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The Adventure Continues… Pio Pico

This episode of California’s Golden Parks, originally aired in January 2005, sees Huell visiting Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier. The house was built in 1850, after Pio Pico’s time as governor of Mexican California had come to an end and around the time California became the 31st state. At its largest, Pio Pico’s ranch was 8,894 acres; nowadays […]

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Dry January

It was early January 2021, and with the usual wintertime low water levels and not much rain, our hike from Sterling Pointe revealed a lot of bare tree limbs, rocks, and sand once we left the higher elevations. Further up, things were more green, but those areas normally covered by water later in the season were now exposed — providing […]

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The first camellias

I noticed our first white camellia of the season just the other day — the red ones always open a bit later. And in less than 24 hours a bunch more had already burst from their buds. These three trees grow along the side of our house and for most of the year don’t get much attention, unless they start […]

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Peninsula in summer

Back in early August 2020, I ventured around to the far side of Folsom Lake to spend a couple of hours at Peninsula Campground. It’s a long, very winding road to get out beyond the private property signs to the state park gate, and in the summer when the water is low, you can look across a narrow stretch of […]

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More from Monte Vista

Today I present some images from a couple of different October hikes in the same area along the American River’s south fork at Folsom Lake. The vibrant hues of spring may have been long faded, but there was still plenty of color to be found — in the Yellow Monkeyflower with its bright red spots, the scarlet Toyon berries, and […]

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