Majestic Sierra Buttes, Tues 7/16/19

So many hiking trails exist in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  I doubt I could count all the hiking options in our county alone, and the Sierras stretch for a long, long way along California's spine.  With countless opportunities, we've branched out and are seeking new places to explore.  In the process we're discovering more and more about our state.  That's a good thing.

From our home in Nevada City, we drive east on Hwy 20 to I-80 to get to the Truckee/Tahoe area.  Roughly twenty miles from home is the Hwy 20 overlook, a popular stop for many with a terrific view -- on clear days, you can see a great distance, all the way to the Sierra Buttes.  Jimmy and I have stopped numerous times to peer north toward those Buttes; their craggy peaks stand out amongst all the evergreen.  I've admired them from afar!  You see I am leading into our hike for the day!  For several years I've wanted to visit or hike here, but wasn't sure how to get there.  Maps were only partially helpful.  The ranger lady at Bullard's Bar (last May 31st) gave us the info we needed -- a set of detailed maps.  Jimmy picked today's hike:  The Lookout Tower at Sierra Buttes.   

The Buttes aren't close, at least as far as getting there.  Google Maps says they're 62 miles northeast via Scenic Hwy 49, but it was actually 70+ -- not exactly around the corner.  We were fairly close when I snapped the above shot.  The Buttes are an eroded volcanic lava dome, with lots of spectacular pinnacles, scraping the sky at nearly 9,000 ft.  Wow.  Snow still lingers, as you see.

We had to circle tiny Sierra City a couple of times to find the Gold Lake turn off, twice passing this intrepid group of plein air artists grouped in front of a mega-cascade.  In the town itself we witnessed thru-hikers of The Pacific Crest Trail excitedly opening their resupply boxes, their stuff visible to all.  That trail crosses Hwy 49 at Sierra City.

We live near the South Fork of the Yuba River.  Today we crossed over all the forks, South, Middle, and North.  In this hilly country, first you switchback down to the river and then up the other side into the hills, back down to the next river, and so on.  Much of Scenic Hwy 49 in Sierra County follows the North Fork, above.  Really a lovely drive.

It took longer than we imagined to get to this point; consequently, our time on the trail was limited as we had a dinner date with our farm friends at 5pm.  No matter!  We were just Out and About enjoying our day.  Starting elevation was 6300'.  (L.O. = Fire Tower Lookout)  The temp was a perfect 72, with a cooling breeze to keep us from overheating on our climb.

Spoiler alert:  We didn't make it all the way to the lookout, but we plan to go back.  Next time we'll start at a different point, and skip this horrible rocky track.  Just look at that blue-blue sky!

Our trek today led us past Lower and Upper Tamarack Lakes ...

so picturesque!

Cool, but not frigid.

The path got narrower, but no less rocky.

See Jimmy?

While we didn't see meadows chock-a-block full of wildflowers, we saw pretty posies trail-side everywhere.  Western Wallflower, penstamons, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Pretty Face, Indian Paintbrush.  Lupines, Sulphur Buckwheats, Creeping Phlox, and more -- we saw plenty of color on these mountains.

Of course, dramatic views are the real draw.

I've read that these striking 8,587 ft Sierra Buttes have been a popular hiking destination since the 1850s.  Geologically, this is the northernmost portion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains before the range peters out.  It also has quite a mining history -- The Sierra Buttes Mines, best known of the mines in this area, operated here from the early 1850s until 1937 with a forty-stamp and twenty-stamp mill, producing in excess of $17 million in gold!  Woo-hoo!

I didn't find any gold!

Looking down on Tamarack lakes, above, and overlooking a grand NorCal vista!  We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in these parts -- enabling us to reach and appreciate these gorgeous sites/sights.

At this juncture (7400'), we met up with the PCT, though we didn't see any hikers here.  We could finally see the Lookout Tower (below), but we still had miles to go to reach it.  We also learned from a day-hiker that there was another parking lot not far away that we could use when we return, cutting off the two-plus steep miles we'd just climbed.  Well, okay!  It really was a beautiful day to be Out and About and we were happy with our choice.  We started down.  Even though a downhill takes less time (and energy), it would still take over an hour to reach our Prius.  We didn't want to slide down 1,100' on our arses, so we had to be careful.

This shot is zoomed in.  Maybe you can see the stairs if you enlarge the photo.  Once you get up on the crest, there's a rack of steps to climb to the lookout tower.  They say you can see Lassen Peak and further from the tower.  We want to give it a try!

Pleasing to the eyes.

Upper Tamarack Lake.

Heading down, slogging over the rocks.

These old and dead bleached giants are awesome.

When we got to the car, we happily shed our hikers and sox for sandals (whew - tired feet).  We made it down in an hour-and-ten.  But, we'd cut it close to be home and showered and at our friends' by 5pm.  Not to worry, I texted when we got cell service and said we'd be ten minutes late.  I was right on the mark, too, so all was well.  We saw lots of Pussy Paws today, but no cats, or bears, or deer ... just lots of natural beauty.  Ahhh, lucky us.

Fourth, and more -- July 2019

Jimmy and I have seen memorable July 4th parades in other cities/states the past few years, but we haven't been to a Fourth of July parade in our neck of the woods since 2012, so we decided we'd go.  The two cities of Nevada City and Grass Valley blend together as one -- you can't tell where one starts and the other ends unless you see a sign.  These two trade hosting-the-parade duty every other year, and this year it was Grass Valley's turn.  And it would be our first time seeing the parade curbside in downtown Grass Valley.

We got there early enough (10am) to listen to the Nevada County Concert Band for roughly an hour before the actual parade began.  You see Jimmy above in the yellow shirt standing in the shade across from where the band setup.  See those two blue chairs at the curb?  Jimmy and I must have mush for brains sometimes, because while we remembered to take waters with us, we showed up without seats.  I can sit on a curb for a while, but not for an hour or two.  The local Safeway store is one block from Jimmy, so I bestirred myself, walked downhill to it, bought two lightweight blue chairs, hiked back up the hill and we parked those suckers on the curb in the shade.  Then the sun moved. 

People lined up early, on all the participating streets.

Cheryl Woldseth, the band director, had on her patriotic wings!  The all-volunteer band gave a rousing hour of toe-tapping music this morning.  Most enjoyable.  They were loud enough that nobody could hear me sing!

The town crier announced the parade start by ringing a handbell.

What IS a parade without horses?

I like their hats.  The horses, I mean.

Goats are welcome, too, especially if they're following the horses and accompanied by a human with a honey bucket!

Don't know when I've seen so much red/white/blue!

A parade of dune buggies?

What a clown!

A whole lot of cars, shiny ones, old fixed-up jalopies, fire trucks with loud sirens, you name it, we saw vehicles in this parade.

Even a dinosaur.

He was a hit!

We're not sure if this guy was filming the parade via drone or just following the Grass Valley Airshow float by way of advertising.  Kind of neat, either way.

During a lull (there were quite a few), I wandered from our blue-chair perch on Neal Street to look for additional floats coming up Mill Street.  I also checked to see if the Del Oro Movie Theater was open so I could buy a bag of popcorn.  It wasn't, darn it.

As I mentioned, we've attended parades all over the place, and this one was a disappointment.  (We weren't the only people who felt this way.)  Other than a profusion of red/white/blue and some snazzy/crazy outfits, most of what we saw were "float" ads for real estate, a hair salon, a dance club, the Lions, Masons, etc.  No marching bands!  One clown.  No funny Shriners with their decorated lawnmowers.  No candy throws (egad)!  Nevada City had a much better parade.  And, if we go parading next year, that's where we'll go.  Plus, hey, at least we have new blue chairs to take with us!

* * * * * * * * * *

We are soooo fortunate to have this little two-year-old granddaughter spend two-night sleepovers with us in Nevada City.  She waves bye-bye to Mama and/or Dada, and off she goes on an adventure with the older folks.  I can't even begin to tell you how much fun she is, what a good time we have with her around.  She has that little girl squeal that pierces our brains, but she's so danged happy when she's doing it, it doesn't matter.  She is pure joy.

Trying on Gramma's sunglasses turned her into what I call an Audrey Hepburn-in-training.  She liked having them on.  Sweet as honey, and purty as a picture.

She calls Jimmy's Smart car "pop-pop's beep-beep car."  Once while Smartie was in the garage and she had Smartie's key fob in her hand, she pressed the red button which set off the horn alarm.  She and I both jumped a mile, and it's been the beep-beep car ever since.  Jimmy was fixin' to drive her up and down our driveway.  She seemed a bit worried about the possibility of the horn firing up again ....  BTW, the knee band aid is all show, no tell.

She's repeating everything she hears, so I said to her, "Monkey See, Monkey Do."  She responded, monkey see, monkey do!  Hahahaaa

Last Monday we took her to the fairgrounds, 15 minutes from home, so we could get in a walk and she could be outside, too.  She loves being outside.  Here, Jimmy stopped to let her watch a riding lawnmower do its thing; she was intrigued by it, the noise and motion.

After walking two miles, we pulled in next to Evergreen Hall garden area to have a Goldfish snack.  I'd never been to this spot before and was amazed at the beautiful flowers growing near the building.  I wasn't the only one!

Everly Rose wanted to touch and smell the Hydrangeas.

Who wouldn't?

Huge bushes!

She called this flower the "baby one," and seemed to like it the most.

It was also reachable.

All these blossoms were near Evergreen Hall.

Around the corner was this small "stage."  And as she sat in the stroller while we walked, it was her turn to get into action while we sat for a bit.  She'd crawl up on the stage, look over the edge on the far side, and then run down the ramp -- over and over and over.  Wore herself out. 

On Wednesday, I had cataract surgery on my right eye.  Both eyes are fixed now, with stents to relieve glaucoma-related high eye pressure, corrective lenses to take care of astigmatism (left eye) and nearsightedness in both eyes, and sans cataracts.  Boy, can I see clearly now!  I complained to Jimmy a few months ago that my Canon camera wasn't working well, the pictures weren't clear like they used to be.  He suggested a new camera.  You know where this is going!  It wasn't the camera (lens) that needed replacing -- MY lenses were clogged and sooty!  The difference is remarkable.  It'll take several months for my eyes to completely heal and adjust to the brightness.  I truly had no idea how bright the world is.  It is beautiful. 💕

"Rehearsing!" Wednesday, 7/3/19

As retired folks, we can pretty much do whatever we decide on any given day, barring medical appt's and the like.  With my cataract surgeries, I've had plenty of doctor visits (right eye next: July 10th).  Plus, we have our annual checkups this month.  Medical aside, with our Swiss Alps hiking trip looming in a little over six weeks, we're trying to get our legs "mountain" fit.  Naturally, we'd head for a fairly strenuous (for us, anyway) Sierras high country hike, one we've done before.  Rehearsing, sort of. This hike is so scenic, it's enough to make you feel energized rather than pooped!

Alpine Meadows is on the "backside" of Squaw Valley.  Elevation is roughly 6500 ft there, and the trail begins from the road (where I'm standing) just to the right of the big ol' dead tree.  Jimmy has already begun heading up the Five Lakes hike!

Of course we knew we'd see snow on these peaks; we have in years past.  With this year's gigantic snowfall, we'd wondered if we'd see snow by the lake.

The is a multi-purpose trail, meaning it's open to horses and dogs and people and even strollers (!).  No bikes, though.  This is the first time we've seen a horse clip-clopping the fairly narrow path.  It didn't want to step over the fallen tree, but with a little coaxing, over it went.  You know we encountered horse apples further up the trail (pee-yew!).  Honestly, we can't imagine a horse navigating such a steep trail that has some precipitous drops.

Again, we were favored with lotsa wildflower blooms all along the way.  Clockwise from top left:  Sierra Stickweed, Western False Soloman's Seal, Bitter Cherry, Spreading Phlox, Snowflower, and Mountain Pride.

Up he goes.  Look at the clear, blue sky!

Not much shade to be had.

Above the trail we spotted our first patch of snow, which created a tiny rivulet ... easy to step over. I was wearing my new Ahnu hikers, with deep tread for trails like this.  I wore out my last pair.  Maybe I should've tried them on the level canal trail, but I didn't. Give them a real test here!

More snow.  This drift covered the trail.

We carefully walked on it to the other side.

When we reach this sign, much of our uphill slog is finished and we will soon be in the shade of tall trees -- fragrant firs and pines.  We were lucky to have such cool temps today ... only in the high 60's or low 70's, but it's always a relief to get out of the hot sun.  A cool breeze hit us at times which we really appreciated.

And then, oh my!  Were we in for a surprise!  Look at this picture -- look at all the snow!  This is where that cool breeze came from!  We stomped across snow piles, dodged snow-melt "lakes," and had to scout for the trail at times.

This is July 3rd, for Pete's Sake!  Some of this was still three to five feet deep.  The trail itself disappeared and reappeared, but hikers' tracks across the snow led us in the right direction.  We surely didn't expect to see this!  Our elevation at this point was approximately 7500 ft -- we'd gained 1,000 ft since we began.  Imagine how deep the snow was last March -- Squaw Valley had something like 719 inches of snow this winter!  It wasn't cold standing here, but the snow was slippery.  (719 divided by 12 = 60 ft, zowie!)

We debated about continuing on.  We didn't know if we could even find a lake, and, if we did, which one it would be.  Ah, well, of course we kept going.  When we weren't directly beneath the trees, the snow petered out somewhat.  Overall, we had to sidestep many seeps, puddles, and water leaching from the hills and rocks and spilling across the trail.

Yes, here is the lake we were looking for  This is the lake where we usually eat our lunch, sitting on a boulder waterside.  Not today.  That's ice you're seeing.  Even now, the lake was partially frozen.  Our lunch rock was submerged.  Melting ice/water generated a fast-moving swollen stream at the far end, though we weren't sure if it flowed down into another lake or a larger river.  In the forest stillness, the splashing torrent was loud to our ears.

Clear, COLD water.  Jimmy tested it.

We ate our granola bars sitting on a log.

This lake was as far as we'd go.  We didn't quite make it the entire five miles, but we got close.  It took us two hours to hike up this far and eat our lunch, stopping to take pictures (and breathe), and the trek down would be about an hour-and-a-half.  Unless we got lost in the snow!  (we didn't)

We see a number of venerable, bleached giants at this elevation.  Long winters with severe winds and deep snows take a toll on all the vegetation up here.  At one point near the lake, tiny perennial plants were emerging from the soil -- they'd have a brief time to grow before winter's gales strike again.

Be fun to clamber around this rock jungle.

Mahala Pinemat -- a lovely shrub that decorated the trail side.

And so, down we went, zig-zagging our way toward the Prius.  My new shoes proved themselves; they're keepers.  The feet were tired, though!  (Jimmy's, too)  We encountered a lot of people coming and going, including plenty of young people, even some children.  Nice to see families Out and About enjoying the day full of sunshine and flowers ... and snow!