Calaveras Big Trees - August 24, 2013

Smoke has been filling the skies from two big fires burning in the state.  We knew we were taking a risk heading down 49 to Big Trees but went for it.  We hit the smoke pretty quick and turned west for awhile and explored New Hogan Lake.  We decided to head back east and see if the smoke had cleared at all and it had!  We stopped in the fun little town of Murphys for some great food and some retail therapy.  Seeing how much the skies had cleared we headed on down the road to the Big Trees.  I am so glad we did. We had a great afternoon hiking and exploring the park.  These trees are amazing with lots of interesting stories to tell.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silver Lake, Kirkwood Lake, Camp, Hike, Paddle August 16 -18

Camping is hard work!  And, we had a bear!  The wind was blowing like crazy as we tried to set up camp.  Good thing we had our stakes.  Even with that we all ended up loading the tents with rocks and tying things down tight. Thankfully the wind died down and we had a great three days.  We hiked to beautiful, hidden away, Lake Margaret and relaxed after the hike with a fine meal at the Kirkwood Inn.  The next day we paddled on Silver Lake and watched eagles and ospreys searching for their dinner.  While the valley baked in 100+ weather we enjoyed a cool mountain escape.  Saturday night was a great potluck dinner followed by a hike around pristine Lake Kirkwood.

We did have a bear rummaging through several campsites causing lots of commotion and scaring us all.  Thank goodness we are diligent with keeping all our food in the bear lockers.

Paddling on...

 

 

 

Lake Margaret