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Showing posts from 2015

7.17.15 ... Loves Falls

Hike Details: Elevation - low of about 4,300 - high of 5,300 ft. Location - just outside of Sierra City, off of Hwy. 49 Mileage - the plan: 3 1/2 - 4 miles; the reality: at least 5, maybe 6 Hiking time - 2 1/2 hours Route - (see map and description below) - important note:  the CalTopo map (and other maps) show Loves Falls as being south of the PCT, which is incorrect, unless they're naming something else as Loves Falls that are further down the river. The bridge and the bigger falls are right on the trail of the PCT. Weather - warm...okay, hot! Hiking with 12 people was just a warm-up for the hike a few weeks later with about 50-60 people! Which is one of the reasons to pre-hike! I've done this hike before, but we decided to add a little mileage so that we'd be hiking on the PCT a little longer. We started through the campground, got directions from the camp host, and took off up the gravel road in search of the trail intersection with the PCT. We

6.19.15 ... Castle Peak

Hike Details: Elevation – 9,103 ft.   Location – near I-80 just across from Boreal Ridge Ski Resort Mileage – 7 1/2  miles round-trip Time – 3 1/2 hours Route – see map and description below Weather – Perfect Take the exit at Boreal Ski Resort, turn left under the freeway and drive just a little bit around a bend to park at the trailhead.  See those craggy peaks FAR off in the distance? Yeah, that's where we're hiking. So...one foot in front of the other and pretty soon those peaks start getting closer and closer.  First we hiked down a gravel road until a fork in the road to the right took us over to connect with the Pacific Crest Trail.  We passed by some lovely meadows before diving into the thick of the forest.  And a higher-up meadow...  Those rocks are getting a little closer...  We reached the saddle where the PCT heads North and met up with some fun PCT thru-hikers. (I've learned their trail names are DirtyBowl and DoubleHappiness

4.24.15 ... Avery Pond

Hike Details: Elevation – not much   Location – Rattlesnake Road, Newcastle - Folsom Lake Mileage – 4-5 miles Time – 2 hours Route – We parked at the Avery Pond Trailhead inside Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, head North/Northeast along the trail that roughly follows the water's edge Weather – lovely This is more like a stroll, than a hike, but still a nice little workout with some lovely spring scenery with lots of pretty wildflowers. You can follow the trail along the lake for however long you want to walk and then just turn around. Hard to get lost on this one!  This is Avery's Pond -- a nice little spot to stop for a picnic, there's one picnic table here. Lots of cute little turtles if you look closely.  

3.6.15 ..... Snow Much Fun!

Hike/Snowshoe Details: Elevation – 7,000 ft.+   Location – Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort Mileage – 4 miles round-trip Time – 3 hours Route – see map and description below Weather – Beautiful! Just cold enough to keep the snow around but warm enough that we never felt cold  A few of us have talked about going snowshoeing or cross-country skiing for a couple of years and we finally did it! We decided to start off easy by trying snowshoeing first and going to Royal Gorge, a designated cross-country snow park with good trails and where we could rent all the equipment. Here we are all geared up and ready to go.  The snow was pretty sparse in some places but there was plenty for snowshoeing from the snowfall last weekend. We knew this might be our last chance.  On the advice of one of the workers, we started off on the Palisade trail headed towards Lyle's Lookout. Another worker told us we could go from there and cut cross-country up the slope to the Pali

1.30.15 ..... Michigan Bluff

Hike Details: Elevation - started at about 3500 ft., then went down to 1800 ft. and back up again! Location - near Foresthill, Tahoe National Forest Mileage - 5 miles Hiking time - 3 hours Route - Take the Foresthill Rd. exit from I-80, then just past the town of Foresthill turn right on Michigan Bluff Rd.We parked on the side of the road right when it dead ends in the little "town" of Michigan Bluff. Weather -beautiful, amazingly warm for a January day (thanks to Rachelle & Misty for sharing pictures!) My favorite kind of hike is to climb up, then come back down, like you typically do up a mountain. This was not one of those trails because we started out going downhill, stopped at a creek, then turned around and came back up. This trail was worth the hike up and out though because it's such a beautiful area. This is the view from the top looking back over the American River Canyon. This trail dates back to the Gold Rush when miners would tra