Posted by Karen on 20-Jun-2009
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I joined the Sacramento Digital Photography Meetup Group for a trip up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park and the Ebbett’s Pass area. We enjoyed a leisurely walk around the North Grove of the park and then we were all going to meet up at Bear Valley for lunch; well I lost the group somewhere on the way there, so I continued east on Highway 4, which is Ebbett’s Pass National Scenic Byway and takes you over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Eastern Sierra area. Lots of pretty alpine lakes, in what is appropriately called the Alpine Lakes Recreation area. I also took an off-road side trip to Highland Lakes and soaked up the beauty of those lakes. I went all the way over the Sierras to Bridgeport and took a motel room at the historic Bridgeport Inn, but I didn’t meet the ghost of the White Lady
Posted by Karen on 20-Jan-2007
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Last year, I found this little blurb on the internet about East Bay Municipal District (EBMUD) offering a boat tour on Pardee Lake to tour eagles and I thought how cool and made reservations for my friend Lisa and I. However, a huge storm hit our area and they cancelled the tour because it wouldn’t be safe to be in an open boat during 30 mph winds. This year, I got us reservations again and even though we’ve been having unusually freezing cold weather lately, there were no storms on the horizon to cancel this trip. They only offer this tour twice a year on two weekends in January before the area is open to the public. Ranger Steve was our tour guide today and had a goodies bag for us, some brochures, an eagle identification chart and other miscellaneous stuff. As we were boarding the open air boat, we saw an osprey dive into the water, snag a fish and fly up on to a telephone pole to feast–a fantastic way to start a bird watching tour! We headed out across the lake, spotting gulls, grebes, ducks, cormorants, geese and of course, bald eagles. At one point we saw three juvenile bald eagles together; they were flying and diving around each other and gave us a great show. Ranger Steve told us that last year was the first year that bald eagles at nested at Pardee Lake and it’s neighbor lake, Camanche, so they were very pleased to see eagles here again this year. We didn’t see any adult bald eagles, which are the ones with the white heads, but the immature ones are quite impressive too and it’s thrilling to see our national bird coming back from the brink of extinction. Folks in the kayaking group have been excitedly reporting sightings of the bald eagle at other lakes in the area too. Next we went down a canyon finger of the lake that was really pretty. The recent freezes had left ice flows in some of the crevices and there was all this pretty lichen on the canyon walls. When we reached the end of the canyon, Ranger Steve hit the gas and took us back to the marina at full speed and at that speed it created a 25′F wind chill factor, so it was one cold ride back! A great trip and I got to see where the longest 2 mile wildflower hike in April will be held–gotta sign up for that one too. LOL
Posted by Karen on 12-Aug-2006
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We leave Crescent City and start meandering south down the Redwood Highway towards home. The giant statue of Paul Bunyan beckoned us to stop and check out the Trees of Mystery. This is a very interesting place, there are giant tree carvings throughout the area and a gondola ride up above the trees. We enjoy the view from the top and then continue the tour, which tells Paul Bunyan’s story through large wood carvings. Continuing on, we took the Avenue of Giants scenic byway and traveled through the giant redwoods. We stopped and walked around the little Founders Grove Nature Trail, seeing some of the larger redwood trees in the area. And that’s the end of our wonderful road trip, up through the volcanic side of California and Oregon and down through the primordial redwoods by the ocean. Two very diverse environments, yet very nearby each other.
Posted by Karen on 11-Aug-2006
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We cross back over the stateline and Crescent City is the first town of size you find on the north coast. The town is smaller than I expected, but it’s very quaint. We decide to head straight to the beach and check it out before finding a motel to stay for the night. We just keep driving west and at the end of the road is the ocean! We climb down a rickety old metal staircase to reach the beach and just take it in for a bit. Battery Point Lighthouse is to our left and since it’s dusk the lighthouse lamp is flashing slowly and adds to the atmosphere. We watch some harbor seals playing out on the rocks in the distance. We follow the “scenic route” signs and check out the pier, which is just past the sea monster on top of a garage! We see the sign for Ocean World and say, yeah, we gutta check this out. We pay our entrance fee and enjoy a delightful sea lion show, touch the star fish and anemones in the tidepool touch tank, ohh and aha at the many fish, sharks and batrays and finally get to pet a small tiger shark, which feels very weird. A fun little stop, but now it’s time to find dinner and a place to sleep.
