Wish I Was There

It was 107 degrees today and the weather people are predicting 6 days of 105 degrees or over. After a few days of this already I am thinking about a hike we took a few weeks ago. This is a trail in the El Dorado National Forest from Wright's Lake to Twin Lakes in Desolation Wilderness. We went with my son, Matt, my brother and nephew (who were going to continue into Desolation for a backpacking trip) and, of course, the four dogs. With my 40 mm lens I get views both ...... grand and ... ...close.  It's dry in the valley and foothills now, but at 6000+ feet there are still plenty of wildflowers.

I love the granite boulders and huge views in the Sierras. That distant mountain is Big Hill, where there is a fire lookout and where Matt sometimes works.Dave and Jack were to continue hiking and discussed the options with Matt who knows this area well. It's not always easy to get a group photo of all four dogs. We are so fortunate to live in an area where we can get to the mountains in just a couple of hours and that we are able to enjoy it by hiking.

But this is what I'm thinking about today as the temperature soared.Silver Creek cascades over granite and forms beautiful waterfalls and refreshing pools along its length.      That's Matt with Sam and Kirin. I took a dip too and I would relish that now. Rusty and Maggie like their water a little more shallow.We hiked about 8 miles I think. Toward the end Maggie didn't want to leave the pools. I think the water felt good on her feet.This is one of Twin Lakes in Desolation Wilderness.

Getting to the Mountains

I am fortunate that I if I wanted a guided tour somewhere in the El Dorado National Forest and surrounding area I only need to ask my son and daughter-in-law (as long as fire season hasn't started). They live in Pollock Pines, work for the Forest Service, and spend a lot of their off-time enjoying the mountains so they know all the best places. Last week we took a short hike to Bassi Falls. This is an easy hike to take with dogs because you are never far from water.  I took my 44 mm lens--and I have to get used to it again when I switch. 

 This is Sam and Kirin, my grand-puppies. Here they are with Matt & Kaleena. Sam and Kirin pose better than Rusty and Maggie. By the way, Maggie did so well on this hike. It was only a couple of months ago when I got her that I wondered if I'd ever be able to take her somewhere off leash. This is probably the first time that she has ever had a chance to go for a walk in the mountains. She got along well with Sam and Kirin, who each tower over her.  Here is the only photo I got of all four dogs--like herding cats. Sam and Kirin go for the water, Maggie still tries to move away from the camera and Rusty comes towards the camera to watch shadows and sparkles. Sitting in a tree?On the way home we drove to Big Hill, where there is a heli-spot and fire lookout. That light spot surrounded by shadows in the middle of this photo is Bassi Falls.

A day in the mountains and a day with my kids. I need to do this more often.

Wildflowers in the hills

Dan and I went for a hike today not too far from here. The loop is about 4.5-5 miles with spectacular views.It's been dry this spring, and the greenery won't last long, but there are a lot of wild flowers right now. Also a lot (A LOT) of poison oak. I love the effect of my new lens with the shallow depth of field, but it's sometimes hard to work with, especially when I'm trying to snap photos quickly.

"I'll catch up...Just taking photos."     Western Redbud is one of my favorites.

Snowshoeing for the first time

I love the mountains, but not in the winter. I am not a snow person--I have a hard enough time staying warm without any snow. My son and daughter-in-law live in the mountains and spend a lot of time enjoying the outdoors in all seasons. We joined them for snowshoeing the other day. It was a beautiful day. I realized that, because I avoid the mountains in the winter, I never see this beauty in real life. All the views looked like calendar photos.This is Union Valley Reservoir in the El Dorado National Forest. No one else had been there since the last snowfall. There were huge expanses of untouched snow. Gorgeous.The snow had a sparkly crystalline surface which even Matt and Kaleena, who spend a lot of time here, said was unusual.    We had one experience which, fortunately, turned out OK, but could have been tragic.  Sam, one of M & K's dogs, bounding ahead of us, fell through the ice into a creek. When he couldn't get back on the surface he panicked and Matt had to rescue him. (You can see the photos in Rusty's blog.)  Fortunately, among all of us we had spare socks and pants.  Also, fortunately, Sam wasn't in the lake, but in a stream (although it was still waist high water).    This was my first experience with snowshoes and it was Rusty's first experience walking through the snow. He finally figured out that the snow was fluffy enough that he could sort of plow through and didn't have to lift his feet all the way out of it. He was also obsessed by the sparkles in the snow. Look back at the other photos of him and you'll see that he is just staring at the snow. (That's a Border Collie thing--not staring at the snow, but obsessing over sparkles or shadows.)  I took a lot of photos with my new lens but there is a lot to learn about photographing snow.  I have a hard time seeing the meter through the lens when I'm wearing sunglasses, and without the glasses I can't make out what I am sort of seeing. So there was a lot of trial and error. Some were over-exposed, but there are enough decent photos for me to enjoy.