MT. DIABLO HIKE

Sitting here in 41 degree weather in the middle of December, it is hard to believe that less than a month ago Dan and I were hiking on Mt. Diablo in shorts and t-shirts. Granted, we did have an extended warm season in Central California, but once it was over, it was gone! Winter will officially arrive in five days, but that’s only by the calendar; based on this cold snap, I think made an early appearance. I wouldn’t want to be atop Mt. Diablo toady, but last month it was a great experience. This was a hike I’ve wanted to make for many years, but for some reason never got around to it until now. Mt. Diablo is located near Danville in Contra Costa County.

Even though the elevation at the summit is only 3849, geographers claim that hikers can see more of the earth’s surface from the top of Mt. Diablo than from any other peak in the world with only one exception: Africa’s legendary 19,340 foot Mt. Kilimanjaro. Two reasons for the grand views: (1) the mountain rises solo very abruptly from its surroundings, and (2) the land surrounding the mountain—the San Francisco Bay and Central Valley—is nearly flat. The day we hiked was a little bit foggy, but we were still able to appreciate the sweeping panorama from the Golden Gate to the Farallon Island, from the High Sierra to the Central Valley (very similar to the views to be had from Mt. Tamalpais). Geologically speaking, the mountain is a bit odd in that the hiker climbs over successively older and older rocks on the way to the summit; this is exactly the opposite of the usual progression. Much of Diablo’s sedimentary rock, which long ago formed an ancient sea bed, has been tilted, turned upside down and pushed up by a plug of hard red Franciscan rock.

We started the hike about half way up the mountain from a trail head parking area. We ascended a little over 1000 feet in less than a mile, so we climbed up pretty fast. At the top is the Summit Museum, the historic stone building atop Mt. Diablo's highest peak, constructed during the late 1930's of fossiliferous sandstone blocks quarried in the park. The Visitor Center highlights the cultural and natural history of Mt. Diablo State Park. Attached are some snaps from the day.

Calaveras Big Trees

Calaveras Big Trees is like no other place on Earth! Here you will find the Sierra redwood trees, the largest trees in the world. Many tower between 250 and 300 feet tall, but it is hard to imagine trees this size without actually seeing them. Sometimes comparisons are used to help one visualize the size of these giants, like the fact that a sierra redwood many contain enough wood to build 40 five-room homes; a tree may weigh 4,000 tons; they are as tall as the Statue of Liberty. And while their height is impressive, the real wonder of a sierra redwood lies in its bulk. Many of these trees have diameters in excess of 30 feet near the ground, with a corresponding circumference of over 94 feet. It is almost beyond belief that there were those who would have destroyed this unique and wondrous Forest of Giants to satisfy their greed. Thank goodness enough cared to step in and stop the destruction before all was lost.

This was our second hike to the Big Trees. We hiked in both the South and North Groves, for a total of about 7 miles. It was a beautiful fall day in late October and we were delighted with all the fall colors throughout the park.

The South Grove contains about 1000 large sierra redwoods – also known as giant sequoias. The lack of human influence is an outstanding feature of this preserve. Many Sierra redwood groves were severely disturbed following their discovery by settlers in the late 1800s. The Calaveras south Grove Natural Preserve offers a unique opportunity to visit and study this ancient forest ecosystem in its primeval condition.

The trail through the North Grove is an easy, flat 1.5 miles. Inside of the grove you will find markers along the trail that explains and give history of some of the more spectacular trees such as the Three Graces of Greek mythology, The Pioneer Cabin Tree, The Abraham Lincoln tree, The Sacrificial Tree, The Father of the Forest, Old Bachelor tree, Siamese Twins and the Granite State Tree. Views of giant sequoias’ with special twists and formations can be seen.

Mt. Tamalpais Hike

One of the things Dan and I looked forward to when we knew we would be back in the Sacramento area were the many hiking opportunities. Although we like to hike new places as often as possible, we also have our old favorites we like to return to again and again. Our favorites within striking distance of Sacramento include Feather Falls, Mt. Tamalpais, Castle Peak, Pt. Reyes, and Calaveras Big Trees. After things settled down for us following Morgan’s arrival, we got busy taking advantage of the autumn weather to get in as many hikes as possible. As it turns out, the good weather extended well into November, allowing us several opportunities to hit the trail.

We decided to make Mt. Tamalpais our first hike. Mt. Tam (as many refer to the mountain) is just north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate and rises to 2,571 feet at the summit. On a clear day, visitors can see the Farallon Islands 25 miles out to sea, the Marin County hills, San Francisco and the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, hills and cities of the East Bay, and Mount Diablo. On rare occasions, the Sierra Nevada's snow-covered mountains can be seen 150 miles away. We were lucky to be there on a clear day to witness this awesome panorama.

More than 50 miles of trails crisscross the park, taking you up and down ravines, across meadows and above the fog layer. We chose to hike the Matt Davis-Steep Ravine loop that begins and ends at Stinson Beach. The 7-mile loop features a bit of everything, with waterfalls, redwood, Douglas fir, and oak forests, grassland, canyons, and views galore. Here are some pictures of our Mt. Tam hike.

Morgan Dean

Since traveling full time is a different way of life from most of the people we know, we are often asked questions about how we manage the logistics. For instance family and friends will ask us where we are going next, how long we will stay in one particular location, and how we make those decisions. Being relatively new to this ourselves (on the road for about 14 months now), we are still figuring some of that as we go along. We usually have the next four to six months planned in advance, but one of the definite advantages to this lifestyle is being able to relocate easily, which gives us lots of flexibility if things come up that alter our plans.

Meet Morgan Dean, my newest grandchild. I guess you could say Morgan was one of those (wonderful) things that changed our plans. We hadn’t specifically planned to be back in the Sacramento area at this time until I heard that my daughter Cory was pregnant, and due in September. That bit of good news helped shaped our plans to travel back to California for the Fall, and when we happened upon the hosting position at the Grasslands Regional Park, things sort of fell into place. Here are a couple of pictures of Morgan.

Grasslands Regional Park

To paraphrase Simon & Garfunkel – “Alaska is just a dream to me now…”

I can’t believe it’s been seven weeks since my last blog entry – so much has changed between then and now!! Coming from the far North to central California we have covered thousands of miles and settled into a totally different way of life, at least for the next few months. It was an amazing trip, we saw and experienced so much, and it’s almost impossible to capture this with words or pictures. And now, here we are in Dixon, California, in October, enjoying 80 degree weather when just last week I checked the weather in Fairbanks, Alaska and it was 1 degree. One. Snow already blanketing the ground. So hard to comprehend we were there only a few short weeks ago! This traveling way of life never ceases to thrill, surprise, and delight me!

So here we are in Dixon, as Park Hosts for the Yolo County Grasslands Regional Park. We settled in to our new temporary home the first week in September and soon met with Yolo county staff to finalize the arrangements and go over our duties as Park Hosts. Although Dan and I are both former long-time Sacramento area residents and Yolo County was always a close neighbor, neither of us knew much about the area beyond the city of Davis. It has been fun exploring the rest of the county and getting to know more about this still mostly rural part of central California. Notwithstanding the presence of the University of California, Davis in its midst and the State Capital just down the road, Yolo County remains a relatively rural agricultural area, home to the multi-billion dollar California tomato industry, which dominates 90% of the tomato market in the United States. Grasslands Park is right across the street from acres and acres of tomato fields and the first month we were here, we couldn’t believe the truck loads of tomatoes running day and night as they finished harvesting the late summer crop.

Grasslands Park is a 320-acre park that contains significant natural resources and habitat for wildlife species, and also serves a variety of existing active recreation uses, including model airplane soaring, archery, and horseshoes. As Park Hosts, our duties include opening and closing the entrance gate at dawn and dusk; maintaining the park host living area; and walking through the park to monitor guest usage. We are really enjoying our stay and our assignment, and like saying “we live in a park”!

Florence, Oregon

Every year during my childhood, as far back as memory takes me, I traveled from Orangevale, California to Oregon and Washington to visit relatives on our summer vacations. My father had two weeks off each summer, and we would drive on I-5 and Highway 101, making stops along the way to visit with Aunts & Uncles, finally arriving at our final destination in Hoquiam, Washington where my grandparents lived. For many years my great Aunt & Uncle lived in Florence, Oregon, and that was almost a guaranteed stopping place on our first day of travel. I have very fond memories of spending time in Florence and playing in the nearby sand dunes, visiting Sea Lion Caves, and enjoying the Oregon coast. My Aunt & Uncle moved from Florence to Hoquiam when I was still a teenager, and from then until now I had not been back to Florence. When Dan suggested we hunker down somewhere on the Oregon coast between our visit to Washington and our return to Sacramento (to avoid being on the road during the Labor Day traffic), and when he randomly suggested Florence, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

We arrived in Heceta Beach (3 miles north of Florence) on August 27th. Our RV Park is a 10 minute walk to the ocean beach, and when everything settles down in the evening, you can hear the waves from our 5th wheel. We drove into Florence that day and try as I might, I couldn’t relate it to anything I remembered from 30+ years ago. I really wanted to find my Aunt & Uncle’s old house, but didn’t know where to start. My mother and sister said they could drive to it if they were there, but no one remembered a street name, or specific directions. The dunes were familiar, though, and I appreciate the beauty of the Oregon coast more now than I ever could have as a kid. The weather has been (mostly) cooperative so we’ve been able to take walks and runs on the beach, ride our bikes into and around Florence, and take one longer hike on a trail in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. My Grandparents are buried in Coquille, about 65 miles from Florence, so one day we drove to the cemetery to visit their gravesites and pay our respects.

I have enjoyed revisiting some of the memories and places of my youth. Things are never quite the same as you remember, but that’s not always a bad thing. New experiences, blended with the old impressions, can combine to form something even better. I found this to be true of the visit to some of my old stomping grounds.

Next Stop: Sacramento!

Valdez, Alaska

On 8/8/8 we arrived in Valdez, our last planned stop in Alaska. Valdez is a very small town (population 4020) located near the head of a deep fjord in the northeast section of the Prince William Sound. It is surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, which are heavily glaciated. (I was able to see glaciers in the mountains that surround the area just by gazing out of our windows.) The natural setting for Valdez is one of the most beautiful on Earth, and it has been called the Switzerland of Alaska. A beautiful walking/biking trail winds through town and the outskirts, and we were lucky enough to get in one long bike ride and one run during our short stay (between rain showers). Oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline is loaded onto ships at the Valdez oil terminal, here where the pipeline terminates.

Although we could have spent twice as long in Alaska and still not seen it all, we are satisfied with our experience over the last three months. And other things are beginning to tug at us. Hitch itch, a new grandchild to be born soon, another volunteer hosting position. So, “time to move on, time to get going, under our feet, grass is growing”. Later this morning we will rig everything for travel, climb into the truck, throw in our “Travelin’ Tunes” CD, and be on the road again. Our trip back to the lower 48 will take is into Seattle in about nine days. After a brief visit with family in the area, we head back to Sacramento for about six months. This was a great adventure, and although I am ready to move on, I will never forget this most wondrous and unique part of our county.

Seward, Alaska - Kenai Peninsula

Since leaving Anchorage, our time has been spent along the wild and scenic Kenai Peninsula. First we spent a week in Homer, and then we headed over to Seward, for another week-long visit. The Kenai Peninsula’s diverse natural landscape represents Alaska in miniature. The ecosystems on the Peninsula include world-renowned salmon streams, vast wetlands and salt marshes, coastal rainforests, alpine tundra, and productive estuaries, bays and coves. The peninsula extends approximately 150 miles southwest from the Chugach Mountains, south of Anchorage. It is separated from the mainland on the west by the Cook Inlet and on the east by the Prince William Sound. That is just the text-book geographical explanation, but there really aren’t words to describe the stunning landscape this time of year. Towering mountains, still capped with snow; fields of fireweed in full bloom; glaciers you can hike right up to and touch; blue skies dotted with puffy clouds floating above hanging shrouds of mist; glacial creeks running fast, furious, and endlessly. Kenai Peninsula is made for picture postcards, and even the most novice photographer would find in hard to take a bad picture here.

When we arrived in Seward, it was (surprise, surprise) raining – or, heavily misting, not sure which. For the next several days the weather remained overcast, cold, misty, and raining. But finally after four days, the skies cleared and we were treated to beautiful blue sky, puffy white clouds, cool breezes and 60-degree plus days. Down right warm for a change! Exit Glacier (so named because it is the easiest exit off the Harding Ice Field which spawns over 40 glaciers in all) is a destination for anyone visiting the area. An easy one-mile hike takes you to the edge of the glacier, or in another direction to the “toe” or base of the ice where you can touch it if you want. This is a very popular destination for tourists, and for the hardier, there is a 7.8 mile round-trip hike (with a 3000 foot elevation gain) to the base of the Harding Ice Field at the top of the glacier. This forested area is heavily populated by bears, and one sign warns how to handle an attack from a brown bear as follows: “Play dead unless it starts to eat you, then fight back”. Well, that’s pretty straight forward… However, you are also reassured that most charges end without injury. Well, I feel better now!

Hopefully the pictures I’ve included can give you a small glimpse into the Kenai Peninsula.

Next stop: Valdez, Alaska

Homer, Alaska

People often assume that because we live and travel full time in our 5th wheel, we are on a perpetual vacation. We hear things such as “Wow, it must be nice to be on vacation all the time!”, or “How great to leave all your responsibilities behind!” This is a natural response to hearing about our life style. After all, when most people hit the road in an RV, they are on vacation for a few days, a couple of weeks, or maybe even a couple of months. And when you are on vacation, you do suspend your responsibilities for a while. But when you live full time on the road, your responsibilities travel right along with you. You still have to pay the bills, do the laundry, grocery shop, clean the house, and maintain your RV and automobile. In fact, some of these things become even more difficult while you are on the road – which brings us to Homer, and how we limped in to our RV Park with something going terribly wrong with our truck. By the time we got here, there were clouds of black to gray smoke billowing out of our exhaust pipe and an ominous ticking sound coming from under the hood. Turns out, the nearest Ford dealer was 85 miles back the way we came. Well, thank goodness for road service – we had the truck towed to the Ford dealer in Soldotna the next day, where it still remains. The good news is, the truck can be fixed and apparently there will be no permanent damage.

But what can I say? Homer is not a bad place to be stuck for a few days. Once it stopped raining, I would even elevate its status to quite spectacular! And, the good news is, we are able to access most everything by foot or on our bicycles. Homer is quaint and artsy, nestled among rolling hills on the shore of Kachemak Bay, and offers breathtaking views of glaciers and the Kenai Mountains. This seaside community has 5400 residents and another 8000 beyond the city limits. A unique attraction is the Homer Spit, a long, narrow finger of land (actual a gravel bar) jutting 4.5 miles into Kachemak Bay. The Spit is home to Homer Harbor, restaurants, artisans, and gift shops (very touristy). Much of the coastline as well as the Homer Spit sank dramatically during the Good Friday Earthquake in March of 1964. One of Homer's nicknames is "the cosmic hamlet by the sea"; another is "the end of the road". This isn’t the end of the road for us, however – next stop, Seward, Alaska!

Glaciers

High on the list of things to do in Alaska is glacier viewing, and there are many opportunities to do so within close range of Anchorage. We took two glacier cruises during our stay.

Our first excursion was a one-hour boat cruise to the Portage Glacier, located on the Kenai Peninsula in the Chugach National Forest. The 50 mile drive from Anchorage to the town of Portage on the Seward Highway was spectacular, one of the most scenic highways I’ve ever traveled on. We took our time getting there, stopping often to take in the view, or drive through small towns located off the highway. We boarded the boat on Portage Lake, and during our 60-minute ride, we were taken to within 300 feet of the glacier amidst iceberg-dotted waters. It was remarkable listening to the unmistakable rumbling of a calving glacier as huge blocks of ice crashed into the lake.

Our second excursion was more involved; first we took a 2.5 hour train ride to Whittier (a slow ride to enjoy the scenery covering only 60 miles – again, along the Seward Highway). From Whittier we boarded a small boat that took us out for five hours in Blackstone Bay (a fjord that is part of Prince William Sound) where we viewed many glaciers of different sizes and shapes. The most stunning was the Blackstone Glacier, and we spent a significant amount of time bobbing around the ice-chunk filled water surrounding this glacier. The deep aqua color of the ice, the waterfalls tumbling off the glaciers, the sea otters playing nearby, all helped to create memorable experience.

Again, pictures can never quite capture everything, but I’ve attached a few shots that come as close as possible!

Lake Eklutna & Flat Top Hikes

Dan and I both really enjoy hiking, and one of the first things we do when we get to a new location is scope out the nearby hiking opportunities. Anchorage and the surrounding area offer plenty of hikes, and we’ve taken advantage of two outstanding trails since we arrived here: Twin Peaks at Lake Eklutna and Flat Top at Glen Alps. Both of these hikes are in the half million acre Chugach State Park, the third largest state park in America. These were both hefty hikes, meaning that there was fairly serious elevation gain over fairly short distances. The twin peaks trail gained 1800 feet in elevation over 2.5 miles, and the Flat Top Hike gained 1350 feet over 1.5 miles. But the work was well worth it, as the views both on the trails, and from the tops of the peaks were unrivaled. Words like breathtaking, gorgeous, magnificent, and stunning come to mind. I have never seen as many wildflowers as I did on the Twin Peak hikes - and what made that even more fun, was being able to identify them using an illustrated pamphlet of local wildflowers. Both days we hiked were threatening rain, and it seemed we were hiking in the clouds and the mists, but I think this only added to the ambience; it seemed both mystical and ancient, like something out of Lord of the Rings or The Land that Time Forgot. Of course pictures can’t begin to capture the essence of these places, but I’ve attached some snapshots just the same!

Anchorage, Alaska

After our brief visit to Denali, we continued on to Anchorage, our next scheduled destination in Alaska. We arrived on June 27 for a one month stay, enough time to explore this part of the state. We both suffered minor culture shock at first after our bucolic stay at the Creamer’s Refuge. While at Creamer’s, we were parked in our own private RV space, with our windows looking out to a beautiful green field with a boreal forest beyond that. The evenings and nights were very quiet, good for sleeping! Welcome back to RV’ing in the summer along with all the other travelers! Our RV park in Anchorage is crowded (I don’t think they could get us any closer together); noisy (right next to the railroad – the trains going by literally rattle our 5th wheel); and the scenery is, well, other RV’s! But enough complaining, not every place we park is going to be the stuff of calendars and postcards. That’s one of the great advantages of this kind of living – if you don’t like where you’re parked, you probably won’t be there very long, and if it’s really bad, you can leave whenever you want. On the plus side, we are within walking distance to a great running/biking trail, downtown, the museum, and many other attractions. A big plus with the cost of fuel now-a-days!

Anchorage itself is much like any medium sized city, with all the expected amenities that come with a population base of around 300,000. It is the state’s largest city (about the size of Delaware), with 42% of the population residing here. Each summer, Anchorage comes alive with big, bright flowers that paint the landscape in bold hues. The city plants 461 flowerbeds and hanging baskets at 81 sights, and it is nothing short of spectacular to see! It is a very bicycle friendly town, with miles and miles of trails, both scenic and commuter. Anchorage is a good staging area for many nearby destinations and activities – outstanding hikes, visits to glaciers, wildlife viewing, kayaking, and camping, to name some. We have been doing our best to enjoy as much of the area as possible, which I will describe in the next couple of posts.

Here I have included pictures that capture some of the local flavor of Anchorage.