Labor Day and a Tour of Northern California
This Labor Day we took the three day weekend and traveled roughly 900 miles on a quest to see the variety of the far northern parts of California.
Starting early Saturday morning we drove the BusBus from Stockton to Lassen National Park, a park dedicated to the 4 major types of volcanoes (shield, cinder cone, dome & plug, and composite). Mt. Lassen is also the southern extent of the Cascade Range volcanoes.
With a mid-day arrival, we skipped the crowded road-side attractions and headed to the volcano’s peak. The climb was mild and, given the late time of day, more people were headed down than up making for a reasonably empty trail. The top of the mountain was craggy and surprisingly snow-covered. The last eruption was in 1916, making the rock at the summit the youngest rock in California. After crawling around the sharp crags and gullies of the crater, we descended and headed to the Bumpass Hell. This site is a network of boiling mud pits, fumeroles, and clay pots fed by steam and boiling water from the volcano. After sunset, we found a quiet trailhead to tuck in for the night.
Of course, the night was just getting started and the wonders of the BusBus allowed us to stay up with snacks of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, beer, and cider while we played Dominion, the card game.
The following morning we were up with the sun and back on the road, finishing our tour of Lassen National Park. Also up with the sun were a group of deer; the creatures were our first wildlife of the trip. The volcano adventure completed, we were off to Shasta Lake. Here we toured the lake and not the volcano. The reservoir is home to the second tallest concrete dam in the U.S. and it is the principal reservoir in the Federal Central Valley Project water system. Constructed during World War II, the dam served to provide the power necessary to keep the ship factories running in the Bay Area. Today, however, we were here to see something completely different… caves!
Privately owned Shasta Caverns is a cave system about 800 feet above the lake’s surface along the southeastern shore. It was discovered by an employee from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and was explored for years before being managed as a tourist attraction. Currently the caverns run vertically through the mountain, with chambers connected to one another by blasted tunnels and stairs. Some of the stalactites are 2,000 years old according to an estimate provided by the University of California at Davis. Formations represented in the caverns include curtain stalactites (“cave bacon”), helictites (“cave spaghetti”), standard stalactites (“ice cream cones”), soda straws, and flowstone (“cave ice cream”). It seemed to me that the individual leading our tour was hungry for lunch.
Done with our cave tour and back at the BusBus, Karen and I were off again for the next part of our adventure. We were headed to the coast and Redwood National Park near Eureka. On the way there we passed through Redding and then Whiskytown Reservoir. Since it was a nice day out and the lake had some good coves without boat traffic, Karen and I decided to take advantage of the big water and work on our open water swimming skills. So we hopped in the water and swam a half mile. Not too shabby for a random afternoon.
Up and over the Coastal Range and we came upon the Pacific Ocean. Heading north we drove to a little alternative town called Trinity. Here, we parked and walked around the beaches and town, enjoying the ocean air and mild temperatures. There were seals perched upon rocks, keeping safe from the sharks, and wild blackberries grew everywhere. Snacking and walking, we enjoyed a little time out of the car. Walking to the pier, we had local seafood and then started looking for a place to spend the night. A few miles north of the town Karen found a small cluster of homes overlooking the Pacific. The area had a wide road with very little traffic, and a great location. We fell asleep to the sounds of crashing surf.
The following morning we were again up with the sun and on the road headed north, catching our first (but not last) sight of Roosevelt elk. Conveniently, this first herd was standing directly in front of a giant billboard stating that this location was an elk crossing. Stopping shortly thereafter in Orick for breakfast at the Palm Cafe based upon local recommendation, we feasted on eggs, toast, and OJ before heading into Redwood National Park at the Ladybird Johnson Grove. Here we wandered virtually alone for over an hour marveling at the tremendously tall trees. We saw banana slugs aplenty, several bright yellow snails the size of a half-dollar, some scurrying chipmunks, and best of all we saw a tree dropping its cones. In fact, we stood nearby and watched for several minutes as cones the size of golfballs zinged past us and ricocheted off of logs, rocks, the ground, but luckily not us. You could hear the whistle of the cones as they fell. It was quite surreal to be there all alone as the forest went about its business.
Back on the road, we drove the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. This road parallels Hwy. 101 and cuts through the heart of an old growth redwood grove. The views from the car are amazing and, with the BusBus providing an adequate excuse to drive slow, we crept along keeping eyes glued to the amazing trees we were passing.
Eventually we rejoined Hwy. 101 and headed still farther north. Over breakfast, the locals were telling us about how large this year’s salmon run is. It was occurring as we sat there eating our eggs. We were encouraged to go take a look. So, we drove initially to the Klamath River Overlook. This is a state park high on the bluff overlooking the mouth of the Klamath River. There was a heavy marine layer, however, and the overlook was a good 1/2 mile into the clouds. So, we turned around and headed to the heart of the activity – a impromptu encampment of thousands of fishermen and fisherwomen. There were concessioners smoking fish, serving coffee, fixing boats, fixing nets, and just about everything else you can imagine being needed where fishing is the first and last thing on everyone’s mind. The fish were indeed running, but it was hard to get a good photo. The river was criss-crossed with nets, slowing passing boats to a crawl. The shores were heavy with rods and buckets, everyone looking to strike a 4 foot salmon.
Leaving the craziness, we were headed south toward Eureka. Just as we drove onto the bridge over the Klamath River, Karen looked down in time to see a young black bear cruising the riverbank, no doubt looking for a fish. Surprisingly, this bear was no further than 1000 feet from a very heavily populated campground. Neither the campers nor the bear seemed to notice one another. We drove south.
Passing Eureka, we entered the Avenue of the Giants; this road is another scenic bypass to Hwy. 101, paralleling the highway for tens of miles. On this road we passed through many redwood groves each with amazing trees and views. Founders’ Grove is the first grove we decided to walk around. The tallest tree, the Founders Tree, is here. There are also many downed trees that you can walk along, often connecting one fallen tree to the next. Another stop we made was at Rockefeller Grove. This grove is off the main stretch of road and was vacant. We were able to walk the entire grove without running into a single person. This grove also contains 40 of the top 100 tallest trees in the world. The sheer density of tall trees with very little undergrowth really gave this grove some height and distinction.
Our tree exploration done, we were on the road headed home via the Eel River valley and Capay Valley. All said and done, it was an amazing road trip and I can’t wait to share it with anyone who feels the desire to spend 3 days in a car exploring the state.
A series of dives at Catalina Island
I received a call from my good friend Brandon the other week asking if I had time for an adventure. My obvious answer was in fact, “Yes, I always have time for an adventure.” So, I was told about a boat, an island, friends and some dive equipment. A few weeks later I was driving south with a trunk, or boot for those of you familiar with Mini Coopers, full of dive equipment and an expectation for an adventure-filled weekend.
At an inordinately early hour the next morning Brandon, Rich and I were meeting up with Mark in front of the Starbucks on our way to San Pedro Harbor and the waiting chartered dive boat. On the way, we reviewed the likelihood of several contingencies and plotted what level of diving we’d undertake. This was necessary as some of us, I for one, had not dove for many years. But, largely Scuba is like riding a bike; you never forget the fundamentals.
The captain of the boat was an expert and professional. He, and his crew, took care of the details and allowed us to focus on diving and enjoying the day. Of note, we saw more lobster than we could count (it was 2 weeks before season opening), moray, garibaldi, and several giant sea bass.
You can get a sense of our dives with the following link to a video.
A weekend with the Baja girls and Yosemite
A few years back our neighbors Brad and Jessica took the Baja girls, Teresa and Eva, on a camping trip. It was both a success and a challenge, but left the girls with a desire to go again. Karen and I have shared many of the stories about our adventures with the girls over the years. So, it came as no surprise that they had an interest in visiting Yosemite National Park with us. Because both the girls were a few years older than when they camped with Brad and Jessica, we were quite certain that they could handle our version of camping. A date was picked and a campsite reserved.
We had reservations for a walk-in campsite at Hodgedon Meadow, reasonably low altitude for the non-valley campsites. It was also directly beside the Big Oak Flat entrance point, which allowed us to cut short the twisty mountain driving shortly after arriving at the park. Of course no inaugural visit to Yosemite would be complete without a photo by the sign, and a quick overview of bear safety.
Once at the campground, we unloaded the car and walked into our site. Karen taught the girls how to pitch their tent, while I put ours up and secured the food. Importantly, I also hung our two camping hammocks. As we settled in to camp and prepared lunch, the girls discovered new and unique ways to sit in a hammock. Lunch taken care of, we were back in the car and off to Yosemite Valley and the famous sites of Half Dome, El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall, and the Merced River.
On our hike to the base of Bridalveil Fall, the girls, Karen and I scampered around the rocks of the riverbed. This year water is so short the fall was rarely hitting the valley. Most of the water was being blown back up the cliff and simply saturating the rock face. So the riverbed was quite dry, with only a few pools here and there. So it was our great surprise when Teresa found the first snake Karen and I have seen in Yosemite. And, not just any snake either. She found a water snake that was actively hunting the 4 to 6 inch trout lingering in the pools. Given Teresa is so fond of reptiles, we had a great time watching the creature hunt fish. After we were back to the car, we drove a few more minutes into the valley and stopped at a good stretch of river where all of us took a wade into the water.
After swimming we toured the valley until it was time to drive back to our camp and start preparing our campfire, food, and smores. Eva helped Karen start the campfire and learned how to stack the wood so as to allow enough oxygen to reach the underside of the fire while providing a good pocket to keep in the heat. Teresa learned how to whittle wood. She worked hard on a pointy stick. Once we had the campfire going, it was time to break out the dehydrated backpacking food. Although this was not necessary as we were not carrying all our gear on our backs, it is still a fun time eating such a different type of food from normal. Then, it was time for smores.
After food and a bit of hanging around on the hammocks, we went to the ranger campfire and learned all about the Sequoias. The first known discovery of the Sequoias was at the Merced grove – we would visit the next morning – by a group of trappers who were traveling over the Sierras. The ranger brought out a rope the length of the circumference of the largest of all the Sequoias, General Sherman in the Maraposa Grove. All the kids at the campfire were asked to come hold on to the rope and spread it out in a circle, and then marvel at how big it was.
The Persides meteor shower was occurring over the weekend and it was peaking on Saturday night. So, after the campfire we walked out to Hodgedon Meadow and looked up to the sky to find some shooting stars. Just a handful of minutes passed before we saw a great big fireball light up the sky, changing colors as it slowly crossed the sky. So as not to get eaten by bears, we walked back to camp and retired to our tents so that we could get up early and hike to the redwoods.
The next morning we had a quick 3 mile hike to the Merced grove of Sequoias. We saw clusters of the giant trees and had lunch at the grove. Afterwards, it was back to the Valley for another swim and some relaxing before heading home.
Overall it was a great time with both Teresa and Eva and hopefully everyone can camp again soon.
Yosemite’s Best Campsite with Julia and Chris
This past weekend Julia and Chris joined Karen and me to have a go at backpacking to the best campsite in the park. This was Julia’s and Chris’ second backpack in the park, but the first of which they will remember. The weekend started mid-afternoon for Karen and I, and late late late in the night for Julia and Chris.
Karen and I got on the road early in order to make it to the Wilderness Permit Office before it closed at 4pm. With a short stop, our permit in hand, and a spare bear can, or bear barrel according to Chris, we were on our way toward finding a campsite for the night. Starting at the Yosemite Creek campground off of Hwy. 120, we found that it had filled before we could get there. Undeterred, we went next door to White Wolf campground and picked up a spot at the backpackers’ campsite. And we both agreed that this backpackers’ campsite was by far nicer than the backpackers’ campsite at Tuolumne Meadows. It is easier to access, has flat tent sites, and is generally better organized.
Because White Wolf campsite includes a lodge and cabins, there is a high country kitchen serving tasty meals. After a 5 mile run out to a nearby lake, and phoning Julia and Chris to inform them of our location, we sat down to chicken fajitas, tomato basil soup, green salad, and a pint of cider. What a nice evening.
Julia and Chris were on the road by 5pm, but didn’t arrive until 1:30am because they were driving up from Southern California. Instead of making camp for only a few hours of sleep, they parked and curled up in the back. 7:30am came around and we met up with them for our big adventure.
Driving back to Yosemite Creek campground and the trailhead for our hike, we were on foot by 8:30am. About 30 minutes into the hike, we had an amazing coyote encounter. The animal was just out of sight but could not have been more than a few hundred feet away. It was yipping and howling like it was calling to its pack. This went on for a good 20 minutes. It was tempting to go tromping off to find the animal. But we didn’t. The trail proceeded primarily downhill through the Yosemite Creek valley, working its way from Hwy. 120 to the Yosemite Valley. The creek would eventually turn into Yosemite Falls and join the Merced River 4,000 feet below. Just before reaching the falls, we saw our first deer of the hike. It was by itself, and reasonably unafraid; it walked within about 8 feet of our group on its search for an easy meal. After a few minutes of watching it rummage around, we continued on our way.
The trail was dry. Dry, dry, dry. This had one big benefit. No bugs! We made it to the top of the falls and stopped for a bit of lunch and exploration. A second benefit of the absurdly dry conditions was that we could climb right down the throat of the falls. In fact, it was so dry that I was able to walk to the edge of Yosemite Falls, stare directly downward at the large granite shelf that creates the notable spray curtain of the falls, and while there straddle the entirety of the falls. The falls was all of 8 inches wide. Although I gave myself a whole net-full of butterflies in the 30-45 seconds of edge walking, it was enough to have fun and look around.
Julia, Chris, and Karen lounged around the available water pools higher up the hill, at a safe distance from the edge. Rejoining the group, we filtered water and mounted our packs. Then it was uphill to Yosemite Point and, just uphill of that, our campsite… the best campsite in the whole National Park.
Setting camp, we cooked dinner and began the evening festivities… charades and later a campfire and stargazing. We had fun entertaining ourselves with ridiculous jumping and pantomime acting out phrases such as “the big harry spider climbed up the water spout,” and “geese flying in a v-formation.” Both of these were the courtesy of Julia. Some other notable phrases were “throwing a dead body off of a pier” and, well you get the gist.
Being the old man of the group, after charades and a dessert of blueberry cheesecake, I went to bed. The other three stayed up and built themselves a nice little campfire. They sat around, and I’ve been told, watched satellites and shooting stars.
The following morning, we had a reasonably leisurely breaking of camp. I made breakfast for the group while the rest of the gang packed up the equipment. Because we were up with the sun, around 6:30am, even with a casual morning we were on the trail by 8:30am. Two deer showed up on the trail just as we walked from camp. Marching downhill to the falls, we again filtered water and lounged around before heading up the valley and back to the trailhead. About halfway back, we passed some of the better swimming pools that Karen noted on our first walk down the valley. So, we had to stop for a little swim. Or, should I say, Karen had to stop for a swim while the rest of us sat around and relaxed.
After returning to the trailhead, we said thanks and good bye to Julia and Chris knowing that we wouldn’t likely see them until Christmas. This was sad, but at the same time, we’ll next see them in Thailand and that should be quite a lot of fun.
Central Coast Wine Tasting with Scott and Jackie
Last night Karen and I drove down to Solvang in order to meet up with Scott and Jackie. Karen lined up a series of wine tastings and events for the weekend. Scott and Jackie found a nice house for the 4 of us to rent that is in a great location for all sorts of adventure.
Saturday morning we started out with breakfast at the Los Olivos grocery. Breakfast burritos, donuts, juice and smoothies fueled our day. At 11 we began tasting at Brander. I had tasty Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Lunch in Solvang. After lunch tasting at Alma Roso, a fantastic winery tucked off the highway with terrific Pino Gris, Chardonnay, and Pino Noirs. Our last tasting was at Brewer Clifton, a tasting room in the industrial district of Lompoc. Don’t let the appearance deceive you, the wines are very good.
On a lark we stopped at a ranch that raises ostrich and emu. It was quite a unique opportunity to feed some large birds.
Our evening wrapped up with a wine event in the vineyard, tasting wines and eating food prepared from local produce and cheeses.
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings at Bridalwood.
A few days in Tahoe
Julia and Chris drove up for the weekend to join Karen and me for some good times at Lake Tahoe. Karen and I were particularly looking forward to their visit because we rarely get to show them the Sierras, which is a place we treat as a second home. As an added treat Chris and Julia brought their dog Einstein.
This adventure started with a brief but vertical hike in the Tahoe National Forest on a trail called Loch Leven Lakes. At around 6 miles round trip, the trail rose nearly 1,250 feet to a series of small lakes. On the way we passed through fern choked redwoods, dry granite faces, and scrub brush and lodge pole pine. Additionally, we stepped over the transcontinental railroad tracks. Although there are now many routes to ship freight and passengers across the country, this set of tracks was the first route to connect the two halves of the country. Once at the lakes, we couldn’t resist a swim before returning to the cars.
That evening the four of us attended the Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor, on the Nevada side of the lake. The play was A Midsummers Night Dream, and I have to say it was well performed. We brought fruit, wine, juice, and cheese, then ordered some dinner on-site. The evening was very warm and we spent the time prior to the show enjoying ourselves at a table under an umbrella and walking along the lake shore.
The following day we woke up at a relaxed time, ate breakfast at the cottage Julia had found for us, and began a mellow drive along the North Shore of the lake, stopping to play with Einstein in the lake. He is working on his swimming and water fetch skills. Our adventure complete, we drove back to the house and bid Julia and Chris safe travels as they continued south.
A weekend in Newport with Family and Friends
Karen and I spent the weekend down in Newport visiting with Julia and Chris, and Taylor and Matt. Taylor’s parents were kind enough to allow the six of us to occupy their Balboa home. As our base of operations, the home served as an excellent place to play games, go on bike rides along the beach, and go sailing.
When on the high seas, Captain Tripp and 1st Mate Matt set about charting a course north into the high seas. Meanwhile, Bosun Chris kept the sails trim and tidy. Master at Arms Julia provisioned the vessel and set out a great feast upon the deck for her shipmates. Swabbie Karen fetched this-and-that as demanded by her crew mates. There was, however, one sneaky individual aboard. Pirate/Mutineer Taylor deviously plotted to get some of the more senior crew to jump overboard. Once achieved, she fomented content with the 1st Mate by snuggling on the foredeck. With his crew in tatters, the Captain returned to harbor where the lot of them safely returned home.
As always, the weekend was full of fun friends, food, conversation and merriment.
60 Miles of Vogelsang
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Karen and I escaped the triple-digit heat at home by heading to Yosemite for a long weekend of backpacking.
As our longest backpack together at four days, the route took us into the heart of the Sierras to the High Sierra Camp of Vogelsang. From there we explored further on an all day hike over Vogelsang pass to Merced Lake and the numerous small lakes along the 15 mile loop. On the third day we picked up camp and hiked over the ridge past Ireland Lake into the Lyell Canyon. There we pitched our tent along the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River. After a rejuvenating hot lunch, we hiked to the end of the canyon and over Donahue Pass, at 11,000 feet elevation.
We did not see the active and aggressive Lyell Canyon bear, but we did see plenty of marmot. We also saw a Sierra Grouse and plenty of deer. Also, amazingly, Karen ran into a classmate of hers from Dartmouth who was kind enough to invite us to dinner with her fellow Vogelsang staffers.
A thunder storm on Thursday afternoon was a first for Karen, introducing her to the typical, although not recently, weather of the high sierras during the summer. The storm was accompanied by a rather long hail storm. Luckily we had already pitched camp and were able to escape to the reasonable safety of the Vogelsang camp mess tent to play a little backgammon.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
Kayaking at Tomales Bay
This past weekend Karen’s family flew up from Southern California to join us at Dillon Beach, near Tomales Bay. The day after they arrived the kids, that is Julia, Chris, Karen and I, grabbed kayaks and paddled around. We covered about nine miles over the course of four hours. While the wind and chop kept most sea life tucked out of sight, we did see seals on Hog Island, plenty of large Pacific Pelicans, and Julia and Chris saw a feeding sea lion up close as it caught a fish. Afterward the whole family stopped by Hog Island Oyster Farm for a tasty lunch before returning to Dillon Beach.
Saturday evening we were joined by my mom and her good friend Bren. They stopped over on their way north to Oregon. After a long night of jigsaw puzzle and conversation everyone slept soundly.
The morning brought some rain but not enough to deter a long walk on the beach. Mom and Bren set off north on Hwy 1 while Karen and I saw the Kramer/Pongs off at the Petaluma municipal airport for their flight back to Southern California.
Enjoy some pictures.
Utica Lake Kayaking
On the otherwise unoccupied last weekend of May, Karen and I loaded the BoatBoat onto the BusBus and drove up highway 4 to a turnoff just before Bear Valley ski resort. This random mountain road led us to National Forest lands that contained Utica Lake, a manmade lake in the Sierras with small islands aplenty.
We paddled out and found ourselves an island kingdom to call our own, pitched a tent and spent the evening reveling in our new found land. It was only mildly buggy and the stars were in fine shape. All of this led us to feel that the adventure was well worth the drive.
Enjoy the following pictures.
