I wasn’t too sure what to expect when I arrived at the Browns Valley Open Space trailhead in Vacaville, although I did know there’s no actual parking lot and I would need to leave my car alongside the road. That really wasn’t a problem since traffic is fairly minimal. But I’ll admit I felt intimidated when I realized that once […]
Visiting the American River in Carmichael, October 2021.
This week I did a couple of hikes at different sites to the north and west of Vacaville, California. One was the Brown’s Valley Open Space; the other was Lagoon Valley Park, just off I-80. Even though I normally prefer to hike in the cooler morning temperatures, I wound up cutting my exploration of the Brown’s Valley site very short […]
Earlier this month I posted about the Dragon’s Nose at the Stornetta Public Lands near Point Arena and mentioned some “mysterious” holes we found there. It’s taken me awhile to get around to my followup post, partly because of a technical problem (more on that later). I’ve also been trying to find any documentation of these particular holes but so […]
Afternoon sunlight spills through the branches of the massive coastal redwoods at the Muir Woods National Monument hiking trails, October 2021.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time along the Sonoma coast in Northern California ever since the mid 1980s, and it has always seemed to me the epitome of a rugged and rocky shoreline. But after recently spending a week a little farther north in Mendocino, I’m beginning to realize I ain’t seen nothing yet! I stumbled upon this particular […]
I’m really not a daredevil, at all. But to look at some of the photos I shot along the Mendocino coast, you might get that impression. I will admit that I did rather foolishly pick my way across the rocky “bridge” in the photo below. But in my defense, I was following the Big Guy; and when we reached the […]
We decided to venture a little bit further north on this coastal trip, to southern Mendocino County. As our base, we chose a small but comfy Airbnb not far north of the Arena Point Pier, with easy walking access to the Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands — perfect for early morning hikes. The Big Guy was searching for some new fishing […]
I had never seen this 2003 episode of Golden Coast before today, but I immediately recognized the area in Salt Point State Park where Huell went for a hike! I also feel more than a bit jealous of the lucky group of Coastwalk hikers who made the three-month journey from the Oregon state line to the Mexican border. It must […]