Hike Info:
Type: Hiking
Trail: El Dorado Trail
Destination: None
Distance: 5.33 miles
Start Time: 12:57
End Time: 3:29
Travel Time: 2:30 (2.13 mph)Moving Time: 2:10 (2.46 mph)
Elevation Rise: 643 '
Descent: 656‘
Maximum Elevation: 2,646'
GPS
Tracks
Description:
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Silverthorn Meadow
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I will start today’s post
with something I should have mentioned yesterday: I am going on a
forced electronics semi-fast. I forgot my iPad at home. My phone will
discharge after about a half of a day of use-that has already
happened. While I can attempt to charge it, the USB connector is a
bit wonky (for those of you who do not know what this means-it does
not charge, unless i use a fast charge pad.) So I am without
electronics to read or write or play games. Oh woe is me. Will I last
the 60 hours I am away from home?
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Lawrence and Andrea Cooking Breakfast
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This
might explain why I slept in until after 8am, well past my normal
time. Andrea said she had looked out her window and I was not up yet,
so she felt no obligation to get up. Only Korra was up-which meant
Steven was also up. Slowly everyone else got up.  |
| Move of Lawrence and Andrea |
Once
Andrea and Lawrence get going, breakfast starts. This is an
oatmeal/egg with bacon creation. Yours truly with more peasant-like
tastes will have none of the fancy gourmet renderings of these cooks.
Give me plain old oatmeal, “more” thicker the better. The “more”
becomes a standing joke during the morning. The rest say that their
servings taste really good. So what does this old man know?
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Korra, Steven, Lawrence and Andrea on El Dorado Trail
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I
help clean up dishes and then we sit around and gab for a while. Like
I previously said, this is a wedding venue and the owners have people
looking over the place for their weddings. I hope we did not scare
away their customers.
We
decided to go for a hike. At first, we were thinking of Fleming
Meadows, but after we felt a few drops of rain, we decided that
something closer with less dirt on the road would serve us better. So
we did the El Dorado Trail. We started at a parking around off of
Jacquer Road at Smith Flat-our hosts gave us good instructions to get
here. The El Dorado Trail is about 12½ miles long, stretching from
El Dorado-the western end-to just before Camino on the eastern side.
It is a multi-use, paved trail. We encounter other walkers,
bicyclists and skateboarders. There was some evidence, but no
encounter, of equestrian traffic along the trail as well.
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Sherri, Lawrence, Andrea, Steven and Korra
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We
start off going east-uphill. I much rather start off going up, then
returning down when I am tired. Normally walkers, bikers and the rest
of the crowd do the American traffic flow-on the right hand side of a
path or road. But Steven points out markings on the trail which says
bikes on right/pedestrians on the left. Am I reading this right?
After about 200’, there is a walker coming towards us on her
left/our right. An aha moment! The designers wants us to be facing
the oncoming bikes so we can see them and each can avoid each other.
So I start walking on the left side.
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Steven and Korra
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The
path has a good slope upwards. I am walking well, but thinking if
this goes on for a long distance, I may have issues. Still walking
well. Looking back, the rest are falling behind. I suspect it is not
because they are struggling, but because they are enjoying walking
with each other. After about half a mile, the path has a crossing
over Highway 50 to the south of it.
When we come to a road
crossing, there are the directions to walk on the left. There is this
Aha! moment from the rest of the group. Gary is not being obstinate
and walking on the left because he wants to be different, but he is
following instructions.
Our walk continues on. I will
say this path is not one which you go on for quiet serenity-we are
too close to Highway 50 for that, along with people popping up here
and there. Nor is it one of great beauty, even though I appreciate
those shades of green which seem to dominate our walk. But it is a
pleasant walk. Probably on the par of the Stevens Creek Trail in
Mountain View. It is just nice walking it.
Around 2pm, we take a break.
It is a bit warm, so the question is, do we want to continue on? We
do share some energy bars, but that is pretty much our “lunch”.
Thoughts of food help us to decide to start our trip back. Andrea and
Lawrence had us primed for a corn dog which would melt in our mouths.
But we found out that it is only open during apple season. Sigh. We
had seen a sign looking up about Apple Cafe or is it Bistrol? That
sounds inviting.
We find a road going by a “log
cabin”, or more accurately a log mansion. I now wonder if Lincoln’s
home looked like this log cabin?. Revisionist history in the works.
The area is surrounded by private residences which are not your
ordinary hill country shelters. These have private ponds and large
RV’s parked around their residences.
The road up to Apple Bistrol,
Walkabout Way, is pretty steep. Sherri and I lag behind. When Andrea,
Steven and Lawrence get close enough to the Bistrol, they take note,
that not only are masks not required-there is outdoor seating-but
that they refuse to service anybody wearing a mask. It is part of
their “So
No To Tyranny.”
This is obviously a place NOT for us.
Now to figure out where to go
to lunch. We have about 45 minutes more of walking until we get back
to the car. So time to decide. Fortunately this is downhill, so we
can speed down it. Along the way, we decided to go to Bricks. This is
a place where Sherri and I have visited twice. Also Andrea was here
back
in 2012,
but she does not remember it. So we have something to look forward
to.
We get back to the cars around
3:30. We pile into the cars and go to Placerville to find a parking
place. This is not as hard as it sounds. Andrea and Lawrence got
there first and have a table set up for us outside. But we are told
that Korra cannot be with us, so we take turns walking Korra. The
burgers are good and the french fries are spectacular. We are
content.
Time to go back to
Silverthorn. We all need a bit of rest. Several of us end up by the
pond. This leads to a period of contemplation. Some of what I am
pondering is the worth of having a wedding here. Just for the venue
it is around $5,000 and then there is catering and other expenses.
For the venue, it is well worth it. And yet, this is a one day event.
I wonder if a couple was to invest that money in making sure that
their relationship was strong, would their marriage have a better
chance of lasting? This is my pondering. Sherri and my wedding was on
her parents front lawn, surrounded by her father’s roses. I suspect
this is more of our personality rather than a statement of how a
wedding should be done.
We light the fire again and
enjoy our conversation with each other. Then play a couple of rounds
of Just
One-we
as a group do only medium well. By 9:30, we are ready for bed.
Hopefully getting some sleep before it starts to rain. Korra sleeps
with Sherri and I. We will see how that goes tonight.
Background
Apple Bistro.
Just to be clear, we did not eat here, but we wanted to. This place
has a No Masks Allowed policy. Consequently we went to a different
place to eat. Just know this if this is a concern to you. This review
is loaded to TripAdvisor.
Some news articles about Apple
Bistro:
Bricks.
We are from out of town, but this is my wife’s and mine third time
here, along with our son and daughter and her boyfriend. We are still
feeling a bit squeamish about going inside restaurants, so we
requested eating in their outdoor section. They accommodated us. But
because of a shift change, we got lost in the shuffle, so it took
some time to get our order placed. Once it was taken, we got
attentive service. The food was good. The fries, both french and
sweet potato was to write home about, they were so good! This
review is loaded to
TripAdvisor.
El
Dorado Trail.
We walked this trail from Smith Flat to just before Camino, just
short of three miles one way. It is a multi-use trail: walkers,
bikers, skateboarders and equestrian. Walkers in the left lane and
the rest in the right-walkers can see the faster moving traffic
easier and get out of the way. The part we did was paved with a
moderate rise in elevation. It is a pleasant walk going behind houses
with highway 50 a ways away for the most part. While the scenery was
good, I suspect during the right time of season the wildflowers would
give you some oohs and aahs. There are occasional road crossings but
they seem to be low-traffic roads. Along the part where we walked,
there were no restrooms-just be prepared. This review is loaded to
TripAdvisor.
Animals
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Sherri's Grasshopper
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Flowers and Plants
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Dogwood at Silverthorn
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| Lupine |
