October 24, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49

 

Title: October 24, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking Car : Touring

Trail head:   Rock SP Picnic Parking Lot

Trail:  South Nature Trail

Destination: Loop

Distance:  1.37 miles

Start Time: 11:10

End Time:    1:00

Travel Time: 1:49  (0.75 mph)

Moving Time:  1:07  (1.23 mph)

Elevation Rise:  247'

Descent: 219‘

Maximum Elevation: 2,426'

Minimum Elevation: 2,308'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Our last day on this short trip. We are planning on going to Indian Grinding Rock State Park and then continue down Highway 49, assuming I can find all the correct turns, which as it turns out is a bit problematic. I woke up at 6:40 and confirmed there was no lightning yesterday. At least around Placerville we knew there was none. Then off to breakfast. The hotel provided food that was adequate and got you fed. But as was pointed out in one review, there was no meat protein. As Sherri found out, there was no fruit to go with her yogurt.

When we got back to the room, Sherri still needed to do a few things. We were able to leave Jackson around 10:20, sort of. More about that in aa few sentences. We head out of Jackson on 49. I kept looking for a sign saying either Volcano or Indian Grinding Rock SP. When we passed Mokelumne Hill, I started thinking we had missed a turn. We had-in Jackson. We go back to Jackson, this little misdirection cost us about 45 minutes.

Petroglyphs on grinding rock

Once back at Jackson, we find Broadway and are on our way. It takes us about half an hour to get to Indian Grinding Rock State Park. We thought about doing the North Trail and revisit it from 13 or 14 years ago. But we thought we wanted to see the grinding holes first. Later on we found out that was a good thing.

Inside of Teepee

This rock is the largest with the most grinding holes in North America, at least that is what I think the sign said. Not only are there grinding holes-and there are many of these-but there are also petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are not very obvious. We see what looks like scratches, but may be something else. When we walked around the rock-it was fenced in with a sign asking us to be respectful and not walk on the rock. On the far side of the rock, there are several places which you can see that there was carving in the rock. We are pleased with ourselves on two counts. First we were smart enough not to be content with just the normal view and secondly that we could recognize the carved images.

We decided to continue our walk and decided to so the South Nature Trail. We come to the roundhouse, which the MiWok nation still uses. This month’s OSHER Book Club book was called The Round House by Louise Erdrich. It was about a crime on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. So nothing about this one, but there was a certain amount of resonance to seeing a roundhouse up close and in person.

South Nature Trail

We picked up a trail guide-there are thirteen stops on this trail. The guide will explain the stops. It goes into both the native American culture of this area and the natural life we are passing through. The second is the MiWok village. They have created some teepeees which I look inside. This is where the North Trail joins this trail. But there is a sign saying the trail is closed. So it was a good thing we did not do that trail. We will be content with the South trail.

The trail is gentle. This is not to say there are no ups and downs. But they are not very strenuous. Then there are the places to stop and observe nature. The nature stops both inform and allows one to pause and enjoy nature. The stops informed us about things like wild roses, madrone, oaks, and manzanita. It is good to enjoy both an outing and enlarge one's understanding.

 

 

 

We made it back to the car at 12:50 where we had our peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for lunch. While Sherri was eating one of the apples she got yesterday, I took a quick trip to the museum. I confirmed what we saw on where the Nisenan tribe was, then circle, briefly looking at the exhibits. I asked the ranger about the petroglyphs. She took me over to a drawing which showed the various carvings in the rock. Evidently we saw some of the harder ones to see. She pointed out one of the more obvious ones which we missed. Oh well. All of this in ten minutes.

We take off by 1:20. I had plotted a route to take us over to Mokelumne Hill before hitting 49. But this seems to be the theme: I missed the turn off for my route. Is this a sign of me getting old? Tomorrow is my birthday. I am getting suspicious when we pass through the town of Volcano. When we went through this town a decade ago, we were impressed. Today, we were just as impressed. We will need to check out the couple inns in town.

The road out is fun and interesting. But definitely not the route I planned. We climbed up, watching the trees turn color. Once again, I asked Sherri to inquire Google Maps to see if we are in the right place. No, but if we go up about two more miles we can get a road which will return to Volcano.

Sonora Trick or Treat

When we get to the junction, Sherri notes there is a sign saying we are at Daffodil Hill, a place she has heard about from her youth. But the site was closed. While I studied a map, Sherri got out and looked at a historic plaque which commemorated this site. While Sherri was reading a man came out. I could not make out what was going on, but I was concerned because either the person could be very friendly or he would be hostile and wondering what these people are doing in his driveway. After a minute, it became evident that he was the friendly type.

After I figured out where I wanted to go, I went out and joined them. He explained both what Daffodil Hill was and its demise when there became too many fights over parking for one thing, the owners decided to close the area. He came on as a caretaker and now lives here. After 10 or 15 minutes we took off.

View from Fremont Fort Monument

We rolled along, enjoying the hills and went through Volcano again. Then I found the turnoff I missed and got on 26. For the next 45 minutes we went on 26. One special place we went through was West Point-not New York. The specialness is the name, this town is similar to other foothill towns. We enjoyed the autumn colors along the highway.

Full Moon

At Mokelumne Hill, we rejoined highway 49. Sherri started to see what we could do in Sonora. She found the best of all worlds: a bookstore which serves ice cream-The Thirsty Prospector. When we wheeled into Sonora, we found a parking place and walked back to the bookstore. Unfortunately, the person who runs the store was sick and the store was closed. We were getting a bit hungry and had seen El Jardin coming into town. We had eaten here on a previous trip and knew it was pretty good.

After getting content with Mexican food, we wandered out onto the sidewalk. Evidently Sonora was having an evening where the businesses were giving out candy to kids in costume. Both sides of the street, which was Highway 49, was full of kids and parents. Such fun and joy seeing small town excitement like this. Of course, it is a bit of a wade going through the kids for half of a mile back to the car.

We leave Sonora a bit before 5. First going down 108 before meeting 49 again. The sun was starting to set as we came to the Fremont Fort marker which overlooks the Lake McClure area. There we stopped. A short way after Mariposa, we stopped at a vista point and shot the full moon. Then it is on to home, getting there about 8. I ended up in bed by 1035

Background

Quailty Inn, Jackson. We chose this place because it seemed the most affordable place to stay within an hour’s drive of Placerville and still be along Highway 49. There were not many units being occupied as it is the off season. The room was clean and the various things worked. The bed was comfortable, a bit creaky. The room was quiet, even though the room was down from 49. The hotel’s breakfast was basic: eggs, waffles, and cold cereal-there was no sugar free syrup. But they did have chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Would we stay here again? At the price, I would say there is no reason not to stay here.

Extra Photo's

View from Fremont Fort

Sunlight through trees

Chaw'se Roundhouse

Chaw'se Roundhouse

Looking up a Madrone

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Full Moon

Full Moon

Glow from sunset

 

 

 

 

October 23, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49

 

Title: October 23, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49
Hike Info : Description : Background : Animals 

Hike Info:

Type: Car, Touring, Hiking

Trail head:  Shady Glen on Highway 49 near Auburn

Trail:  Robie Point Firebreak Road

Destination: Robie Point

Distance:  1.96 miles ¹

Elevation Rise:  890'

Descent: 890‘

Maximum Elevation: 1,226'

Minimum Elevation: 1,054'

¹The GPS was not turned on. The track shown is from plotting our route on Google Earth. Also the plot was one way. The mileage and elevation gain and loss are computed from this one way plot.

Description:

Stone wall next to road

I slept in until 6:40 this morning. The shades are really dark and I lost track of time until I looked at the clock. My computer was really slow. But it turned out there was no lightning in the area I looked at. There was some which was up in the Stanislaus, so I let them know. By this time, it is about 8:15. I took a shower and got packed up.

We are going to our friends up here in Sacramento for breakfast. Jamie has had some medical issues, but seems well enough to have us over. Sherri is doing her morning routine and we do not leave until after 10.

Peter gets all of us a breakfast burrito. It is both good and large. It was good talking with both Peter and Jamie. We last saw them in March. After an hour and a half, the conversation lagged and it was time for us to be on the road.

 

North Fork American River

Our first stop is Costco in Citrus Heights. Not to stock up on munchies, but to make sure we have enough fuel for the remainder of our trip. Then we went on up Highway 80, as if we were going to Reno. But we turned off well before then at Auburn. It seems like a nice little town to wander through. Except we need to find a place to park. But we do not find any place. We circle around Auburn before giving up and heading down Highway 49, the start of our return trip.

Bridge and North Fork

A little ways out of Auburn we come to a sign saying Auburn State Recreation Area. There is a turn out with what looks like a trailhead. This is the start of the Robie Point Firebreak Trail. Google Maps calls this Shady Glen, but I cannot find any other references to this name. It looks more like a road than anything else. The start has a pretty steep down slope. Then it is just a slight downhill. We are wondering how well we will be going back up this. While there are not true autumn colors, mixed in with the greens there is some yellows peeking through.

In the distance, there is an enormous steel, green bridge, which I think it must be for Highway 49. Later on, looking at a map, I realize it is for a road called the Old Foresthill Road. Wonder how it rated such a bridge. This crosses the North Fork of the American River. We continue our walk and come out at Robie Point parking area. The last third of a mile is mostly uphill. We go on to the top of a knoll, but there does not seem to be a very good view as the top is surrounded by trees.

Sherri on Robie Pt Trail

We do a return trip back to the car, getting back at 2:05. We travel for about 20 minutes when we get to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. We have a Senior/Golden Bear pass which admits us into most California State Parks during the off season. We walked around a bit, not far, and read various signs talking about the discovery of gold in California. They emphasized that Sutter was not wild about this as he was well on the way to setting himself up and feared the loss of his workers to gold fever as well as the influx of people who would disregard any property rights he had. There was a phrase on one of the signs which did not get explained. The sign noted that Sutter did not own the land, but had coerced the Nisenan into allowing his mill to be built there. While Wikipedia does not directly address this, it does not Sutter’s inhuman treatment of Indians. Also that he broke his promises to the Mexican governor about what he was going to do, so it is not far fetched to think that Sutter would not have been honorable to the Nisenan.

Sutter's Mille

Sherri really wants to stop at an apple store-not an Apple Store--to get a box of apples to cook with and enjoy. We are aiming for 24Carrot Apple. Later on, I realized that we had gone to another place further up called Rainbow Orchards. Our friend Cathey had recommended this one. After buying the box, Sherri has some apple cider and an apple donut. We also finished off the burrito from this morning for our evening meal. I think this will be enough for me.

By this time it is closing in on 4:30. We talked about various options. It did not seem like Placerville had a reasonable hotel-the rooms were going for over $200 a night. We thought about various places to go and settled on Quality Inn in Jackson. That should be pretty simple, right? After all, it is just an hour down Highway 49.

Things were going along fine, for a while. We went down Highway 50 to Placerville and got onto 49. We were rolling along quite nicely until we got to the town of El Dorado, We came to a stop sign. The truck on my left turned left and after stopping, I went straight. About five or six miles later I realized that I had not seen any highway 49 signs nor did it look like highway 49. I asked Sherri to confirm we were on 49 and she could not.

With the help of Google Maps we figured out that we were not on 49. The best way was to go through Shingle Springs and then Lapote, hitting highway 16 until we reached 49 again around Sutter Creek. And that is what we did. A bit of a different country than what we were used to.

When we get into Jackson, we find the Quality Inn-down a steep driveway. It does not seem to be well used tonight. We got a room, Room 104. My little detour cost us about half an hour, so we arrived at about 6:15. We rested much of the rest of the evening. Sherri had a sandwich, I just munched on peanut butter pretzels and granola. By 9:50, I am ready for bed.

 

 Background

Western States Trail. The History Expeditions web site has an extensive write up on this trail. The route was used by Native Americans, then by those going from the silver fields of the Comstock mines to the California gold fields and back. It is now the trail which the Western States 100 mile Endurance run is held from Lake Tahoe to Auburn.

Submitted to TripAdvisor:

Hampton Inn, Rancho Cordova. We stopped here because it is close to some friends of ours and had a king sized bed available. We got there in the early evening and stayed for one night. The room was clean and the bed was very comfortable. We cannot speak much as we had breakfast with our friends. It was quiet, being on the third floor. There was a slight negative. You are charged for parking, which is on their website. What the website does not say is that there is also tax on top of the parking fee. When I brought this to the hotel’s attention, they provided compensation in the form of Honor points.

 
Animals

October 22, 2026 - Going to Sacramento

 

 

 Title: October 22, 2026 - Going to Sacramento

Hike Info : Description  

Hike Info:

Type:Car

Description:

Today is the start of a three day trip where we loop up to Sacramento then come back to Fresno via Highway 49. We did something similar when we first retired and were gaining points for Capture California. That was fun and educational then. We hope to also get a few hikes in as well. But it rained yesterday and may rain some more. So we will see what we actually are able to do.

I got up at 5:30. There was some lightning yesterday and this morning. I reported that. I thought it would be a lot worse. I was mostly packed but I got a few more things together. Then I had breakfast at 7:30. Sherri got up around 8 and Rachel came over at 9 to do her work.

I have a 10:00 OSHER class, but I wanted to pick up some munchies from Target. I got to class a bit early. The OSHER session is on Tree Fresno, being given by my fellow lookout Mona. She noted the accomplishments of Tree Fresno, having planted over 55,000 trees in four counties, including Fresno.

I got back home at noon. The plan was to leave right after me getting home and eat in Turlock before seeing Ryan. But Sherri had discovered enough left overs so we ate at home. We did not leave until 1:40. Sherri was driving. It was there that we discovered that we had miscommunicated about what was going to happen Friday. I got Peter, whom we were going to see, on the phone-which was routed through the car, so Sherri got to talk with him. The plan is to have breakfast with them at 10 tomorrow.

We get to Ryan’s around 3:10. He had surgery a few days ago on his wrist and looks pretty good for all of that. Sherri talks and reads to him for about 45 minutes. We leave a few minutes before 4. I am now driving and there is both rain and traffic. 99 slows down all throughout Modesto and then again in Stockton. It is a bit tiring. I am glad Sherri drove to Turlock.

When we got to Elk Grove, we stopped to eat our sandwich by a pathway in a residential area. Then it is on the Leatherby’s. We share a Nicole’s Peanut Butter Cup Sundae. This will definitely send my number sky-high. But it tastes soooo gooood.

We do not get out of there until 6:15. It is only about a 40 minute drive to Rancho Cordova and our hotel at Hampton Inn. We have a king size bed in room 330. We mostly relax the rest of the evening-too wet to do anything else. I get to bed at 10.

October 11, 2026 - Nelder Grove

 

 Title: October 11, 2026 - Nelder Grove

Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Nelder Grove Interpretive Center

Trail:  Chimney Tree Trail and the Bull Buck Trail

Destination:  Loop

Distance:  2.38 miles

Start Time: 1:34

End Time:  3:26

Travel Time: 1:51  (1.28 mph)

Moving Time: 1:28   (1.61 mph)

Elevation Rise:  512'  ¹

Descent: 513‘

Maximum Elevation: 5,559'

Minimum Elevation: 5,250'

GPS Tracks

 ¹The elevation data from the GPS seems a bit off. I am using Google Earth’s information for the elevation. The GPS was:

• Elevation Rise: 389'
•  Descent: 462‘
• Maximum Elevation: 5,715'
• Minimum Elevation: 5,327'

Would you use this outhouse?

Description:

Today is Sherri’s birthday and she would like to hike the Lewis Creek trail. But first, we need to go to church and hear Jon talk about Revelation 20. We get back home about 10:45 and get ready to go up towards Oakhurst. Leaving Fresno at 11:30.

I drive, after all it is Sherrri’s birthday. When we get to the trailhead off of highway 41 for Lewis Creek, we find that the parking lot has a lot of cars, which is not surprising. Still it is not what we want when we hike to be in crowds. I had thought of going up to Goat Meadow and going into Mariposa Grove. Steven had suggested that we could do Nelder Grove. We have not been to Nelder Grove in awhile, 2020 to be exact, so we decided to go there.

 

 

California Tree

The question now is which one of the trails do we want to go on? I suggested the Shadow of the Giants, which is a ways down road 6S90, which is a dirt road. We met a couple of ladies walking along the road and offered a ride, which they refused. We continued on. We came to a place which I suspect we could have made it across where water drains migrates to the downside of the road. There were some boards to take us out of the mud, but there was also a pretty good dip and I was concerned we would hit bottom. So we go back to the main road. Looking at the Forest Service site, the trail was closed anyway.

We drive back to the main part of Nelder-where the Interpretive Center is. It is about 1:25 when we park. We get ready to walk the Chimney Tree Trail and probably the Bull Buck Tree. These two will make a loop. There is an outhouse right across the road from us. Its unusual feature is that a branch or something fell on it. While the outhouse could definitely use some servicing, there is no smell as its condition made for a rather airy room.

Gary and the Chimney Tree

By 1:35 we are off walking up the Chimney Tree Trail. After walking about 15 minutes, we came across a log to sit on, which was conducive for having lunch. Lunch is the usual-peanut butter and Nuitella. We sat around for about 15 minutes before taking off.

We travel a short way up the trail and come to a stately tree called the California Tree. While it is an impressive tree, it is not the most notable in the forest. It is a good start. Just ten minutes up the trail, we come to its name sake, the Chimney Tree. Why is it the Chimney Tree? Most of the lower part of the tree is burnt out, with much of the interior of the tree being hollowed out because of being burnt. Even though in the last week, I have talked about how resilient Sequoias are with its thick fibrous bark, I am always amazed when I see trees like this one. They just need a little bit of their bark and underlayer intact to survive.

 

 

Old Forester Tree

About 15 minutes later, we came to a sign which said Old Forester Tree. But the trees which are closest to us do not seem very remarkable. Why would any of them have a name? (Of course that thought raises the question, why do I have a name?) By moving a little bit, I see a tree in the background which would fit the bill as being notable. Not sure that the Sequoia is that old, but it is a tree to take note of. Wikipedia notes that this tree is The tallest tree in the Nelder Grove campground area, named after Walter Puhn, a National Forest Supervisor in the 1960s.

Bull Buck Tree

A few steps later, we come to a trail junction where we can go back to the road or loop past the Bull Buck Tree. We feel like we can continue on. Another ten minutes puts us in front of this tree. It truly is the king of this forest. As we looked up at the upper branches, we noticed clouds just drifting by. Sort of mesmerizing. We stop to have an energy bar before going on.

There are slash piles, ready for burning, all across the hillside where we are walking. The trail drops us down into the walk in the campground. We followed a road for about a quarter mile back to our car. It is only 3:20 when we get back there and another ten minutes to get ready to leave.

Do we eat in Oakhurst since it's just mid-afternoon. We would like to go for Reimer’s, but Sherri’s rule is that we need to eat something real first. So El Cid fits that. We have some burritos there. Then go over to Reimers for ice cream before heading home. We get home about 6:00pm, in time to go on Zoom with the family.

Extra Photo's

Chimney Tree

Chimney Tree

California Tree

Autumn Leaves

Sherri and the color of Fall

Autumn Leaves

California Tree

An old tree having been left

Bull Buck Tree

Old Forester Tree

Sherri on the trail

Gary by the Chimney Tree

Gary and the Chimney Tree

 
Flowers and Plants