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1.1.15 ..... Folsom Lake

Hike Details:
  • Elevation - not much
  • Location - Granite Bay entrance at Folsom Lake
  • Mileage - 3+ miles
  • Hiking time - should have been just an hour or so until the saga of the lost phone (see below)
  • Route - meandering along the lakefront for a couple of hours :)
  • Weather - Chilly but sunny and beautiful
  • Hikers - the VW family
 Hey, let's go for a hike, I said. It'll be fun, I said. It's beautiful outside, I said. It's New Year's Day, time for new resolutions, I said. So after a little bit of motherly nagging and nudging, they agreed. :) Plus I wanted to try out my new little daypack my daughter got me for Christmas from REI. Love it!
 We decided to head over to Folsom Lake, just a short drive away and check out the water level (low!). We ended up buying the State Parks annual pass so I'm excited to check out more parks and hiking trails. We parked at the Granite Bay park entrance and just walked along the shoreline and around numerous points.
 My kids being themselves

 We stopped after a mile or two and decided to play a game in the sand -- Conquer the World. The boys had played it in Scouts and even though Hannah and I were reluctant to participate since it involved throwing a stick at your opponents, it turned out to be a super fun game. Here are the basic rules:
  • Draw a big circle in the sand and divide it into pie pieces based on how many players.
  • Each player stands in their section, while one of the players takes a small stick (driftwood is perfect because it's lightweight so hopefully no one gets maimed) and tosses it into the section of another player.
  • Everyone runs as far away as possible while the person who has the stick in their section has to hurry and grab the stick and yell "STOP" or "FREEZE".
  • That person then throws the stick at one of the other players who is either the closest or whose section they want to try to take over. (no head shots, aim for the legs) The person being hit has to keep their feet planted but can move their body to dodge it if they can.
  • If the thrower hits the person, they get to use the stick while standing in their own section and carve as much of the other person's section to take as their own. (use your feet to erase previous lines) It's sort of like Risk but with sand territory. Then they get to throw the stick into someone else's territory.
  • If the thrower misses, then the person they tried to hit gets the stick and throws it into someone else's territory.
  • Object of the game is obviously to take over everyone else's territory, eliminating them one by one.
It was a fun way to get a little more exercise!

Then we headed back and were just about to the parking lot when H. came to a terrible realization -- she couldn't find her cell phone! Oh no! So much for the not hiking very far. H. and I retraced our steps while Dad and the boys went to get the car and drive closer to the sand area where we'd played the game. No luck there. I said a quick prayer, as I'm sure H. did since she'd have to pay out of her own pocket to replace the phone. We met up with the boys and continued searching our trail. S. had the smart idea to look specifically along the trail where it was softer sand, reasoning that the phone would have landed there without making a sound. Bingo! He found it after just a short bit of looking. Hallelujah! All's well that ends well, especially for H.