The older I get the less I want to slip and fall. My body sabotages me enough without doing something that is more likely to break a bone. So on our hike yesterday I was very careful to avoid the icy parts on the trail. But not everyone else seemed to care so much.
Sam on ice.
Ginny on ice.
Kirin on ice. Chris on ice.
Meryl and Chris on ice.
Chris on ice–this time on purpose.
Matt’s version of the louge…
…followed by the skeleton…
Here he breaks form before breaking his head.
Yesterday it was way too cold and windy at Loon Lake …
…for us to enjoy snowshoeing for very long so we drove back down…
…to the trail to Bassi Falls at about 5400′ elevation.
There wasn’t enough snow to snowshoe but there was no wind and the other signs of winter were still there.
At the base of the falls Meryl and Chris showed off their gymnastic skills.
Here is a group shot where we’re not quite as bundled up as in the previous post. How many people does it take to arrange a dog-only group shot? You can see the result of this in Rusty’s blog after he gets his turn at the computer.
Once again, Maggie provide entertainment for Ginny because just hiking isn’t enough for her.
After the trauma of the first stop we made, Ginny had a great time on this hike. We all thought that she would be worn out for the day, but it seems that the long car ride was enough to revive her and she wasn’t at all tired last night.
It’s not easy to find a time when we can all get together for a whole day. We had planned on a snowshoeing trip and the prediction of a little cold weather wasn’t going to deter us. The problem was that even though we had significant precipitation in December with Caliornia’s continuing drought the snow level was fairly high. To find enough snow for snowshoeing we drove to Loon Lake (6358′ elevation). There was enough snow here and it was sunny but the temperature was in the low 20’s and the wind was howling. (I know that plenty of people live in this kind of weather, but not me. I’ll go for 100 degree days anytime over bone-chilling cold.)
We decided to go for it with the snowshoes at least for a short time. Everyone out of the car…
…including Ginny, in the snow for the first time.
Matt, Kaleena, Chris, and Meryl started down to the lake with the big dogs. I was behind because I had to remember how to walk with snowshoes without getting my feet tangled up going down the steep slope from the road.
It didn’t take us long to figure out that with the strong wind it was just too cold for Ginny so Dan took her back to the car. 
The rest of us continued down to the lake. Matt was having a hard time keeping track of which was his wife since both Kaleena and Meryl were wearing Kaleena’s snow gear. 
There were white caps on the lake and lots of ice at the edge.
That’s me on the left, then Kaleena, Matt, Chris, and Meryl.
Meryl and Chris with Sam and Rusty.
It’s the wind that is making Rusty’s ears stand up.
We didn’t spend too much time here. Instead we drove back down to Bassi Falls and went for a hike there–something that all of us could enjoy. Photos of that in the next blog post.
A couple of days ago we took advantage of the beautiful weather (although I would rather see snow and rain right now) to visit Matt and Kaleena in their backyard, the El Dorado National Forest. 
We walked down to the American River at the spot that M & K call Rope to the River.
Look at what we found at the bottom.
I looked up ladybugs later and read that they hibernate this time of year and cluster together for warmth, finding any cracks that they can, even in houses. I think that I’d rather see them in the forest than in the house.
The day was warm, but In the shaded areas at the river where the sun is too low to hit now there was still frost.
Brilliant colors.
Looking across the American River. Highway 50 is just up the hill.
We drove to another favorite place of M & K’s to see a waterfall. Unfortunately Mill Creek is almost dry right now but we stopped along the way for the view. 
This is Big Hill, where Matt’s helicopter is based. (Well, he doesn’t own it, the USFS does, but he’ll be working there again in January.)View of Pyramid Peak. It should be glistening with snow right now. Let’s hope that the storm coming in this weekend dumps a lot.
November? It was in the high-70’s where we went hiking today. Dan chose the hike from his northern CA hiking trail book and said that we would go 6.3 miles. When we got to the trail head behind the Fire Station in Cool, south of Auburn, we found out that there was a mountain bike race in progress. So we chose another trail leaving from the same place but our 6 mile hike ended up being 10 miles. For Rusty’s version of the day (and more dog photos) see his blog.
This was very pleasant weather for hiking but it is NOT what we should be seeing in November. There was green grass that germinated with the rain that came over a week ago, and is growing well with the warm weather, but it’s all going to die if we don’t get more rain. That is what happened last year and the hills remained brown and gray with no feed for livestock or wildlife. 
Although the situation is dismal if it stays dry, the country is still pretty and the day of hiking was invigorating.
There was no water until we got to the river and the dogs were certainly glad of that. This is the North Fork of the American River.
We ended up at the river at the site of the proposed Auburn Dam. I didn’t remember any details about that, but looked up the information after we got home. Construction began on this dam site in the late 1960’s. In 1975 there was an earthquake that was determined to be the result of the weight of the water behind the Oroville dam that is 50 miles north of the Auburn site and was completed in 1968. This caused a delay in the dam construction while the plans were redesigned. Ultimately, cost, potential seismic risks, and relative benefit of the dam site caused it to be abandoned although there were several attempts to resurrect it. I read one report that said that this dam would have been three times as wide as the Hoover Dam but the reservoir that would have filled the North and Middle Fork canyons would hold only 8% of the water behind Hoover Dam. 
I didn’t take many photos of the remnants of the dam construction site, but the massive undertaking is obvious. This photo is a detail of the one above, looking across the river. I assume that those white spots are bolts of some kind. The whole wall is covered with cyclone fence as is the wall to the right in the photo above. 
This is a view up river of the dam site.
Toyon berries. 
It was a good day of hiking. The dogs are tired tonight.
Thanks to all of you who told me that you like seeing photos from Across the Road. We have only 10 acres here so we appreciate being able to share the farmland that is across the road.
I took my macro lens to the repair shop this week and saw that they had used equipment for sale at good prices. So I bought a 70-300 mm lens. My other lens is 18-135 so this gives me a whole new perspective. What fun!
That is the base of the corn that was harvested a few days ago. There are photos of the harvest in Rusty’s blog.
Yesterday’s plowing makes beautiful patterns.
With this new lens I should now be able to get all those fantastic wildlife photos I’ve been missing. So I had my eyes open for wildlife. I was able to get a photo of a critter den just after they (muskrats?) plopped into the water.
The only birds I saw were crows and doves. Oh Oh. I forgot to touch up this photo to remove the spots. I found that I have the same spots on my blue sky with this lens as with my other one. That means that there is dust somewhere inside the camera. That can’t be good. I caught interesting spider webs…
…close up. 
Here is few of our property looking across the harvested corn field. This is with the old lens at 135 mm…
…and with the new lens at 300 mm.
Maybe no wildlife but I found other things in the trees. There are some great photos of Rusty and Maggie, but I let him use those for his blog.
No words needed.
After leaving Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon we were heading home. There are a lot of landscape photos at 70 mph in this post. I could have left out the blurry ones, but…hmmm…then I wouldn’t have all the impressions that I want to remember. Sorry. It makes me appreciate other people’s very sharp photos that much more. 
The trusty green truck that Dan got for $5 when his dad moved to Hawaii. Landscape off Hwy. 97 in north-central Oregon.
Sunset over Klamath Lake in Oregon.
It was dark as we were looking for a place to camp along the road in California. I realized later that Dan had an ulterior motive for wanting to make it as far as Military Pass Rd., off of Hwy. 97 before it joins up with I-5. If you want to hike the north or east sides of Mt. Shasta that is where you find the trailheads and he wants to do that trip before he goes back to teaching in August.
We found a place off the main road, ate what was left in the ice chest, and went to sleep. This is what it looked like in the morning.
This is the view from our “campsite”.It’s always a thrill to see Mt. Shasta when you drive into California from the north. The peak is 14,162′ and Shastina to the west is 12,330′. 
We spent the morning driving the roads that circle Mt. Shasta to the east and finally join up with the highway to head south.
We stopped several times at campsites and trails along the beautiful McCloud River.
Finally on the last leg home. No more stops.
Passing Shasta Lake, indicative of California’s severe drought. This is only June and the lake should be filled with snowmelt.
Dry hills typical of the Mediterranean climate of California. Most parts of California have dry summers and wet winters. We depend on the winter rain and snowfall to fill reservoirs and replenish acquirers to be able to produce the abundant agricultural crops that California is known for. 
With irrigation this is what the Central Valley looks like. This is a rice field.
This land is usually brilliant green from about October into April. The brown landscape is normal for unirrigated land. However, last year we had an early rain (September?) and then nothing. What grass germinated died. Many ranchers who depend on the fall grass to feed their cattle and sheep had to sell their livestock. The next rains came in January and they were meager. There was not enough rain or snow, especially following other years of relatively dry conditions, to catch up. You can read about the affect of the drought on California’s farmers and ranchersat Voices from the Drought on Facebook.
Harvesting hay.
Sunflowers at 70 mph. The dry hills are typical of California in the summer. The valley crops are grown with irrigation water.
Well, I got sidetracked into a semi-documentary. These photos in Yolo and Solano Counties meant that we were getting closer to home.
Here is who greeted us when we pulled in (my camera doesn’t seem to be doing any better at 0 mph).
We had a wonderful trip but it’s good to be home.
The goal for this morning was to hike south to Miller Flat where we would spend the night. 
After we set up camp I did some more exploring. Walking another mile or so was no problem once I was able to ditch the pack. The scenery and flowers were spectacular.Wild iris.
As I’ve said in other posts the poison oak can be very pretty although its definitely best to avoid it.
Back at camp there was no shortage of wildlife, although I wasn’t able to do much about photographing sea lions or a river otter with my 40mm lens. (I tried, but won’t bore you with those photos where you have to know which speck is the subject animal.) 
Kaleena was photographing one of her favorite flowers right next to camp and was about to step over a log when she saw this:
It eventually slithered under the log. Maybe the beach is a safer trek.
My kids could be active-wear models.
This made me nervous. Matt wanted to get photos of the surf as it rolled in under his camera.Another great dinner. This time it was mac and cheese with fresh veggies followed by s’mores with your choice of graham crackers or fresh apple slices or both.Of course there was always trail mix for snacking.
Sunset on the beach.
The colors of the sky and ocean changed to pinks and greens as the sun went down. 
My tent at dusk. (Rainfly necessary this night.)
My son and DIL invited me to join them and a couple of their friends on a backpacking trip to one of their favorite spots. According to Wikipedia, “the steepness and related geo-technical challenges of the coastal mountains made this stretch of coastline too costly for state highway or county road builders to establish routes through the area, leaving it the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast”. Since Matt and Kaleena did all the planning, food prep, etc all I had to do was gather up or borrow the right clothes and gear. 
We drove about 5 hours north to a campsite outside of the town of Honeydew in Humboldt County where we spent the night. The next morning we drove to the the Kinsey Ridge Trailhead to begin the hike. 
I borrowed backpack since I couldn’t find mine (and the last time I had used it was about 30 years ago so this one was probably a little better).
There was a four mile trek down the mountain to get to the beach. After that the trail is along the beach or through meadows just above.
Every mile or so there is another river running out of the mountains into the ocean. This was where we camped the first night.
Time to unpack the dogs and relax a bit. First order of business was to secure our site by setting up the tents. There were not very many people hiking the area, but Matt and Kaleena have their favorite spots and you can’t exactly reserve a site. 
This is the view of the ocean from inside my tent. No rain fly needed the first night.
Matt and Kaleena’s friends didn’t bring tents but constructed a temporary shelter from the wind with rocks and driftwood. 
Next it was time to explore the area and wash the poison oak off the dogs.
Matt was the chef. 
He and Kaleena had prepared enough veggies to last us for 3 dinners.After watching the sun set over the ocean…
…we enjoyed s’mores back at camp before turning in for the night.
Meridian Jacobs' Blog 