Up to Wednesday, 8/29/18

Three cheers for cooler days!  I know it can (and probably will) heat up again, but we are enjoying a respite from those continuous over-90 degree temps.

Good buddies at the Saturday Nevada City farmer's market.

Mary, Jimmy, Terry -- three card sharks, trust me!

(We four play Hand and Foot card games every week or two.)

Sunday evening was the final band concert of the summer and the only one we were able to attend.  I think we picked the best.  Not only were the music selections good, the comic antics of the band added greatly to a fun evening.  Conductor, Cheryl, dressed in Victorian white garb for this free concert held in Pioneer Park.  Nevada City offers lots of free, fun stuff to do all year long.

Cool dude enjoying the music.

* * * * *

In this refreshing weather, we opted to hike in the high country again this week.  Latent wildfire smoke hasn't been much of a problem for us lately, though a filmy haze clings to the mountains and lingers in the valleys.

Today we picked a hike we've done twice before, in 2014 and 2015, and, even though it's pretty strenuous, the views are out-of-this-world, at least we think so.  Five Lakes trail off of Alpine Meadows is up and over, on the other side of Squaw Valley.  It's five miles R/T, and rated moderately strenuous, beginning at 6500' elevation.  As usual, we packed food and drink, pulled on the hikers, and took off.  The first mile-and-a-half is the steepest ... after that the trail eases.  Still, I can't look and walk at the same time w/o tripping or worse.  So we stopped often on the uphill, both to breathe and to gaze in wonder at our surroundings.

Jimmy asked, "Why are you kissing that tree?"  Nope, not kissing -- bent inward to sniff the sweet butterscotch scent of a big ol' Jeffrey pine!  And maybe a "happy to see you, big guy" pat on its bark.

One stellar view after another.  Isn't this beautiful?

Lots of people use this trail, many of them with dogs in tow.  We met a man named Randy, on his way down as we were going up, and he offered to take our pic.  Thanks, Randy!

We love these mountains -- shiny granite, glowing in the sunlight,

gray volcanic rock hunkered along the crests.

This brave soul gained a foothold, managed to survive.

Not all the trees make it.

Looking across a divide in the direction of Squaw Valley.

I think this is a firecracker plant, growing out of crushed granite. 

We sigh in relief when we see this Granite Chief Wilderness sign, because that means we're out of the sun and entering the forest of tall trees!  Much of the trail to this point is in full sun and uphill.  I should've worn shorts today!  A coolish breeze blasted us occasionally, bringing a sense of (can it be?) autumn ... it felt like it anyway.

Another trail sign -- Five Lakes to the left, PCT straight ahead.

We're skipping the PCT today.

We're still not sure if we've seen all five lakes.  I think we've missed one (just have to return, right?).  Each lake is calm and picturesque.  We ate our lunch perched on a boulder just out of the photo at left.

After eating, we crawled down off the rock,

 and spotted this harmless li'l fellow below us.

Squaw Valley's Sun Bowl can be seen beyond lake

Peeking over the log to make sure we wouldn't bite, this lone duck finally crept beneath the log "to get to the other side" of the lake.  Funny to watch it bob its head up and down to see if it was safe to pass.

Tranquility.

A tick to the left atop yonder mountain, white-domed KT-22 is visible on the ridge.  (Voted best chairlift in North America, KT-22 is an expert's nirvana and an iconic chairlift—not just at Squaw Valley, but in the world of skiing and snowboarding.  So sayeth the Internet.)  Probably have to enlarge the photo and use your back arrow to return to this post.

Towering giants -- magnificent Red Fir trees.  Our trail is smack in the middle.

Headin' down.  Part of our zig-zag trail at red check mark.

Five Lakes trail begins in Alpine Meadows at approx 6500', gains over 1000' elevation, and ends somewhere above 7500'.  We spent four hours on the trail, including a peaceful lunch interlude.  You know our feet were ready for the hikers to be off when we returned to the car.  We are so lucky to live where we do, close to these wonderful mountains ... we treasure the time we spend here.

How's this for a parting shot?  I'm currently reading Gene Fowler's glib biography of John Barrymore, Good Night, Sweet Prince, ©1943, which I bought for a buck at our local library's book sale.  I came across this line, and it struck a nerve:  

"A man is not old," Barrymore once said,

 "until regrets take the place of dreams."

No regrets:  Plenty of dreams (and plans)!

Ambitious? Friday, 8/24/18

Thank goodness, our days have shifted from hot mid-90's to the mid-80's, a really welcome change.  It made us want to get on our feet and enjoy the splendor of the mountains.  Last week we tried a new trail ... this week I consulted Julie Carville's Tahoe's Spectacular Wildflower Trails to find us a hike we'd never attempted.  I knew we were too late to see great swaths of wildflowers, but the trail itself sounded intriguing.  I just didn't know if we could do it.  Apparently the Mount Judah Loop trail is heavily trafficked, which to me means "if they can do it, we can do it."  What the heck, I said to myself, if it's too much, we can turn around and head back to the car.

Julie Carville begins her trail description by saying, "The Mount Judah Loop follows the Pacific Crest Trail along the ridge of the Sierra with breathtaking views of distant mountain ranges, while below, Donner Lake sparkles in the afternoon sunlight."  That's enough to make roamers like us tie on our shoes!  So, we set out toward Donner Pass Road.  I shot the above picture on my camera ... where the map is rubbed clear is where we began, near the RR track ... at 7,100 ft.  I ignored the Mt Judah summit number.  With plenty of water and enough grub to keep us going, we started climbing.

The beginning wasn't auspicious.  Climbing on a rock field is hazardous, but we eventually climbed out of the rock-strewn switch-backs.  At every turn, we marveled at how much higher we were, seeing landmarks we recognized, other places we'd hiked.  Even though the sky wasn't perfectly clear, hazy from the fires still burning all over the west, the temp was a perfect 72, and we felt energized.

We looked and, by golly, we spied the Rainbow Bridge (at red check mark), glad to see it.  If you enlarge the pic, use your back arrow to return to this post.  In the past six years (since moving to NorCal), we've walked across the bridge several times, plus plied trails near it.

That's Lake Mary behind me, and that's about where we parked the Prius.  Yup, we encountered a number of people on the trail, coming and going, many with dogs, including one border collie with panniers to hold its own food!  The lady with that dog looked like she might be out overnight. (Imagine me wearing jeans!  I've been in shorts FOREVER.  Hooray, I was dressed just right for today.)

Love seeing these Jeffrey Pines growing out of the rocks,

their wind-blown branches pruned by fierce winter winds. 

I'm standing in a field of spent flower blossoms just off the trail.  I know this had to be a magnificent sight in late spring, early summer, but all of July and August have been hot, frying plants and people!  I was going to say brutally hot, but that's probably just me.  Also, one of Sugar Bowl's ski lifts is visible in the distance, barely visible.

Back on the path; up we go.

At this point, the trail loop begins.  Mt Judah to the left, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) straight ahead.  We turned left.  Lake Mary is far below now.  We ate our lunch in the shade of the trees to the right of the trail sign.

We trudged along in a mix of sun and shade, still ascending.

Approaching Donner Peak, we walked out on this promontory, wise to not veer too close to the edge. What a fine viewpoint!  A tip of Lake Mary can be seen way down there.  Jimmy (my mountain man) looks like he belongs here!

Cool-looking stump, like a colossal clothespin!

Ah, Jimmy is pointing to Donner Lake (red check mark), miles away.  In front of him is Donner Peak at 8,019'.  We could've walked to its summit, but didn't want to add any more mileage to our feet than what we signed up for!  (kidding about signing up, figure of speech)  Even in the haze, the surrounding distant mountains were remarkable.

I used my phone's AllTrails app to see if we'd gotten turned around (but, how?), as it seemed like we'd been climbing and should've reached the summit by this time.  Nope, we were on track.  We'd wound around the mountain and were again switch-backing, now on its eastern flank.

OMGosh, the summit is dead ahead on this undulating path.  A strong westerly wind blew across the ridge, so we had to hold onto hats, walking poles, anything that could vanish east into the State of Nevada.  At some points on the ridge I made sure not to be too close to the trail edge, because the wind was that strong, and it was a very, very long way down.

Made it.  Mt Judah summit:  8,243 ft.

Hold onto your hats, mate!

After climbing for two-and-a-half miles, gaining almost 1,150' in elevation, we were ready for the down hill.  On a southerly exposure, great piles of lava appeared.

Above is one whale of a lava pyramid.  I can only imagine this area in spring with thousands of bright yellow Woolly Mules Ears in bloom.  At this point we were on the PCT section of Mt Judah loop, and enjoying the descent, much of it gradual, so we could spend more time looking around.  Actually, the whole afternoon was super.  As far as I could tell, we didn't encounter any thru-hikers.

Look at these magnificent Red Fir trees.  We walked through sections of volcanic tuff along here (below).  In the Sierras, we see so much granite, it surprised us to see lava and tuff.  Jimmy is dwarfed by the trees, blends in well, too (above).

I caught my breath with these eye-catching lime-green lichens attached to the Red Firs.  In the sunlight, they appeared almost luminous.  Such color!

You didn't think for one minute that we'd turn around and head for the car, did you?  I didn't think so.  In the above pic, we're down the mountain and Jimmy is approaching the car.  Five miles up/down and over four hours and 1,150' elevation gain.  Sure, we were tired, but a pleased tired, and proud of ourselves that, at our age, we could make this climb.  Did we enjoy it?  You betcha.  I saw very few wildflowers, but that's okay, I didn't expect to see many.  We were happy to be in our "backyard playground," with its unlimited mountain vistas, scenery, and all the hiking you want!

the mountains are calling ... Friday, 8/17/18

... and we must go, with a nod to John Muir, who knew these Sierra Nevada Mountains intimately, lucky man.  To have seen the mountains as he saw them 150 years ago would be a vision, wouldn't it?  No can do, of course; we're not time travelers.  Jimmy and I are simply grateful that we live close enough to spend time exploring (on a small scale, I know), but it makes us happy to wander through the forests.  We marvel at the puny rivers that hopscotch between granite boulders, knowing they can become raging waters when rains finally come, and pure, natural lakes that are now reservoirs for thirsty Californians.  

The temps are still really hot in the foothills, though the smoky conditions have improved a lot.  I think 90F is hot.   Friday we decided to escape the foothills for higher (and cooler?) ground.  We had our fingers crossed that where we planned to hike wouldn't be smoky and, hallelujah!, it worked.  I found a new hike for us -- Spaulding Lake trail.  We had trouble finding where to start, and ended up backtracking to Bowman Lake Road.  At Fuller Lake, above (isn't it gorgeous?) we parked and wandered in the woods for a half hour looking for the trailhead.  Using my AllTrails app, we finally got going ... alongside a canal, which surprised us.  Many of the comments on AllTrails mentioned its braided start and finish.  We didn't mind our vague tromping, crushing layers of pine straw beneath our feet and dodging snags and low branches.  Next time we'll know.

Our route followed a fairly swift and deep NID canal (Nevada [County] Irrigation District).  One website I consulted when we got home offered this:  ... do not jump in the NID canal, no matter how inviting. This water which is used by Nevada County residents for drinking and irrigating is traveling at about 280 cfu per second, and comes from the district’s upper division lakes.  Water from Jackson Meadows Reservoir, French, Faucherie and Sawmill lakes collect in Bowman Lake and is then carried to Fuller Lake into the canal and sent up to Spaulding Lake.  We didn't know any of this before we began.

Where the trail forked, we saw two trail markers on this tree.

Thank you!

We had to pass beneath this massive penstock.  It's used to carry water from Fuller Lake to the Rim Powerhouse on Spaulding Lake, which is nice to know ... now.  I touched the orange/pink blob hanging below the pipe and it was sticky.  Water dripped.  It looked like a monster hornet's nest.

Much of the path was shaded by tall trees, but we also hiked in full sun.  The good news is, even in the sun, we didn't feel hot.  The temp was around 75-80 degrees in late morning.

Whoa!  We heard water.  When we got to a halt sign, we walked around it and continued straight.  Soon the roar was deafening.  Then we spied it -- a tumultuous, wild 100 foot waterfall.  The sign reads:  DANGER -- Water may be discharged in this area at any instant -- it is extremely dangerous -- KEEP AWAY.  Apparently (and I've seen pictures) this thundering waterway is often a mere trickle.

Not a trickle today!

Where white meets blue above, is the beginning of the falls.

Back on the detoured path, lush with ferns, we continued our walk,

enjoying the shaded woods.

We crossed this crazy "bridge" to the other side.

Didn't fall in, either of us.

After one more rickety creek crossing, we returned to this untamed, savage water -- it looked and felt scary!  In the background is another giant water-carrying tube, though which way the water was going (or even if) we couldn't tell.  We didn't walk to the top of it (inset, below) to check.

A break in the trail’s forest cover revealed views of the picturesque reservoir, which is much bigger than I could tuck into this photo.  The lake sits at 5,014 ft in a glacier-carved bowl of granite.  Finding a spot in shade where we could catch the breeze, we ate our lunch.  All that gushing water entered the lake out of sight to the left of where we sat.  We met a couple with a dog along about here; otherwise, we hiked alone.  Very peaceful .... 

Remember the photo earlier of the penstock we ducked beneath?  Curiosity is my middle name!  We could still hear gushing water, and we thought that if we scrambled (hoof hoof) to the top, we could see where the waterfall originated.

Back to the canal, now fenced.

Looks like 6.50 ft deep.

And fast, very fast.

OK, here's where we learned a thing or two.

The canal water we followed from Fuller Lake IS pumped up here, where it  ...

... is sent flying down, about a hundred-foot drop, crashing through the trees to where we saw it at the DANGER sign.  We were pleased that we made the (gasp) climb and came full circle on this water!  The entire R/T hike was roughly four miles, with plenty of ups/downs, but nothing staggering except the climb to the falls origin (above).

It seems like it's been such a long time since we've been Out and About in the mountains, and we enjoyed the heck ourselves immensely today.  Because it's been so long, I'm sure we'll both feel the burn in our joints tomorrow!