I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for mules ever since reading The Oregon Trail, Rinker Buck’s memoir about traveling the historic overland route with his brother in a covered wagon pulled by a team of three mules, Beck, Jake, and Bute. As I hike the dirt trails within Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, I frequently encounter people riding […]
As I hiked along this unknown trail, following the Big Guy through the Kruse Rhododendron Preserve, I suddenly realized that the batteries in my trusty Finepix AX were about to die. I had decided to leave my two other cameras in the car, preferring to travel light this time; and although I had spare batteries for the Fuji, they were […]
Last week on Tuesday afternoon we were restless in our little Sonoma coast motel room and looking for a place to get away from the gusty winds — Kruse Rhododendron Reserve turned out to be the perfect spot! We’ve passed by this hidden treasure so many times and never fully appreciated it; but I think we’re finally beginning to realize […]
The rest of my photos from our hike at Gualala Regional Park.
There are plenty of places to hike and explore the rocky coastline of northern Sonoma and southern Mendocino counties, and I’ve barely seen anything at all yet, but Gualala Regional Park is already one of my new favorites. When we visited the area in late April, we had a clear, breezy day, perfect for wandering. We pulled off Highway 1 […]
On my previous visit to Rattlesnake Bar (April 20) I found a sea of purple lupine covering the exposed shoreline. Three weeks later, most of the lupine has died out. On this day, we arrived about 8:30 in the morning; the temperature was already warming up and there was very little breeze. The gusty north winds would arrive around 11 […]
The Empire Mine State Historic Park in Grass Valley, once the richest gold mining site in California (1850-1956), is also home to some very cool hiking trails. They provide a nice escape from some of the Valley heat, and along the way you may stumble across the remains of a number of smaller mines, some of which, like the Orleans […]
I explored the Oaks Nature Trail at Folsom Lake’s Peninsula Campground once before, last summer; even though this path is a bit more “civilized” than the dirt horse trails I usually like to wander, I still enjoyed myself a lot. And this time out was even better. Everything was much more green than during my summertime visit. I had a […]
A breezy day at a quiet spot on Folsom Lake. When I was able to tear myself away from admiring the flowers, I actually noticed a few birds too.