Eastward...

On June 18th, we began an epic journey to the east on our return to the Northwoods.  The first segment of our journey involved crossing many of the Northwestern states en route to a family reunion in Colorado.  We left California to the north and entered Oregon.  We traveled across southern Oregon, then worked our way out across the wild, barren and surprisingly beautiful lands of SE Oregon.  Spent the first night in Hines, Oregon. 


Eastern Oregon

From there, we continued east in to Idaho and in to the spectacular Sawtooth Mountains. The second night was spent in Hailey, Idaho.



Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho



From Hailey, we went to Craters of the Moon NM, Yellowstone NP, and on to Livingston, Montana for the night.  

Craters of the Moon NM, Idaho

Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

Bison in Yellowstone NP, Wyoming

On day four, we cruised through south central Montana with it's beautiful green grasses waving in the wind and towering, snow-covered peaks to the west, north and south.  We stopped at Little Bighorn Battlefield NM and then went on in to Wyoming. 

Little Bighorn Battlefield NM, Montana

Big Sky Country, Montana

Our next night was in Gillette, Wyoming.  A massive thunderstorm caught us in town, but we mostly missed it as we sat in a local restaurant eating ribs!  Our hotel had an indoor water park, which Jasper loved...but probably not as much as Susanna and I!

From here, we traveled south across the grasslands.  There were pronghorn everywhere.  We stayed with friends in Laramie and watched more powerful thunderstorms rumble through the area. 

Thunderstorms in Wyoming

The end of the first segment of our trip was Breckenridge, Colorado, the site of our Family Reunion!


Welcome to Colrado!

 

Goodbye California...

It's with mixed emotions that I write this today.  We are leaving the Golden State tomorrow.  We are leaving what has become home over the past 5 and half years.  We will miss the towering redwood trees...we will miss the rugged mountains...we will miss the trails...we will miss the endless beaches...we will miss the golden sunsets over the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean.  We will miss the people...the wonderful people, so many of which have become our dear friends, our family. 

We are being called back to a place that fills my thoughts and dreams.  We are being called back to a wilderness island in the forgotten reaches of the largest freshwater lake on earth.  I left this island 14 years ago with a promise to return...and that promise needs to be fulfilled.  I can already hear the loons...I can see the rugged, rocky trails...I can smell the scent of the balsam fir.  This dream is finally within reach.  Isle Royale is within reach.

Tomorrow, we leave our life along the Pacific.  I hate to say goodbye.  I feel as if part of me is breaking inside.  But a new adventure is just around the corner...  Thank you, California, for a wonderful 5 and a half years!

 

83 Miles in the Shadow of a Giant...

The Pacific Crest Trail begins a long westerly trajectory at Burney Falls in Northern California.  From this point, the trail goes mostly west for 83 miles to Castle Crags, before starting a slightly more northwesterly trajectory in the Trinity Alps.  This 83 miles from Burney Falls to Castle Crags was very intriguing to me because it lies just south of the biggest, most impressive mountain anywhere in the region...Mount Shasta. 

With Susanna and Jasper dropped me off at Burney Falls on May 17.  I had four days to backpack to Castle Crags, 83 miles away, where Susanna and Jasper would camp for the next 3 nights. 

The adventure was absolutely incredible!  In four days, I saw just two people!  I hiked along lonely ridges and forgotten ravines, past raging rivers and old growth trees...and each day, I saw the Giant.  The weather was unsettled at times, (I had several hail storms go through on the afternoon of the second day) which meant that Mt. Shasta was constantly changing in the swirling clouds. 

The pinnacle of the trip came in the evening of day 2.  I set up camp above 6,200 feet, nearly at the summit of Grizzly Peak.  From this vantage point, I had unparalleled views of so many of the amazing areas I have spent time in while living in Northern California.  I could see Lassen Peak way to the SE, Castle Crags and the Trinity Alps to the W and the massive bulk of Mt. Shasta to the N.  The sun set through the clouds that evening.  The whole world seemed to be illuminated in a perfect glow.  I will miss you Northern California!

Mt. Shasta on Day 1

Views along the trail on Day 1

1st Campsite:  Sunset Forest

Mt. Shasta on Day 2

Views along the trail on Day 2

2nd Campsite:  Grizzly Peak

Mt. Shasta on Day 3

Views along the trail on Day 3

3rd Campsite:  Squaw Creek

Mt. Shasta on Day 4

View from the trail (Castle Crags) on Day 4

Spring in the Bald Hills

We spent a glorious spring day in the Bald Hills in late April.  The sun was shining, the sky a perfect blue and the lupine were more spectacular than I've ever seen them there.  Each year we make a trek up to the Bald Hills, a treeless collection of hills in Redwood National Park, in the spring.  Each year the lupine impresses us...but this year, it was spectacular!  

All that purple is lupine!

Barn at the end of Lyons Ranch Trail

Bald Hills Road

Wow!!

Celebrating the Second Year!

We celebrated Jasper's 2nd birthday (April 2) by driving up to the coast of Oregon for a 3 day rustic cabin trip.  On the way, we hiked a very scenic trail in Jed Smith State Park (California) called the Boy Scout Trail.  The trail led through massive redwood trees to a stunning waterfall.  By late afternoon, we were moving in to a cozy cabin in Cape Blanco State Park, Oregon.  Sun crystals shimmered across the ocean toward the late day sun.  That evening, the sun set magnificently past a stately lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.  The following day, we explored all around Cape Blanco and also nearby Port Orford Headlands State Park.  After a celebration of a frosting-packed cake (which Jasper loved!), we hiked several beautiful trails at Port Orford.  As the sun dropped toward the western sky, we watched whales off the rugged coast.  It was a fun 3-day celebration of our little boy, now two years old!

The massive redwoods along Boy Scout Ttrail

Waterfall at the end of Boy Scout Trail

Our cozy cabin at Cape Blanco SP

Happy campers in the cabin!

Late afternoon lighting at Cape Blanco

Looking North from Cape Blanco near sunset

Lighthouse sunset

Breakfast!

Rugged coast along Port Orford Headlands



The sunset of winter

On March 19th, we ventured up in to the wilds of Redwood National Park for our first night of camping in 2014.  We found a spectacular campsite at Flint Ridge, which is nestled at the edge of the redwood forest adjacent to the mighty Pacific.  We all hiked in the quarter mile to our campsite and happily set up our tent.  As evening approached, we walked down to the dirt road that parallels the ocean.  It was the sunset of winter...and what a glorious one it was!  The sky exploded in orange, red, pink and purple.  A new season was upon us.  Spring, here we come!

Jasper walking up the trail toward our campsite

Late afternoon sun crystals over the Pacific

Happy campers at our campsite!

A beautiful sky

Spectacular views along Redwood NP's coast



Looking North