Hiking with Heidi

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

Hike Details: Elevation - not much Location - Auburn State Recreation Area Mileage - 7 miles Hiking time - 2 hours Route -We parked in the lot at the confluence, then we walked across the bridge on Foresthill Rd to the trailhead Weather - overcast, a few sprinkles, but nice, brisk hiking weather :)    The first real hike of the year! The weather looked a little ominous with gray skies and some rain as we headed up the hill, but once you're packed and ready to go hiking, might as well just enjoy it! The sun never really came out much, but it wasn't too cold and was nice and brisk for hiking. One thing we did notice though was all the GREEN! Considering we're still in a drought, there was a lot of it! We felt like we were walking through an enchanted forest.And the water in this section of the river really is this unique turquoise color. I'll have to research and figure out why.  We crossed under the Foresthill Bridge...    We hik

I love making goals when the new year rolls around, when everything feels fresh and clean. It feels sort of like hitting the re-set button and starting over again. I always include some kind of goal for better health, but last year I also included a hiking goal -- to hike 50 miles in honor of my 50th birthday. Fortunately, I didn't specify whether it had to be all in one trip or not. Last summer was a crazy, busy one in our family so a multi-day backpacking trip wasn't going to happen. It was much more realistic to log 50 miles over the course of numerous day trips. Even that took some planning and scheduling, but I made it and did some great hikes! Probably my favorite one was the day after my birthday with this big group to Sierra Buttes Lookout -- it was awesome!  And to get to drag along two of my kids was extra fun! Now, on to 2015, hmm, what to do...I could add another mile and hike 51 miles for my 51 years, but nah. I "bagged" a few peaks in 2014,

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.