Hiking with Heidi

America the Amazingly Beautiful!!! We had a free day after the 4th of July so we (meaning I) decided to head out on another hike (and the boys went along with it, haha!). This was a new one that I hadn't heard of, though I've hiked a few trails in the general vicinity. I have to say this is now right up there in the top 5 of my favorite hikes for its incredible beauty! And a good thing it was so beautiful, because it was a tough little hike--good incline, higher elevation and a few added miles due to the campground being closed for parking (see info below). This is Wrights Lake, so clear and beautiful! Hike Details: Elevation range - 7,000-8,000' Location - Desolation Wilderness - Take Hwy. 50 East from Placerville, go just past Kyburz and turn left onto Wrights Lake Road, drive 8 miles to the entrance of Wrights Lake Recreation Area. When we arrived, the gate was closed and the campground was not yet open, so we had to park in the first parking area and the...

Hike Details: Elevation range - about 1200-1300' (lots of little ups and downs but no huge elevation changes) Location - take Hwy. 65 North, through Marysville, to Hwy. 70 North to Oroville, take Grand Ave. exit, turn left on Table Mountain Rd., then right on Cherokee Rd., it's a windy, small road up to the top of the plateau. Parking lot will be on the left by a large oak tree. Note: This is now a fee area, go here to purchase a pass before you go:   https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/lands-pass Bathrooms: Yes, porta-potties Mileage - 5 miles roundtrip (depending on how much wandering around you do) Hiking time - 3 hours Everything here is unbelievably green...

Hike Details: Elevation range - about 600-700' (lots of little ups and downs but no huge elevation changes) Location - from Eastbound I-80, take the Hwy. 49 South exit towards Placerville, follow it through Auburn and down into the American River Canyon. Parking is along the street or in a few lots that require a permit. For this trail, we parked on the right side of the road, right after you cross the bridge over the river. Bathrooms: Yes, porta-potties Mileage - 4-5 miles roundtrip Hiking time - 2 hours

Hike Details: Elevation range - about 800' (lots of little ups and downs but no huge elevation changes) Location - from Eastbound I-80, take Exit 130, W. Paoli Lane. From the exit, turn left onto W. Paoli Lane, then continue straight on Paoli Lane (don't go back over the freeway on W. Paoli Lane). It ends at Ponderosa Road, then turn right and just keep going! It becomes a dirt road, single lane, and is SUPER bumpy! We drove my husband's truck and we were still worried about all the bumps! Definitely not a place I'd go with a sketchy vehicle as there's also no cell coverage down in the canyon. Just keep driving down the windy road until you get to the river and there's a small parking lot. Bathrooms: Maybe? Might be a pit toilet at the trailhead, if there was we didn't use it. Mileage - 3 miles roundtrip Hiking time - 1-2 hours

Hike Details: Elevation - 5,075' - 5,575' Location - From Sacramento take Hwy. 50 East. About 20 miles past Placerville take a left turn on Ice House Road. Follow this road (very windy, but beautiful) for about 18 miles. (At about 12 miles is the Crystal Basin Ranger Station on the right--nice bathrooms, worth stopping!) Continue on until you cross a bridge over a creek. Big Silver Group Campground is on the left, and the turnoff to Bassi Falls is immediately across from it on the right. Take the turn, then when you reach a fork in the road, you can go left and drive up to within about a half mile from the falls. But we drove to the right and parked in a big open area where a trail headed down to the right towards the creek. It's about 2 miles to the falls from here, see the picture below with the sign. Mileage - 4.5 miles roundtrip Hiking time - 3 hours I didn't make this map but it's pretty close to what we hiked. The green arrow is the turnoff from I...

Hike Details: Elevation - 600-900 ft. Location - Hidden Falls Regional Park, Auburn, CA Mileage - 4-5 miles Hiking time - 2+ hours Route - map and information here Just a quick Saturday morning outing with a group of kids from church as a pre-hike for a much longer "Pioneer Trek" (which will be 19 miles over 3 days in the Sierras). This was just a warmup to get them out on the trail doing some walking. Fortunately, it was a mercifully cool morning because otherwise Hidden Falls is a little too warm for summer hiking unless you plan to get wet in the creek (which one of the boys did accidentally, oops!).        

Hike Details: Elevation - low of 535' to high of 1194' Location - Auburn State Recreation Area - Confluence Mileage - 4-5 miles Hiking time -1 1/2 hours Route - See the map below, we parked at the Confluence beyond the bridge, near the bathroom (fee area). We followed the Stagecoach Trail, but then took a sharp left to head towards the Manzanita Trail, which took us to the Park Headquarters. We crossed Hwy. 49 to join the Western States Trail, crossed the No Hands Bridge and then crossed the river again back to the parking lot. Weather - Barely cool when we started at about 8:30, and just got progressively warmer. Fortunately we finished before it was too hot to hike. These nifty graphics were made from the caltopo.com website -- best hike planning/mapping website!! I'm just nerdy enough that I enjoy figuring this stuff out. And I love that the elevation profile makes it look like we climbed a really high mountain. :) So this hike was our second choi...

Hike Details: Elevation - low approx. 6,250 ft. - high of 7,000 ft. Location - Emerald Bay State Park Mileage - 4-5 miles Hiking time - 3 hours Route -We parked in the Emerald Bay State Park parking lot (fee area) on Highway 89, then walked back to the Eagle Falls trailhead. Just follow the signs to Eagle Falls and then on to Eagle Lake. Permits for the Desolation Wilderness are at the trailhead, make sure to fill one out. After coming back to the trailhead, we headed down the trail to the Vikingsholm Castle and then back up again. If I were to do this over again, I'd recommend starting by going down to Vikingsholm, then hiking back up and then over and up to Eagle Lake and then back down to the parking lot. Ending a hike with an uphill slog is slightly less fun. Weather - Cool in the morning, but it started getting pretty warm by the time we finished around noon. Link to CalTop map I haven't had time to do much hiking yet this summer but I finally have some on ...

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...

Hike Details: Elevation -approx. 6,100-7,000 ft. Location - Pyramid Creek Trailhead off of Highway 50 Mileage - 3+ miles Hiking time - 2-3 hours Route -We parked at the Pyramid Creek trailhead and followed the trail signs, which basically follows the creek. At various points, it's tricky to find an actual trail because you're on fields of granite, but having the creek to follow made it easier. Eventually you come to an open area where there are signs for the Desolation Wilderness and it's required to fill out a permit to hike through this area. Again, we scrambled over some granite rocks in places, but found that the best way to go was sticking closer to the creek. You can stop anywhere along the falls, though the rocks get trickier, slicker and steeper the farther up you go. We went about halfway up, stopped for lunch and then headed back down. Weather - Gorgeous! A beautiful spot along Pyramid Creek as you begin the ascent to the falls (thanks, Misty, for...