trail follows forest service roads that are to the right of Ice House road just after the Crystal Range information station. There was still significant snow on the road and in shady spots under the trees. The snow was mostly hard packed so my tennis shoes were fine. The metal cattle guard type bridge was free of snow but Commando still refused to touch it with his feet. Luckily he was able to find a safe stream crossing area. I gingerly and carefully crossed. It was a beautiful day marred on slightly by a helicopter flying back and forth ferrying snow mobiles from what might have been the Wright's Lake area to what might have been the Union Valley area. After about 4 trips though the 'copter was finished and I was able to enjoy the quiet. The meadow was wet and the snow leading to the meadow was wet and I got my feet soaked many times. Fortunately my socks insulate even when wet so no harm done...it was actually somewhat refreshing. This will be a fun area to explore this summer.

Bike ride at Spenceville

Drove up to Spenceville Wildlife Area to try to bike to Fairy Falls. Unfortunately, I didn't start till early afternoon because I met the gang at Red Hawk. By the time I made it to the trailhead, it was about 3 pm.

Commando and I started off in the heat and dust. We stopped at the bridge and I encouraged him to drink and get wet. There were a lot of cows in pasture so I had to leash him up a few times. We walked up the hill and then had a spectacular view across a green, green saddle or maybe even a valley sprinkled with small white flowers. Commando spent some time running over the grass, clearly enjoying himself.

Then we coasted down the hill and stopped at the stream. The next bits are uphill again and it was getting late. I had Commando swim in the stream to cool off and he drank plenty of water too.

On the way back, the open saddle had cows over it so poor Commando had to be on leash again. He got put back on leash when a wily cow crossed the road (having gotten through the 5 strand barbed wire) to the other side and then went up a wash, through some rocks and disappeared from view.

We saw plenty of turkeys too so it was a good trip.

Sold Jetta

Bye little car. Just sold it to some guys from the internet after posting on Craigslist. I think I got a decent price. It was a young kid and he'll fix the car up and probably drive it. I told him to be careful.

Exploring Bowman Lake Road

Drove up 80 to 20 then Bowman Lake Road. I was hoping that enough snow had melted so I could hike to Spaulding Lake over the route I'd taken in snow shoes a while back. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Still I backtracked down the road a bit to a forest service road that gave access to the major granite. We explored the road and followed it past a small, unnamed lake and back to BLR. We hiked up BLR and then got back on top of the granite overlooking the small lake and bushwhacked back to the car. It wasn't a bad off trail trip and I'm only a little scratched up from a few parts where I had to scramble through mesquite or pines. The rock is beautiful. Mostly reddish but with swirls of color. I'm going to guess volcanic and iron. It's also interesting to see the granite layered (successive volcanic flows?) and then pushed up so the layers are vertical. We enjoyed lunch on some rocks under a sickly looking bristecone pine and then headed home.

Long drive to around Foresthill

Drove up Mosquito Hill road and environs to see if enough snow had melted to get to Granite Falls. It hadn't. Hiked along a forest service road and scrambled around in the brush following some cow tracks. Then tried to drive up Ralston Ridge to French Meadows. The road was good to the French Meadows road but it rapidly deteriorated with snow. It was getting late so we turned back. We took a brief look at the "Georgetown District History Tour" stop 15 which proclaimed that this was Blacksmith Flat and a "nearby" trail would lead to some mines. I could see where the old miners had blasted away the hills but couldn't find anything that looked like a trail or a mine. Still, it was a pleasant drive and two nice strolls.

Pluses and minuses of the new Ford Escape

Pluses: The way the back seat bottom folds makes a great place for the dog...it maximizes his comfort and minimizes the amount of fur. It's comfortable on long trips. The AC works great! The cupholder is well placed and so is the middle storage thingie. That middle storage thingie is huge so it stores a bunch of crap. The V4 is completely adequate for my needs. I was able to climb hills and accelerate onto the freeway with no problem. Visibility is great...huge windows, no big "things" in the way.

Minuses: The cruise control on the steering wheel is positioned so that if your hand is at 7 o'clock you can inadvertently turn the CC off. Also, the CC is a little slow at accelerating on hills. I'm not sure how well the 4x4 works. I was trying to climb a hill with not very much snow (1/2 foot) on pavement and I couldn't make it. I'll have to compare it to the Saturn to see if it does better. Or maybe I don't have snow tires.

Meh: Seat belt adjustment is better than some, but I still can't keep it from attacking me in some positions. Why can't they invent a shoulder harness that is TRULY adjustable for short, tall, fat, well endowed, flat as a board people? Why do they insist on black for some of the dashboard trim? Black is too hot, especially in CA. I'm not in love with the white, still, I can claim some eco cred because white is a better color to prevent global warming (or global climate change or whatever).

Bought a new car

Thanks Edmunds.com for the hours of time I spent researching various cars. Looked at the Scion XB, Honda Fit, Element and CRV, Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier and Rogue and finally settled on a Ford Escape. I decided I wanted a somewhat boxy car that I could camp in and that was suitable for driving on local forest service roads. Most of the low gas mileage cars were too freaking low to the ground. I did really love the Fit though, and if it had just been higher off the ground I would have bought it. What sold me on the Escape was the price, high clearance, lack of crap dangling from the bottom (that can get damaged from rocks), simple looking engine, 0% financing combined with cash back. The dealership was okay with nothing too smarmy happening to make me ill. We'll see how it performs this weekend.

North Fork of the Middle Fork of the American River Trail

I've been meaning to take this trail for a while, but I've avoided it for several reasons. First, it's name is longer than the trail. Second, it's at a low elevation so it's usually hot. Last, it's the type of easy to get to place that is usually too crowded for an enjoyable wilderness experience.

This weekend was perfect. The weather is unsettled with heavy storms predicted so I didn't want to drive too far. It's also nice and cold. The trail looks worse than it is at the beginning with a short rocky slope composed mainly of talus. It soon gets onto actual dirt and levels out in the typical oak, slash pine, manzanita, tick infested terrain of the 3000 foot elevations.

There are constant views of the river about 300 yards below. With all the recent rain and snow the river was very noisy and flowing hard.

We trekked along happily and only had to scramble over one mud pile where a tree had fallen and taken some of the hillside along with it. Someone will need to come in and repair this section a bit.

The trail ends at the river along a granite curve with plenty of rocks to bask on in the hot summer. I stayed up on the trail's end where someone had built a nice granite platform and fire pit. Commando hung around for a bit and then went off to dig in the ground.

It was perfect timing because just as I was finishing my drink it started to rain! I'd recommend this trail for people with older children who want to end up at a nice picnic and swimming area in the summer. It's only a mile long so it's not much of a challenge otherwise.

Snow at Icehouse while sick

Drove up to Icehouse expecting 8 feet of snow after the most recent storms. It looks like I need to go higher because, although the scenery was nice, there was not 8 feet of new snow. I'm feeling sick so I didn't go far...just along the bank to the end of the campground and then back through the campground. I rested often and sat on a rock overlooking the lake for quite a while.

Commando enjoyed running in the snow...running full tilt along the bank biting the water with his patented scoop mouth technique...and chasing a stick that he'd found when I was obliging enough to through it for him. He got lots of exercise and I didn't but enjoyed the day anyway.

American River

Just about 3 weeks ago on an evening walk with the dog along the river we stopped at the "secret" beach. The water was so low that we could walk along the side all the way to the not-so-secret beach without getting our feet wet. The water was so low that the hound was able to chase sticks into the middle of the river.

Today the secret beach is gone. The path leading to the secret beach is gone and the water level is about 2 feet up the sand cliff. There is standing water in the overgrown gully.

What a difference the heavy rains are making!

Cheese Camp Road

On furlough Friday and also on Saturday drove up to Cheese Camp road to snow shoe. Friday was sunny and some nice people had packed down the trail with their snowmobiles and then left. We headed down and then skirted a hill until we came to one of the streams that empties into Union reservoir.

On Saturday it was overcast and some handsome men with their sons were just breaking camp in the pullout. They had a cool canvas tent with a heater so they must have been very snug. This time we walked down to the marshy area before the road goes up again. Commando dug all the way into the dirt after an interesting smell and I rested on a rock and drank my Vitamin water.

As I was getting my gear off at the car a pack of coyotes started howling over on the hill where Robb's hut is located. Commando seemed interested and I put him in the car before he decided to go investigate.

The snow is very wet and heavy but not very buoyant. It looks like it will be good for the drought conditions and, at the very least, stave off disaster for one more year.

Gloomy, stormy day in Bear Valley

Braved the storms to drive up to Nevada City and then to Bear Valley via highway 20. I was going to stop at the highway 2o ridge past the turnoff to Washington but it was snowing heavily and there was easily 3 feet of not very buoyant snow to plow through. Plus, there was no view.

Parked at the turnout in the valley and some thoughtful snowmobile enthusiast had made a nice trail up to the Sierra Trail and then back to the road. The snow is nice and wet and seems to be holding a lot of water. That's good for the drought. Conditions were good on the trail, but poor Commando went in up to his ears in the soft snow beside the trail. He didn't like it much but did obligingly chase snowballs into the deep snow.

It rained heavily at the lower elevations and snowed at the higher elevations. I might have stayed out longer but I really didn't want to be snowed in. I was glad to get out and I know Commando was glad too.

Stuck Trucks, Foresthill Bridge

I was pretty lazy and it's storming this weekend so I didn't even leave the house till about noon. Drove up to Colfax and took 174 then turned off onto You Bet drive and was hoping to make it via some side roads to Highway 20. Unfortunately, the road isn't plowed all the way through so I was forced to turn back. It was an interesting drive though.

They were stopping traffic in Applegate and not allowing any semis to proceed over Donner Summit. It was sad to see all of them parked along every exit and by the side of the freeway from Auburn north. I sure hope there is a plan to provide them with food and some shelter because if they're trapped there for a while they could get into trouble.

Drove back and parked under the Foresthill bridge and hiked up one of the American River forks. It's a nice jaunt for a rainy winter day because in the summer this is all jammed with people. Commando happily chased sticks and smelled stuff and we had a good time.

Local miscreants had painted part of the bridge supports and 3 of them were good. The pic of the smiley face is actually made with some rocks that have been cemented to the surface. I assume these particular miscreants are rock climbers making a climable surface. It was interesting.

Bowman Road Exploration

On Saturday drove up to Bowman Road off of highway 20 to explore. I could see that from 80, most of the snow had melted. At the Yuba River crossing, there was a sign for the Pioneer Trail so that's what we took. This segment connects with a trail to Spaulding Lake, although we didn't make it that far.

I didn't even take my snow shoes because the ground was so clear. The trail is relatively level, paralleling the river, with a few minor up and down switch backs. Some pretty big boulders had rolled down onto the trail and someone with a strong back and a lever is going to have fun shifting them.

Perhaps 1/2 mile along, there's a big meadow and there was an interesting sight. At the edge of the meadow there are about 10 pine saplings with the tops torn off. I'm going to guess bear, but I considered beaver and a buck scratching it's horns. I thought beaver would be tidier and would have taken the tops down. I thought if a buck had been scratching velvet I would have seen lots of damage on the ground from hooves and perhaps quite a few broken and bent branches. I picked bear because whatever did it had a LOT of strength. It looks like the tops were bent over repeatedly and violently. At least 2 of the trees were too big to wrap a human hand around. Also, a couple of the trees had dead needles although most were still green so it looks like it happened over time. Still, with the bear theory, I would have liked to see some bite or claw marks and I didn't see any damage other than where the trees were ripped apart. Except for one tree, the tops were just left where they lay. I'm not sure what would motivate the bear either. I picture them mainly eating and none of the trees looked eaten. Perhaps violent butt scratching?

I decided that humans would have used tools, possibly burnt the wood, and left trash around. Take a look at the picture and see what you think.

We stopped shortly after crossing a lively creek and then headed back. This is a good trail for early, early spring and late, late fall because the summer crowds are gone. We only saw one other hiker along the trail.

On Sunday we drove up to the other end of the trail (near Fuller Lake) and headed out. This time I took snow shoes because there was a lot of snow on the ground still in spite of the bare dirt patches.

I was glad to have them because some of the hills were steep and icy. I didn't take the official trail because no one had gone before and the snow was deep and unmarked. The weather was bad and I didn't want to get into any trouble.

We headed where snow mobiles had gone and ended up at a water pumping station taking water from (presumably) Fuller to Spaulding. I forced Commando to walk on a thoughtfully provided metal walkway and he didn't enjoy it. Once he made it to the rodent land beyond he was much happier.

Both days were cold and windy. Saturday was sunny but Sunday was gloomy and overcast.

EDNF 13N13

Drove around a bit on Icehouse trying to find the best place. Finally decided on 13N13. The road slopes relatively gently up and ends with an overlook to Sun Rock across a small watershed. I took a brief detour up 13N12, which eventually intersects with Cheese Camp road (?) but it was much steeper.

A truck had made ruts in the snow and a variety of walkers and snow mobiles had also gone up. The snow was firm with a few inches of fluffy new snow from last week's storm. Whoever had walked up before had probably walked up last weekend because they left deep holes. I admired their stamina because that's hard work!

We passed a fire hole with unburnt logs and two places where someone had spent some time digging a vehicle out and getting it turned around. The snowmobile tracks stopped in a cleared area and there were a variety of empty shotgun shells lying around. Who do they think will pick those up?

We crossed a small stream. Just where it crosses the trail it spreads out into quite a pool/marshy area and the previous walker had clearly gotten their boots (and probably ankles) wet. I can imagine just what they felt as they saw the pool, then discovered that the snow they were walking on was really just a deceptive cover over wet, wet water.

Soon the road takes a sharp right and now Commando and I were making the only tracks. Mr. Previous Weekend stopped and probably sat down on a stump to look over a creek down a short steep hill before heading back. At least, that's what the tracks looked like.

We kept on until we got to the summit and then headed over a saddle off the road to look out over the view. I sat on a log and ate my snacks and drank my Vitamin Water. Commando ate his snack and hunted rodents under the snow.

We headed back and were out for a total of about 3 hours.