Tag: sierra

Swinging from a Pine Tree over the Royal Gorge in the Sierra…Now that’s a Hike!

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It’s November 1, and the snow still hasn’t arrived in the Sierra. Join the Foothill Hilers as we take a nice 8.5 mile hike on the series of trails owned by the Tahoe Donner Land Trust. These trails are spectacular and have just enough ups and downs to give you a good workout. The views are incredible! Don’t miss the swing at Point Mariah!

It’s thrilling to soar over the Royal Gorge on a little board tied to a pine tree!

Tahoe Donner Land Trust Site and maps: http://tdlandtrust.org/royal-gorge The track of our hike: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails…

FIRE on the Mountain! Mt. Lola

With the morning temperature in the low 30s, it was a beautiful day to hike to the top of Mt. Lola located just down the road from Truckee CA.

We spot a fire, see some weird structure remains at the top, and get some awesome views!

This summer I probably did about 20 Sierra hikes with eight separate peaks hikes thrown in. I hiked some of those eight peaks multiple times with a total of 12 peak hikes!  At over 11K feet, Mt. Rose was the hardest for me.. but being stubborn, I did that one twice!
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Mt. LOLA

Named after local Gold Rush celebrity, Lola Montez, the peak formed by ancient volcanic mud flows 4 to 12 million years ago was used as a platform to survey the west by triangulation in 1878. The first time this was done in the world!
Using telescopes and mirrors aligned from the top of Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lola and Mt. Helena the Coast and Geodetic Survey observed the longest triangulation line ever used on Aug. 1, 1878.

Rock structures and brick pillars remain at the top from that summer long ago when George Davidson stationed atop it sending a flash of light to the station on the top of Mt. Shasta.

More on Lola Montez here 

More on the the survey here

Thank you for watching my videos.. my labors of love!

The Disappearing Fire Lookout Towers!

Many moon ago, I had the opportunity to be a fire lookout in Northern California. You can read all about it in my book Fire Girl.  It was awesome to wake up to a 360 degree view from the top of a mountain.  Back in the day, it was a lonely man or woman with a pair of binoculars perched high on a mountain top that spotted forest fires.   There aren’t many working fire lookout towers any longer because of modern technology in spotting fires.   The Service has made many lookout towers available to rent for a weekend, which I think is pretty cool.  Unfortunately a lot of the towers are crumbling or have been completely torn down.

The design of this tower is pretty cool. I hadn’t seen one quite like this.

So let’s take a 4 wheelin’ and hiking trip to Pilot Peak in Plumas County in Northern California!

This Summer was/is JACKED UP!

It’s been a horrible summer for a lot of people in California. Many homes lost, firefighters killed, thousands evacuated for days on end. My big PCT adventure is on hold as the smoke has choked out the Sierra, the Valley and my ranch!  I’m so over summer….

 

Mt. Judah & Donner Peak! WOW!!!!

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This wonderful trail in the Northern California Sierra, with abundant spectacular views is a must-do if you traverse around Donner Summit. The trail starts on the PCT just down the road from Donner Ski Ranch. You then take the Mount Judah loop trail from the PCT. Don’t forget to hike up to the summit of Donner Peak while on your way around and look out the “window” onto Donner Lake! WOW!

DON’T FORGET TO HIT THAT FOLLOW BUTTON AND PUT IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO YOU DON’T MISS MY NEXT AWESOME ADVENTURE!

Let’s take a Walk Back in Time!

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Bridgeport in Nevada County California is a hidden gem of Northern California!  If you are into gold rush history, you are gonna LOVE this place! Just up Hwy 20 near Penn Valley, you can make a day of meandering the hills on the various hiking trails, looking at the cool historical exhibits, swim in the river and have a nice family outing!

It only costs $5.00 to park! What a deal!

And the best part is the awesome covered bridge that is the largest standing covered bridge in the world!

A Train, Cool Cars and a Spooky Bowling Alley!

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On February 5, 1994, I married my best friend and for our honeymoon we took Amtrak to Truckee and rented a house in North Lake Tahoe for a few days of skiing. It was a big snow year in 1994. We decided that after 24 years, it was time to take that trip again.

This time we took some very good friends and rode all the way to Reno. If you’ve never done this trip you are missing out! The Sacramento Railroad Museum has volunteers that ride the train from Sacramento to Reno and give commentary on all of the places we traveling through as well as very interesting railroad history over the Sierra.

This year the snow levels are pretty low so we didn’t get the epic white that we saw in 1994. But the ride was still a lot of fun, and the lunch and Bloody Marys were delicious!

Also, when in Reno, stop in and see the Car museum and stumble upon the biggest bowling alley I’ve ever seen and we were the only ones there!

I also came back 60.00 richer from playing a few slot machines! 🙂

Castle in the Sky Hike

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I’ve hiked by the cut-off to Castle Peak a bunch of times while traversing the Pacific Crest Trail, but, I have never taken the trail that leads up to that majestic peak with it’s rocky points. I always continued on the PCT down to the Peter Grubb hut and Round Valley. Well, I finally did it! Little did I know, I would bag two peaks that day! We could have climbed back down the way we came, but we chose the longer route over a ridge-line to Basin peak and joined up with the PCT at the bottom. We made a big loop.
Castle Peak Elevation 9104 –

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/castle-peak

 

PS… I shot this in 4K for the first time. So, make this video FULL SCREEN and be AMAZED!   I used a Sony Action Cam with an external Mic