After many years of drought, with a smattering of snow even at high elevations, we happily celebrate the deep snows brought to California by the El Nino weather patterns. We keep our recent snowshoeing passion going with mid-week trips to the Sierra Nevada Range, only 3.5 hours away.

Donner Summit’s snowy conditions required tire chains on the roads, but provided great powder for ‘shoeing’. Nobody was cannibalized like the famous Donner Party, as we satisfied our hunger with our Reno NV pals Don and Paula at Moody’s Bistro in Truckee, CA.

The Tahoe Rim Trail is a bike/hike trail up on the ridge around Lake Tahoe. Snow laden in winter, it is accessible from many trailheads around the Lake. This trailhead had a snow man and snow dog (lead photo at top) to invite us onto the trail. Picnic Rock is a short but steady 3 mile uphill climb from the trailhead and provides great views (featured image) to the south. Steven lingers for a long look above. Alas, Spring is approaching and it is time for new adventures. From the snow, to the tropics, to the California Deserts, we prepare for more travel.

Steven leaves next week for a two month trip to Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines; he will be blogging with photos of his scuba and bike trips, and images from an OAT cultural adventure in Bali. I will miss him terribly and…hope he isn’t too bothered by the mosquitoes, heat and humidity. I am so happy to miss that part of his trip!

I will hold down the yoga class and cycle practice here in the S.F. Bay Area, preparing for another Metric Century (100 km=60 miles) ride in early April (only after a much needed “bike/seat fitting”). If I stay home I will have to learn how to cook on our new inversion stove top; Jacob declared, “Your kitchen sucks!” when we cooked latkes on our hot plate for Hanukkah. A generous person (and frustrated cook), he bought us new cookware and an inversion stove top. Such a thoughtful son…especially as he won’t be home to use it. He graduates from college in New York soon and will be moving to Seattle to work for Microsoft

More likely, I will skip the cooking practice and set out on a road trip for biking and hiking in the warming weather, drawing out both rattlesnakes and seasonal wildflowers, to explore a few of California’s millions of acres of desert. Three new National Monuments in our California deserts were added in early February 2016 (Castle Mountains NM, Sand to Snow NM, Mojave Trails NP) thanks to relentless effort by Sen. Diane Feinstein, and presidential executive orders. President Obama has now protected more than 265 million acres of land and water. That is more than any other U.S. administration. Yo, Prez, you da bomb!

Training for 100K (60 miles) of cycling coming up in April (Steven in Indonesia, Sally in CA), we decided to test out our tolerance for such a long ride on the “3F ROUTE: Fast, Flat, Fun”. The route circles the base of the Sutter Buttes through the wetlands, sloughs and Sacramento River Delta. The only elevation change was riding up and over sloughs and levees. Really flat. We picked a perfect Spring day, our road bikes were in perfect condition, and we had on our diaper seated bike shorts for protection of our tender buttocks…our previous long rides were half that distance.

The Sutter Buttes are eroded lava domes arrayed in a circle, rising 2,122 ft. above the flat plains of the Sacramento River Valley. They are referred to as the world’s smallest mountain range. They are named for Captain John Sutter, who received them in a Mexican land grant. The lower reaches support grassland (and thus, livestock: lots of goats, sheep, and cattle) and oak woodland. For two years until decommissioned in 1965, 3 Titan I Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles were in place at the Buttes. Although the State of California purchased 1800 acres on the north side of the Buttes for a State Park, they have been unable to purchase an easement so there is no legal access to the area, and it remains unuseable (and protected) for the unforeseeable future.

The Native American Maidu and Patwin cultures are not in evidence other than a casino (with free parking and good security for RVs) near our ride start in Colusa, CA.  The local culture seems to be touting the, “Good Life on the Delta”, evidenced by the unique billboards noted above and below.

Local culture includes humorous (we hope), “No Trespassing” signs, including the one below that gives a two-for-one: violent death and burial services included. Such a deal!

Wonderful birding (Snow Geese, White Chested Geese and below, the Sandhill Cranes, we last saw stopping traffic in Homer, Alaska) due to multiple migrations in progress…

…almond (pronounced like “salmon” by the farmers) trees in full bloom surrounding the Buttes…

…and flooded wetlands filled with happy ducks.

Notice how we haven’t mentioned much about the ride itself? Owwwwwwww! Oooooooow! Eeeeeeeeeh! After one pleasant hour, four hours of torture ensued. How many ways can you change your posture on a bike to relieve the pressure on your pudendum? Not so many, it turns out. How many stops (to lay down in olive groves, almond orchards, and bridge abutments) does it take to finish a 100K? How much Ibuprofen effectively treats inflamed genitals, knees, shoulders, necks? I have to ask, “Just what is the point of a nice bike ride in such a pretty place when 4/5 of the ride is focused on pain management?” Maybe those recumbent bikers have figured out the answer…

What a weird treat. The day after we played 18 holes of Golf with our buddies that ‘winter over’ like Canadian Snowbirds in the Palm Springs area, we play tennis in the morning….and snowshoe in the afternoon! How is that possible?

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway lifts you to 8,000 feet and 3 feet of snow at Mt. San Jacinto…in 20 minutes. No chains, no winter driving, no traffic. So easy to bring your small light weight snow shoes…but don’t forget gloves, hats, and parkas because it is Winter at the top. They built this transportation system using heliopads atop each tower to ferry equipment and staff for each successive tower build. Great engineering.

Then come back to your RV park’s hot tub for a soak, and a walk around the corner to the local desert botanical garden in Palm Springs.

Photos above and below document a few of the amazing shapes that low desert plants take to survive intense heat and aridity.

I especially like this bulbous plant that looks remarkably like my fat be-hind and belly!

We then drove east to a desert bluegrass music festival at the Arizona border. We caught 3 days of great sets with the Gibson Brothers from upstate NY. Their mandolin player won the International Mandolin Player of the Year award in 2015, and one of the brothers won the International Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year award. They were weaving beautiful harmonies and picking like demons, and not even repeating songs! Lots of nice old white people tapping their feet near their giant motor coaches. Unfortunately, no young musicians or nightly musical jams in the campground were evident as is usual at these festivals. Then again, it was cold and windy as soon as the sun set at 4:30 PM in Blythe, CA in early January.

Steven started it; it is all his fault. He bought a pair of snowshoes in a thrift store on the Oregon Coast last summer. I hit an REI sale and got a new pair (note: Costco has a set of ‘shoes with poles for $60). They are so easy to put on/off and throw in the trunk. Just jump out for a brief snow hike on any unplowed snowy road. Fortunately, snowy roads are in abundance this El Nino climate year.

Our vision was to “Shoe” all the major west coast volcanoes this Winter. We started with a low elevation hike on Mt. Shasta, Steven’s first time on snowshoes….surprise and elation….and a tiny bit of snow. Yet that is one of the best features about ‘shoeing; you can hike around in a bare cover of white stuff that is too thin a cover for cross country skiing.

We bought our California/Oregon Sno-Park Pass and tried for Mt. Ashland the next day, but en route, a tree fell down, blocking our pursuit of the snowiest trail. We vowed to return and we did on the Southbound trip. So many happy snow dogs on this trail as almost every skier and ‘shoer had canine companions.

Our favorite snowshoe spot (so far…) in the Pacific Northwest was the end of the North Cascade Highway, where the pass is closed for the Winter, leaving a skier and ‘shoer paradise!

We haven’t yet hit the Olympic Mountains (dawn view from our friend Sara’s Phinney Ridge home in Seattle which we get to house/cat sit several times a year)…

…nor have we ‘shoed our all-time favorite Mt. Ranier (icy cold and clear that week in Seattle).

We will be back as the Pacific Northwest is so full of great trails for snowshoeing. We even had a snowshoe just to go down Chris and ‘Chelle’s driveway in Portland to get the morning paper! The only downside was the need to put on chains just to get our motor home down their driveway. Good practice, right?

But the nuthatches and chickadees at their feeders loved it!