There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)

There’s nothing quite like an evening walk along the Yolo Causeway levee road, watching a full moon rise above the Sacramento skyline. You can see and hear the traffic on I-80 nearby, yet it seems distant and beautiful out here.

In my new apartment I’m actually very close to the interstate and it makes me think of travel. I can go west for 75 miles and be in San Francisco or 2,826 miles east and end up in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Grateful

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m enjoying a day of traveling and hiking with my dad. We often refer to these outings as “Excellent Adventures.” We went for a nice ramble along Stony Creek near Black Butte Reservoir in Northern California. The weather was perfect. In the picture I’m standing in front of one of the majestic valley oaks (Quercus lobata) that grace this region.

As always around this time of year, I’m grateful for many things.

Fixing A Hole

Little did I suspect that on my afternoon walk with Dad that I would be pressed into gardening service. We stopped by my old home on Temple Drive in Davis to do some heavy lifting. We put several large bags of soil and mulch into the backyard vegetable garden and it looked really good when we were done.

I didn’t mind. I like to be helpful.

Healthy Living

I like to spend a day hiking with my dad. We took a beautiful Sunday hike in Marin County through a classic Coast Range mixed forest. Oaks, madrones, and quite a few redwoods. I am lucky to live near all this beauty. In addition, getting outdoor exercise is good for your health.

Top Secret

There’s a particular campground we always use when exploring the Modoc Plateau region. It’s shaded by pine trees with spacious campsites and a nice little trail. Hardly anyone goes there, even on a holiday weekend. I don’t want the word to get out, so I’m not going to tell you where it is…

Just kidding… it’s called Howard’s Gulch near the town of Canby, California.

Distant Lands

Dad and I seem to like to seek the out-of-the-way corners of the West. Case in point: the Warner Mountains in far northeastern California. We took a long day hike on the Summit Trail in the South Warner Wilderness. There weren’t very many people on the trail even though it was Labor Day weekend. The top of the ridge was very windy and I lost my hat a few times, but that really helped clear the air. (It was a tad smoky due to a wildfire to the west, another common Labor Day occurrence in these parts.) According to Dad, parts of this area look like the Australian outback (even though he’s never been there).

I’m curious about the “No Shooting” sign at the trailhead. Do they mean movies or guns? Just wondering…

Cueva de Calaveras

Up to Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California…

Dad and I gingerly explored the opening of Skull Cave. It literally was cool. You could feel the whoosh of cold air flowing up from the depths. Having a lack of equipment and a wealth of common sense, we only walked up to the edge of the darkness.

High Sierra

The Range of Light (as John Muir called it) is certainly an apt name. We were treated to some great roadside views while returning home via Sonora Pass. We read about a guy who spent 35 days crossing the mountains by this route in 1852. Not that easy if you have no road plus wagons and oxen to deal with. The first thing he did upon settling in Tuolumne County was to marry a survivor of the Donner Party.

We all have our challenges, but it seems that daily life is much easier these days.

Mount Dana

Dad and I hiked to the summit of Mt. Dana (13,053 ft.) in Yosemite National Park. It’s the second highest point in the park after Mt. Lyell (which has a long hike in and is a much tougher climb). It was a great experience and the view from the top was stupendous. We got rained on a bit on the way back down, but we rewarded ourselves with a huge late lunch at a diner in town.

The photo was taken at Tioga Pass (our starting point) early in the morning. In it I’m wondering what it’s going to take to reach the top. It was a great feeling to succeed.

Upside Down

The most unusual building in Lee Vining, California has to be the Upside Down House. It was built by silent film actress Nellie Bly O’Bryan (1893-1984) who lived in the area. It’s actually kind of a shack but it’s cool to take a peek inside. All of the furnishings are nailed to the floor which is actually up (the ceiling is down). This being Planet Earth, Ms. O’Bryan needed an assist to defeat gravity. One other fun touch: the plaque on the outside is upside down so you have to stand on your head to read it.

It’s right off U.S. 395, so check it out if you’re traveling through.

The Irishmen

Never being ones to pass up the scenic route, Dad and I started heading back to California via Irish Canyon in northwestern Colorado. It’s an interesting spot with Native American petroglyphs but it doesn’t look very much like the Emerald Isle. The name comes from three men from the 19th century who held up a saloon in Rock Springs, Wyoming and came down here to hide out from the law. Notice that these guys were identified by their ethnicity rather than their crime. This was back in the days of “no Irish need apply” America and many folks distrusted and were scared of the new waves of immigrants coming to these shores. I’d like to say that we’ve moved on from that, but…

Luckily, I’m no crook. But at least I know a good place to hide if I ever need one.

Devil’s Causeway

Devil’s Tower, Devil’s Lake, Devil’s Hole, Mt. Diablo… and Dad’s favorite, a lake called Devil’s Punchbowl in California’s Sierra Nevada. It seems like ol’ Satan has his name on lots of natural features, most of which are quite benign.

Introducing the Devil’s Causeway in Colorado’s Flat Tops Wilderness Area. It’s a ridge of volcanic rock that narrows to a three foot wide “trail” with sheer drop offs on either side. Dad and I hiked up to check it out on a rainy morning. The scenery was incredible with vast vistas and shifting cloud patterns. When we got to the narrow part we stopped abruptly. I think I could have crossed it. Dad thinks he could have crossed it by himself, but he was terrified to cross it with me (just looking at it was an adrenaline rush). Something about a protective parental instinct kicking in. So we turned around and retraced our steps. No regrets.

I have lots of exciting adventures with my dad and, even though I miss out on a few things, I’m really glad he’s there to make sure I stay safe.

My First Fourteener

Yesterday we climbed Colorado’s Mt. Yale (14,196 ft.) in the Sawatch Range. Well, there’s a caveat… we didn’t make it all the way to the summit, but we got pretty close. We hiked up to around 13,000 ft. and decided to turn around due to approaching storm clouds. (Safety first. You do not want to be caught in an electrical storm up there.) In any case, the views were spectacular of the surrounding mountains as far as the eye could see.

One guy we met on the trail said: “Is this a father-son expedition?” Of course, we answered in the affirmative. He thought that was pretty cool. Dad says I should get credit for bagging this peak since we would have made it if he hadn’t slowed us down. At one point I thought I heard him say: “Gettin’ up there.” I wasn’t sure if he meant that we were rising in elevation or that he’s superannuated.

This was the highest spot I’ve ever been to so far. Notice in the picture that I made a point of wearing my t-shirt showing the lowest place I’ve been: Badwater Basin in Death Valley.

Million Dollar Highway

U.S. 550 in Colorado between Durango and Ouray is sometimes called the “Million Dollar Highway.” I was expecting to see gold-plated road signs (I didn’t) but we did experience a dramatic alpine section of road (complete with rainy weather). I guess it must cost a lot to build a road that crosses four 10,000 foot passes.

Fire And Rain

We stayed overnight at Natural Bridges National Monument, one of my favorites. A really nice ranger led a stargazing program that we attended with other campers. Unfortunately, her efforts were somewhat hampered by cloudy skies.

In the morning around 6:00 AM we awoke to a monsoon-like downpour. (It was really loud on our tent fly.) Luckily, the weather tends to change quickly here so we did a morning hike up Mule Canyon to see the House on Fire Ruin. If you Google a picture of this place, you’ll see why it has that name. The overhanging rock has colors and patterns that look like flames. Very cool.

If James Taylor had spent the day with us, he might have said: “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.”

The Burr Trail

If you want an awesome (and challenging) driving tour, you can’t get much better than the Burr Trail. It starts as a paved road in Boulder, Utah and turns into graded dirt when you enter Capitol Reef National Park. The most exciting part was the switchbacks which cross the Waterpocket Fold and descend very steeply to the valley below. Dad says that he’s glad we were going downhill. All you have to do is put it in low gear, keep your foot on the brake pedal, and let gravity do the rest.

As you can see from the picture the scenery was spectacular the whole way.

Hitting The Slots

No, we’re not still in Las Vegas. We’re in Utah at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument where we took a hike through the desert to check out a slot canyon known as the “Zebra” for its striped walls. We didn’t go in very far due to knee deep water and narrow passages. It made both me and Dad a bit claustrophobic. I thought the most interesting part of the hike was a pretty big lizard who hung out with us in the shade all throughout our lunch.

Hiking in the desert in June makes me think of Dad’s #1 rule: drink water when he tells me to, not just when I’m thirsty.

Rockin’ The Red Rocks

Today we visited the Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park. We have definitely arrived in the red rock country of the Southwest. Beautiful!

Low Desert

Joshua trees, mesquite bushes, lizards, rattlesnakes, 100 degree heat… just the way we like it.

What a contrast from camping at 8,000 feet in the Spring Mountains to BLM lands in the Virgin River Gorge (around 2,500 ft.) in the northwest corner of Arizona. As as is the case with much of the West, the river was very low and lukewarm when we dipped our toes in it. (It still felt good.)

Too hot to sleep at night so we sat up late checking out the stars.

Leaving Las Vegas

Dad and I have a reputation for roughing it when we travel. But sometimes a Jamba Juice treat in town hits the spot on a warm day. We also stopped by the REI in Las Vegas to buy a few items we left at home.

Atomic Madness

When you travel into the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada, there’s a lookout point where you can see across a vast expanse of desert mountains that includes the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). Between 1951 and 1963 the U.S. military ran tests and exploded hundreds of nuclear weapons in an effort to counter the Soviet threat during the early years of the Cold War. (At the same time, the Soviet Union was doing the same thing in response to the American threat.)

Back in the day, nuclear “tourists” used to come up to these mountains to witness the fireballs and mushroom clouds from a distance of about sixty miles. The military had a policy of not announcing these tests in advance, but somehow word got out.

People love to see things go boom, but think of the downsides… I wonder what the Southern Paiute people thought about what was happening to their homeland.

Impossible Germany

So what do the capital city of Germany and dinosaurs have in common? Not much, except here in the middle of Nevada. We are spending the first night of our road trip at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It’s the site of a ghost mining town named Berlin and… it has one of the largest intact ichthyosaur fossils in the world. Incredibly, the Great Basin used to be underwater a very, very long time ago. It had all sorts of aquatic creatures that are now preserved under layers of limestone.

The big guy in the picture who wants to give me a kiss grew to 60 feet long and would probably have considered me a light snack. Luckily, he (or she?) lived 250 million years ago during the Triassic Period so I don’t have to worry.

SLO Walking

Taking a stroll through downtown San Luis Obispo, California was a nice break from our drive. It has that great college town vibe that I’m very familiar with, being a Davis resident. This town is the birthplace of Jamba Juice, so of course we indulged.

Iwihinmu (Mt. Pinos)

It was a good day for a hike to the top of a mountain. Dad and I summited Mt. Pinos (8,847 ft.) in the Transverse Ranges of Southern California. It’s the high point of Ventura County and I intend to chalk it up to my list of “bagged” peaks. It was very windy, which I imagine is probably common given its location between the cool coast and the hot interior valleys. There are two ways to get there. We chose the shortest one.

This mountain is sacred to the Chumash people, so treat it with respect.

Valley View

For Memorial Day weekend, Dad and I stayed in the Los Padres National Forest southwest of Bakersfield. Our campground was well named: Valle Vista for those who understand Spanish. The golden hills in the late afternoon sun with the San Joaquin Valley as a backdrop was a beautiful sight.

Believe it or not, it was rather chilly at night.

Cactus Tree

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Ah, the Sonoran Desert in the Spring. I really enjoyed this spot in southern Arizona. The cactus is in bloom and the pollen is in the air. We took a morning drive and hike to a canyon with a natural arch. Along the way we met some folks who were dealing with a flat tire of their own. We stuck around to make sure they had water and a spare in the trunk. This thing seems to be going around.

Later we drove to Tucson and went out to dinner with our friends Chelsea and Zack. It was great to see them but sadly we missed the rest of the family (Lilly and Mike). Come out to see us in California anytime, you guys.

In God’s Country

On the road at last! We made it to Mojave National Preserve for our first actual camping night. Unfortunately, it was windy and very cold. We bundled up and made the best of it. The next morning was calm and warm. (It’s funny how if you wait long enough, sooner or later the weather will be nice.) We started our day with a backroads drive through the Preserve. We saw desert mountains and a vast Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) forest.

I do love the desert in the Spring.

Duck Day Afternoon

We’re still in Davis getting a new tire for Dad’s car. We’re having a great day so far, though. Going out to lunch followed by another walk on the UC Davis Arboretum trail. At the big pond there were lots of signs asking people not to feed the ducks (and explaining why). There was a guy doing it anyway and the ducks loved him.

I guess some people just don’t pay attention.

It’s Easy Because It’s Flat

 As the song says, I like to ride around Davis in part because it’s flat. What I don’t like at all, however, is getting a flat tire on the first day of our Spring Break road trip. Dad’s front tire was attacked by a rogue tree branch in a parking lot of all places. Luckily, we were close to home.

The day was not a total loss because Dad and I went on lots of walks and spent some quality time together. I guess that’s the whole point of a road trip even if you’re stuck in the same place.

Love Locks

If you walk along the UC Davis Arboretum trail you'll find this little bridge with a whole bunch of padlocks attached. I've heard that this was inspired by a bridge in Paris, France with a similar setup. I think the locks are supposed to represent romantic couples and their commitments to each other. That's very nice.

UC Davis people appear to be very lucky in love because none of the locks were broken.

Raptor Rapture

Today my Best Buddy Lexi invited me and my dad to tour the Raptor Center at UC Davis. It was fun and interesting. I haven't seen those kinds of birds up close before and they are really cool. My favorites are the golden eagles. Very magnificent creatures indeed.

Thanks Lexi!

Point Of Kings

As we often do, Dad and I spent the day at Point Reyes National Seashore. We did an epic all day hike (12.7 miles to be exact), including a long stretch of the Coast Trail which follows the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. It was a bright clear day and you could easily see the Farallon Islands breaking the horizon line. Point Reyes is one of my favorite places.

Not to boast or anything... but I think I set a personal best for distance hiked in one day.

Happy New Year, everybody!