Category: Travel

Travels and adventures

Jackson Meadows #4 2015

It’s the end of August, and I spent 3 days camping at Jackson Meadows, again.  This time I had the entire camp loop to myself.  Just me and Ben this time since Biggs had stitches that did not need to get in the dirt.  I caught 6 trout, kept the big one, a heavy 16 incher.  Beautiful weather, Ben and I swam together and he also swam along next to me while I kayaked.

We hiked up the south end of the lake, which is a big meadow, now dry, exposing foundations of old buildings that had been covered up when the reservoir was created.  Apparently the reservoir has gone thru many changes over the years.  It started as a Log Crib Dam in the 1850s to deliver water to the hydraulic gold mines via 80 miles of flumes and ditches.  About 1875 the dam was raised to form a reservoir 2.5 miles by .5 mile wide.  Then in 1883 the dam was again being strengthened and raised when it either collapsed or was dynamited with the resulting flood took six lives and  caused tremendous damage along the Yuba River Canyon and Sacramento Valley.  Then in 1965 the dam  was reconstructed to the state its in now.

My fishing kayak
Sierra Buttes

Fall Creek Mountain Climb – August 2015

The annual “birthday climb” of Fall Creek Mountain, over by Feeley and Carr lakes, happened this year on 8/23.   We had ten participants, and everyone made it to the top followed by a refreshing swim in Island Lake afterwards.  Along with Kate and I, we had Stephen & Janelle, Mike & Vicky, Nan, Patrick, Alan and Kaye.  My little P&S lumix camera died before the swim so no pics of that.  It was a gorgeous day and possibly the best trip yet.  I have been climbing Fall Creek Mtn since 1999 and its always a new adventure.

Fall Creek mtn
Fall Creek Mtn taken by Patrick from opposing mountain range.
Island Lake
Island Lake in the background, our swimming hole

Jackson Meadows #3 2015

Jackson Meadows Reservoir was once again a great trip.  Met up with my buddy Gary Goldsmith who taught me how to do night sky photography.  The Perseid Meteor shower was going on and I got up at 3am to try and shoot it.  Quite hard to do since the shooting stars happen so fast.  All you can hope for is that while the shutter is open for 15 seconds, one happens within your frame.  I had no such luck.  But its amazing to see all the stars that show up beyond what the naked eye can see.  It was also interesting to see light from Truckee, I guess, coming over the mountains from the southern sky.

Due to the constant water problems at East Meadows CG, the USFS decided to put in vault toilets starting with one right near Gary’s site #30.  It was amazing to see the thing installed within a day and a half.  The normal flush bathrooms are shut down cause of lack of water and port-potties installed.

We spotted a single pelican out on the water, unusual.  Also we believe we saw a bald eagle soaring over the lake along with some nice views of a hawk.  Fishing was pretty crappy the first two days with a only two 4″ trout caught and released.  But the third day had more luck with three catches and two saved for dinner.  My CG neighbor, Randy, caught 4 nice trout using a Rapala countdown.

Not much in the way of photos.  No great sunsets, Pass Creek was just a trickle.

Selfie
Windy so great sparkles on the lake in the afternoon
Gary and Benetar
Gary
Busy resting after the PCT
big nose Ben
My site #34
Milky Way
So many trees around campsite, hard to see stars
Biggs and Ben
Biggs cooling off, one dirty dog with bad ear
New pit toilet
Normally this is a big waterfall.

Loon Lake #2 July 2015

Our second trip to Loon Lake this year, back in my old campsite #17.  Parked right next to us were our friends Gary and Cheryl Goldsmith, in #15, along with their pup, Benatar.  Weather was delightful this time with lows at nite around 48 and days mid to high 70s.  And no bugs!!  Beautiful sunny days with great cloud formations, but often rather windy.

We hiked along shore line since the lake was down another couple feet since June, probably less than 50% at this point.  And hiked a couple miles along the Rubican trail into desolation wilderness.  Swimming and kayaking also, as usual.

I got to try out my new Garmin fishfinder and loved it.  Showed depth and temperature of the water, and of course, fish and fish depth, including sized icons of small, medium and large.  It wasn’t until the third day that I started catching trout using my worm and dodger setup, trolling.  Got three, kept the big one (15″) and gave it to Gary and Cheryl for dinner.  I also lost another three just when i was about to net them.  Fishing best along our campground shore, the boat launch area and by the pump out structure where I found the to be a huge hole about 60′ down and packed with fish, all at the bottom.  Probably 50 fish down there.

Anyway, a great trip, lots of laughs with good friends, Qwerkle (Kate consistently beating me) and cocktails and PBR.  Not too many pics, but here they are.

Cheryl with that big rainbow trout I caught (photo by Gary Goldsmith)
Benatar at his campsite
Cheryl and Biggs hanging (photo by Gary Goldsmith)
Four happy campers sometime around happy hour (photo by Gary Goldsmith)
Ben taking a break along the trail
Kate checking out the climbability of whale rock
Two mature gentlemen at cocktail time
Kate enjoying the sunset while hanging.

Loon Lake #1 June 2015

Our first campout this year at Loon Lake, and due to the drought  we found it to be at the 50% level.  Highly unusual since this lake, on opening day is usually full to the tree line.  Apparently the powers that be decided to dump half of it into Union Valley Reservoir.   Not sure why.  Also, this time I tried a bigger, more private site at the end of the campground, #28.  It was terrific.

This time Atticus joined Kate and I, our grandson, for the first couple days.  We played Qwerke (Atticus was amazing!) and Chicken Foot, swam, went kayaking, fished, looked for bones, climbed rocks and did lots of hiking.  I think he had a great time, I know I really enjoyed having him along.  When he left on Sunday morning with Kate and Biggs, Ben was quite sad, until he hit the water, then all sense of loss was gone.  Ben did a whole lot of swimming this time but never tired of it.  He absolutely LOVES the water.

Weather was really hot.  Got up to 95 in the Rv, 87 in the shade.  So we had to run the AC one night for half an hour just to cool it down.  Also lots of bugs.  Kate and I went home with too many itchy red spots.  I think Atticus didnt get as bit.   I hope not.

I didn’t do great in the fishing department but did catch two nice trout while kayak trolling in the morning.  I did “catch & release” to Kate’s dismay.  It rained on Sunday after they left, and I then found holes in this 30 year old RV awning, which I quickly patched with good ole’ duck tape.  Worked good enough.  I’ll probably have to replace it after the season is over.  Only other event was I found a frog on the kitchen counter one morning and had a mouse (or chipmonk) visit in the night and tear up the toilet paper in the commode.  I’m going back again in a week and I surely hope there are less bugs this time.  Also will bring a bigger fan.  The rocks and boulders were quite challenging getting that heavy kayak down to the water but I did finally find a path thru the woods that was relatively smooth for the wheels.  Rather out of the way but at least doable.

Atticus, rock climber
Atticus and Ben at campsite #28

TRT Hike Ward Creek to McCloud Falls

On Fathers Day, Kate, Ben and I started our project of hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail, which is 165 miles.  Doing it piece by piece in day hikes only.  We started on the trail where it intersected Ward Creek Blvd just south of Tahoe City a mile or two, in the town of Sunnyside.  We went counterclockwise to the lake, hiking south.  I used a really sweet app by Guthooks, that shows the trail and tons of waypoints and handy information, plus shows you your location on the map.  Between taking photos of wildflowers, messing with my new app, and checking my Garmin GPS (somewhat redundant), Kate often was way ahead of me, as she kept hiking while I fussed around.  Ward Creek was running nicely and we had lunch alongside it.  The weather was perfect with solid blue skies and nice wind.  Wildflowers were simply outstanding.  It was the absolute perfect time to take this hike.  Prime time.  The pictures just do not capture the glory of this trail.   The grade was pretty easy until we hit switchbacks heading up to the falls, probably about mile number three.  McCloud Falls were at the 4 mile point and we started to feel the beginnings of some aches and pains, so we turned back at that point figuring 8 miles round trip would be plenty that day.  Even Ben’s feet or his ankles were getting kinda sore.

The trailhead was about an hour and fifteen from Colfax.  We were out on the trail for about 4+ hours.   Hiking time to the falls was about 1.5 hours.  The TahoeRimTrail.org has some maps on line of the area we hiked here.

Ward Creek
Beginning of the trail
McCloud Falls
McCloud Falls
Ward Creek

Jackson Meadows #2 June 2015

June 7 -10th.  Jackson Meadows second trip this year.  This time I was in site #30.  An awesome view, nicely private (thats why it’s called  the honeymoon site), plenty of shade where you want it and sun where you need it for the solar panels.  But … a pretty steep hike down to the lake.  Not far, but steep.

Weather was great up until Tuesday afternoon when it clouded over and began raining around 7pm.  Also with thunder and lightening which, as usual, freaked Ben out completely.  He seemed to feel the safest place to be was tucked in the leg area of the passenger seat side of the RV.  That is until his calming meds kicked in, and I was able to coax him to his bed.

The Yeti and solar panels worked great and kept my rv batteries totally charged the entire time.  Pictures below show the setup for the Yeti relative to the batteries and the nice spot I was able to set the panels.

Fishing was not great  but good enough.  I caught three trout but decided to do the “catch and release” route this time.  I very much dislike killing fish.  As usual, the kayaking early in the morning, with the lake like glass was just fantastic, whether I caught fish or not.  I put the dogs in “Doug” the RV and give them a pigs ear to chew, hoping to keep them busy enough to not complain when I go fishing.  However, Biggs would have none of that business the second day.  He musta barked for an hour and a half inside the RV while I was on the lake.  I could hear him all the way on the opposite side.  Luckily he didn’t really bother the neighbors, and there really weren’t many in the campground anyway (midweek and just before school is out).  This time I found good fishing in the relatively shallower water to the left of the campsite near the end of the finger.  Tried several lures, however the only thing that worked was the SEPS dodger followed by a fat worm.

Here are the pics.  I took all with my little Lumix this time.  I like to always bring it with me, just in case but didn’t think I would be doing much photography since I have been here a zillion times now, so didn’t take my better camera on hikes etc.  The normal posers, Ben and Biggs, are  in many of these as usual.

Cliff at site #30
solar panels – boulder 15s
Site #30
A tiny, tiny wildflower
Ben a little bummed because we are leaving and its raining.
My Yeti 150 solar converter and battery
Pass Creek Falls
Mr. Happy.. Biggs
Xmas colors
Solar panels setup
Not many campers so lots of time to play ball with Ben
Cliff at site #30
Site #30
Site #30
Site #30

Jackson Meadows First Campout in 2015

Wouldn’t ya know we  have another terrible drought year with nil rain all winter, but when it does rain, its on the Memorial Day weekend.  My first campout this year.  Oh well, I love weather anyway.  I find it fascinating.  Plus it really only rained a lot on the first day and nite.  Also made for beautiful cloud formations.

I had my lucky site #34 however, with regard with to the fishing… not so lucky.  I got skunked.  Zilsch.  One strike is all with four days of fishing from both the kayak and from the shore.  What worked last fall, yielded natha this time around.  But trolling in my kayak early in the morning while the lake was smooth as glass and the sunlight beginning to spread across the lake and the only sounds were my paddles hitting the water and the sounds of a wide variety of birds singing …. was  absolutely delightful.

Next year I will book it after Memorial Day weekend.  Way too many people.  A huge group of friends (not mine) from Reno took up almost the entire loop I was in .  Probably 30-40 kids and 20 dogs, all running thru my campsite on their way to the lake.  Baseball games, horseshoes, and some other thing that just seemed  to make a lot of noise.  They did paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing, biking endlessly around the campground loop and splashed around in the freezing water while the outside temp was about 60 at best.  Little kids sure can handle the cold.  Anyway, it was kind of fun to see everyone enjoying themselves so I let it be.  Kate loves the sound of children playing, for me … eh, its ok for a while.  But Monday after everyone left and only two other campers in my loop… it was awesome.  So quiet and peaceful, I was sad to leave on Tuesday.

First day I got there I was lucky to have a break in the rain while I got my camp set up.  But shortly after it started raining again and continued thru the entire night.  I thought the lake was going to rise and take away my kayak.  That was a useless worry.  Metal roofs really allow you to listen to the rain, which is nice … for a while.  The next morning it did stop, I went fishing, and Kate arrived around 11.  Rain off and on, so we played Qwerkle inside when it was too wet outside.  Took a nice hike up Passe Creek which is running just great right now.  Waterfalls look terrific.  Saw some bizarre mushrooms that look like the formation of pods from the “Invasion of the body snatchers” movie.  Kate brought  dinner of some amazing shrimp and lemon linguini pasta dish.  Wow, it was amazing.   She left early the next morning since Memorial Day is a big weekend at the cemetery so she had to work.  We only live an hour and 45 away so its rather convenient.

This trip I got to try out three new addons to my old RV (now known as Doug).  A Goal Zero Yeti 150 and two Boulder 15 Solar panels.  Worked great keeping Doug’s batteries charged and recharging my laptop so I could finish Game of Thrones Season 4.  Also in electrical, I installed numerous LED lights throughout which gave off more light and took a lighter toll on the batteries.   For heat, since Doug’s heater is extremely temperamental not to mention a power drawer, I got a Mr. Heater Buddy … which works off LPG canisters and totally kept us warm while it was in the 30s outside.

Anyway, here are the photos..

Ben relaxing while I have my PBR
New fallen tree over the path to the lake, makes it a bit more interesting.
some really wierd looking mushrooms, spores .. whatever.
For Ben chasing sticks tossed in the water … the bigger the better.
Pretending…
Pass Creek
Pass Creek
Pass Creek
Ben
Biggs
Long way path to the lake, Dogs headed home to my RV in the background.

Fort Bragg / Mendocino Spring Trip

Beachcomber motel, Ft. Bragg CAIn March, Kate and I took off for a couple days stay at the Beachcomber Motel in Ft. Bragg.  The winter of 2015 has been the driest ever, but the forecast for “our” few days was rain, so we left our bikes and the dogs at home.  Other than driving rain when we arrived and checked in, the rest of the time was perfect.  Our room was on the ground floor facing the ocean and right on the trail that goes from Glass Beach, in town, to MacKerricher State Beach to the north.  Plus, this time of year the whales are migrating north and from our little patio we easily saw several of them.

Trestle Bridge, Ft. Bragg CaRight next to the motel is a Trestle Bridge that originally was for the private railroad used to transport lumber to ships.  The old rail bed is now the trail right outside our room.  So we hiked the trail and the headlands but it would have been perfect for bikes so next time we’ll bring them.  Also we would upgrade to the upper level which is easily  worth the extra ten bucks given the private deck and higher view.  We had great food at Taka, a Japanese Sushi place, and North Coast Brewing Co.  while in Ft. Bragg and some awesome clam chowder at Spud Point Crab Co. in Bodega Bay, near the marina.

Lots of old abandoned or run down buildings.  Some on priceless ocean property.  Ya gotta wonder what happened that someone just walked away from these places and let them go back to nature.  Even in Ft. Bragg, we walked by houses that were just left to ruin, even with evidence that someone was living inside and looked to be afflicted with  hoarder disorder.  Some of these places looked downright scary.  You just had to wonder who could live like that.  Anyway, here are some choice ones.  I wish I had captured even more.

We saw seals, coastal birds, whales, wildflowers, Cabrillo Point lighthouse, tidepools at McKerritcher, beautiful sandy beaches, tiny blue jelly fish, and a gorgeous coastline. Another great trip.

Celebrating our arrival
Kate had to get her pic under the Stewart Point name
Stopped raining long enough to have a glass of wine and walk the bridge
Ft. Bragg on the other side of the Trestle bridge
Monday morning was clear skies
California Condor?
Tiny jelly fish
Kate sneaking up to look down on seals
These taken with long telephoto
Beachcomber Motel in background
Is this an Oystercatcher bird?
Boardwalk at McKerritcher
Point Cabrillo Lighthouse
In Mendocino
McCallum house in Mendocino
Point Cabrillo Lighthouse from Mendocino

Emerald Pools Hike

On Pi day, 3/14/15 Kate and I hiked to the Emerald Pools on the Yuba River, off the Bowman Lake Rd, with Janelle and Stephen.  The weather was high 60s, but because of the drought the river was much lower than normally would be at this time.  Plus there normally would have been snow at this level.  We bushwacked it first to the canyon then to the pools and big waterfall.  I was so glad to get back into the mountains.  Everyone loved it including Ben and Biggs.