Colors, details, and wide vistas — all found on an autumn hike by the shore of Folsom Lake, on and around the Monte Vista Trail. I sometimes wish I could have seen this area before the building of Folsom Dam. It’s clearly very rich in history as well as plants and wildlife.
Our mid-November trip over to the Mendocino coast was short but very sweet — just what was needed after our trip in September caused more stress than it eased. Even though our November stay started off with a jolt from a minor earthquake (with the epicenter only a few miles away from Point Arena) and we lost part of one […]
Some images from my Folsom Lake hike, starting from Granite Bay and heading toward Doton’s Point, in early November this year.
Just because summer is over and the water levels at Folsom Lake are low doesn’t mean there is no life or color along the shoreline. There is always plenty of both, if you can take the time to slow down and look around.
Although I’m not really that great at it, I do love macro photography. And for whatever reason, I get pretty excited any time I spot a banana slug — now formally designated California’s Official State Slug — along the California coast in Sonoma or Mendocino counties. I had always assumed this was a normal reaction until my most recent trip; […]
The final instalment of my images from Southlake, Texas, in June 2023. The Kirkwood Branch was swollen and muddy, and although I could see a trail on the other bank, I had no temptation to wade across. I knew if I stayed on this side and kept walking, I would eventually find the Big Guy at whatever spot along the […]
Per Alton Pryor’s book Historic California: Its Colorful Names and How It Got Them, the word Tehachapi is “the Indian name for a creek … recorded in 1853.” After the railroad was built across the mountains in 1876, “Southern Pacific Railroad transferred the name from the old wagon route to the railroad pass.” Several train tunnel openings are visible from […]
Well, the Otis R. Johnson Wilderness Park is not really a “secret garden,” but it’s still an amazing hidden gem tucked away in the middle of the historic seaside town of Fort Bragg, California. It’s not listed in my hikers guide to the Mendocino Coast, but this city park does have a number of trails that wind through tall stands […]
When I arrived at my chosen trailhead on this mid November morning, the “steam” vapor was still rising at 10:30 a.m. I was eagerly looking forward to exploring an unknown path; I’d actually checked this spot out on an earlier trip but only managed to get a short way before time forced me to turn back. Today I had plenty […]