I’ve visited Lake Berryessa several times in my life, but there are still many facets of this large man-made reservoir I’ve never seen. One of them was the northeastern shoreline which I visited yesterday with the Big Guy. He’s been in this area by boat but had never seen the shoreline either. We discovered a few very beautiful places, one […]
I’ve forgotten how and when I became the proud owner of this vintage aluminum tackle box — complete with a previous owner’s fishing license and a decal from the State of Oregon. I’m sure I had some idea of cleaning it up and using it to store some of my own doodads. But instead it’s been just sitting around my […]
Why — and how — do random cars always seem to end up in the bottom of an otherwise attractive ravine? The sight of this abandoned wreck of a pickup truck in Roseville a couple of weeks ago instantly brought back to mind a similar eyesore that rested in Orangevale’s Snipes Ravine for many years (although I suspect it may […]
It was easy enough for me to find this brightly painted (and lovingly cared for) historic site along Albion Street in the village of Mendocino. According to The Hiker’s Hip Pocket Guide to the Mendocino Coast by Bob Lorentzen, the first Chinese arrived in this area when their boat, headed for the gold rush, was shipwrecked on the Mendocino coast. […]
One day during our stay in Nice last month, the Big Guy suggested that I drive around to the opposite side of Clear Lake and explore the trails at Clear Lake State Park. I’d been to the state park a few times in the past but only to launch the boat and go fishing. He was convinced that I’d find […]
I took yet another trip out to Secret Ravine the other day, and this time I brought along the Big Guy so he could check out the pond. Although there were plenty of signs of use — a little bit of trash, footprints and bike tire tracks — we had the place entirely to ourselves as we explored the trails.
Secret Ravine is not actually a river but a somewhat seasonal creek running through southern Placer County. It’s connected to Miner’s Ravine and, eventually, to Dry Creek (formerly Linda Creek), a smaller tributary of the Sacramento River. It’s not necessary to know all this, however, to be able to enjoy a quiet morning in the shade beside the creek, listening […]
I wrote about a month ago about our forest hike along the Big River in Mendocino County. here are a few more of the photos I shot on that outing. Even though at the time we weren’t sure exactly where we were or where our chosen trail was taking us, we had a great time and the scenery was really […]
Looks like the end of the road — and it is actually an extremely short section of paved bike path that comes from nowhere and leads nowhere, at least for now. But I had searched out this spot after noticing what looked like a couple of old quarries on Google Maps, and when I arrived, I wasn’t disappointed. Well, maybe […]