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!