May 13, 2026 - Angel Falls and Willow Creek

 

Title: May 13, 2026 - Angel Falls and Willow Creek
Hike Info : Description :  Background  :  Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Road at Willow Creek

Trail: Willow Creek Trail

Destination: Minimum Angel Falls 

Actual Destination: 

Distance: 2.55 miles

Start Time: 9:57

End Time:  122:55

Travel Time: 2:58  (0.86 mph)

Moving Time: 1:44  (1.47 mph)

Elevation Rise: 626 '

Descent: 589‘

Maximum Elevation: 3,848 '

Minimum Elevation: 3,452'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Angel Falls

I got up at 5am and did my first lightning report of the season-it was a bit rough, but the feedback I got was that it was welcomed. Sherri injured her foot last night and will not be going with us today. That leaves Steven, Rachel and myself. Rachel comes along a few minutes after 8. We do not rush out then, but manage to leave by 8:45.

One of the things which is making the lightning report hard to produce this year is that the way the data is being fed to me is different. This is causing me to feed Google Earth differently. I am having fits in doing what I want to do with it. I had talked with Rachel last night and today I explained the problem to Steven and we worked through what the issue is.

I was concentrating too much on this problem, as well as the road, that I entirely missed the turn off to Shaver Lake. We discussed what to do and decided to change our hike from Ely Mountain to Angel Falls close to Bass Lake. We notified Sherri of the change in plans and continued going up Highway 41, continuing with the discussion on Google Earth.

Watch Out sign

We get to the turnout where we will start our hike. Really this is just a patch of dirt, wide enough to park cars, having jumped the curb. We get ourselves together and start walking at 9:55.

We started our walk up a driveway which went to some buildings-maybe water filtration. It is only been about 50 years before Steven was born when Sherri and I were last on this trail. Steven leads us on the trail to the north, which crosses a small creek on some planks. Then the trail steeply ascends. A few years ago, I would be bounding up the rocks, even the ones which have water running down them. Now, I am more conscious that if I slip, a bone could break. So I do a lot more picking my way up it. Turns out the rocks have a lot of traction to them, even if they are wet and have stuff on them.

 

 

 

Water leak creates rainbows

Once we come up the initial slope, the trail becomes only a series of gradual inclines with a few descents into shallow ravines. We also get the first glimpse of Angel Falls. The view from our trail is a bit obscured by the foliage around us. While I like views of falls, the greenery does keep us out of the direct sun.

We really do not get a really good view of Willow Creek until we get close to the Falls. From this view, we do not see much of the Falls. But the top of the Falls is a series of teacup holes, which look inviting. No wonder there is a sign at the beginning of the trail saying that there is an average of a death a year from people who cannot get out of the Creek.

The trail follows the Creek and it does not disappoint. While not lush, there is lots of greenery. But not only green, there is a variety of flowers and colors which goes with the flowers. At one stopping place, Steven spots a single mallard, looking like it owns the Creek.

We went about a mile and a half up the trail. There is a second steep section which we debated about going up. It looks like we would be going over an exposed area and it is getting warm. We asked a couple who was coming down if there was a good view from there. They were not very enthusiastic about the view.*

So we turned around and retreated to a beach spot about a third of a mile back. There we had a snack and enjoyed watching the water flow by. I could stay here for a long time, and we did for about 20 to 30 minutes.

The trip up here must have made me stronger, else maybe it was going downhill which was easier. We were able to get to the car by 1pm. I had been concerned about the rocks being wet and be skidding and falling. But that did not happen. 20 years ago I probably would have been quicker and more graceful, but I got down the trail without damage=mission accomplished.

 

 

Where did we want to eat? That seems to the perineal question on any hike. After playing the game of I don’t know, where do you want to eat, we decided to go to our new standby, Los 2 Canales. We enjoyed our meal and then headed home. We got back to the house by 2:20.

Background 

*Suspect that if we had continued up the trail another half of a mile, we would have gotten to another set of falls called the Devil’s Slide.

 
Flowers and Plants

Hartwig Iris

Some sort of pea, I think

Columbine

April 30, 2026 - East Side of Yosemite Valley

Title: April 30, 2026 - East Side of Yosemite Valley
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking 

Trail head: Camp Curry Parking Lot

Trail: Valley Loop

Destination: Loop

Distance:  5.83 miles 1

Start Time: 11:26

End Time:    4:10

Travel Time:  4:44  (1.23 mph)

Moving Time: 2:42   (2.16 mph)

Elevation Rise: 591 '

Descent: 595‘

Maximum Elevation: 4,072'

Minimum Elevation: 3,992'

GPS Tracks

 ¹The actual GPS track includes two times on the tram. I have removed those times from these figures.

Description:

Looking up the Merced from the Fens

I got up at 6:20 wondering if I was going to go on today’s hike in Yosemite Valley. Reason why I am unsure? Yesterday I had my COVID-19 vaccine. Usually this only leaves me with a sore arm. But last night I was really sore and tired.

Sherri comes in and wonders if I am going. I have a weak Yes. It will be just Sherri and I. We take off at 8:15 with me driving. It goes pretty smoothly until after Oakhusrt. Hazardous trees are being removed from along the side of the road. Looked like a guy is just about to fall one when we pass by. But this puts us behind a long line which plays into when we get to the entrance station. We get into a line which is about half an hour long, finally entering the Park at 9:40. Lesson learned is to start earlier. There is a stop at the Glacier Point Road. The lot is full with bicyclists as the road is closed to motorized traffic, but bikes are allowed. We finally get to Camp Curry’s parking lot at 11:05.

 

 

Gary, the Hiker

Our boots hit the dirt at 11:25. Our first stop will be Happy Isles. We walk to the backpacker’s parking lot, then take off on a trail which leads us away from the road, not that there is traffic on it. A backpacking couple with a foreign accent came upon us. We talk-they are heading up to Cloud’s Rest with the goal of Sunrise Creek tonight. That is adventuresome, particularly since they are starting around noon. But they are in the same situation as what I have been in: wondering if they are on the right trail? Yes. I tell them how to get on the JMT.

Tenaya Creek Bridge

Lost Arrow

We stop briefly at Happy Isles before going on. There is the obligatory stop on the bridge to look up the Merced. Then we continue on the Valley Loop on the east side of the Valley. While eyeballing a dogwood, another hiker passed by, and we exchanged greetings. Then he stopped and we talked for a time. He talks about his wandering, having visited several national parks in California. He is from Illinois and has been on this wander for over a month.. I am surprised that he is in his 50;s. He explains that he is retired military and just in his 50’s. We probably talked for about 15 minutes when I realized that Sherri had gone on. My new friend told me to tell her that Lyle is to be blamed for holding me up. In reality, we both enjoyed talking and exchanging stories.*

When I catch up with Sherri, she is at the Tenaya Creek Bridge. We crossed it and found a nice log by Tenaya Creek to have lunch. Around 1:15, we started walking again. The big decision is do we go to Mirror Lake or go further around the Valley. We chose to go further around the Valley. 

 

 

Base of Yosemite Falls

We got off on a paved path which will run us around past the backpacker’s camp. A few steps later a bicyclist comes by and says there are a couple of bear cubs ahead. Oh, be still my heart! Will we actually see a bear? We walked aways and there was no bear. But about ten minutes later a couple more people told us about a bear. And then we see the crowd gawking-a sure sign something is up. And there are two cubs and a mama bear scurrying away. I guess we are really too late for a good sighting.

We walk under the Royal Arches and its falls. This takes us past the Ahwahnee cottages and to the hotel itself. There we relaxed for a little while, enjoying Glacier Point to the south and contemplating how much more we wanted to do. Sherri would like to get close to Yosemite falls. We missed the tram, so we started to walk towards the Falls. We got to the Village. Sherri’s foot was starting to bother her and there was a tram bench for us to sit on. While we wait, I study a tram map-remember this because it gets into play later on.

The tram lets us off at the start of a quarter mile walk to the Falls. We go counter-clockwise to get to the falls-it is a bit dryer this way as well as a gentler incline. The spray is not too bad and we cross the bridge without getting soaked. Standing in the viewing area, we get to talking with a couple from upper Michigan. Fascinating how hiking we can talk with people, finding out different things. It just reinforces that talking with strangers can be good for us.

Yosemite Falls

We leave Yosemite Falls and walk back to the Northside Drive. Instead of waiting for the bus-it goes all the way around the Valley as far as the Pohono Bridge before getting back to Camp Curry, about a 45 minute trip. Even with that time, maybe we should have taken it.

But we did have a good walk through Cook Meadow. Looking east gives us a great view towards Half Dome. Plus the walk is relaxing. I thought I had seen where there was a tram stop at Sentinel Bridge. But when we got there, we did not see a sign for the tram. There was a guy dumping trash. So we asked him about the tram. He said no, but gave us directions to the nearest tram stop-over at the other large parking area.

We walked over there and a few minutes later, we were resting ourselves on the tram as it went past Housekeeping to Camp Curry. It is good to be back at the car. We shed our boots and take off. There is not a whole bunch of traffic, except around Wawona where we follow a pretty slow car. The next question is where to eat? I suggested El Cid in Oakhurst. Sherri did not object. It was a filling dinner. We made it back to our house by 7:30, a bit tired, but glad we went.

 

Background

*A few days after our walk, the New York Times asked the question, Do you talk with strangers? My kids would say when do I not talk with strangers?

Extra Photo's

Half Dome from Cook's Meadow 

Lower Yosemite Falls

Sierra Point

Lower Yosemite Falls

 

The Ahwahnee and Glacier Point

Upper Yosemite Falls

Sierra Point from Cook's Meadow

 
Flowers and Plants

Dogwood

Dogwood

March 31, 2026 - Return to Fresno

 

 Title: March  31, 2026 - Return to Fresno

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type: Car

Description:

Not sure why, but I got up at 6:00 and took a shower-I know why I took a shower, just not sure about the time. When Sherri got up, we had the hotel’s breakfast. It was the usual fare for Quality Inn: eggs, cereal, waffle and a few other things. We got packed and left the hotel at 8:50.

Andrea had told us about a place she liked: When Pie Meets Bread. When I looked, it would have been within walking distance. Sherri bought a cup of coffee, a cinnamon roll and an apricot pie. The piece was for later. The coffee and roll we had as we traveled. At least part of the roll as it was gigantic. The temptation was to eat all of it. I had a couple of hunks. We both felt this could be something we could spend calories on.

We got onto I-5. The question is: should we go the faster way down I-5. There is another way out of Red Bluff, following old Highway 99 to Chico. We took the latter as we had the time. While the road is longer and only two lanes, we go through orchards of various tree types and fields of green. Occasionally we encounter water on the windshield.

After passing Chico, we changed to going down Highway 170. Unlike the section of 99 we traveled, 170 has a minimal amount of stoppage and we sail along pretty well. Then we hit I-80 until we turned off to go to our friend's house.

 

We got in pretty close to when we told Peter and Jamie, 11:45. We had not visited their house since they moved up here. So we get a tour of the house: Sherri with Jamie and I with Peter. Peter and I do more talking about things and do not move too much until we get prompted to get the show on the road.

Today is Jamie’s birthday. We take them out for lunch at Cantina Azteca in Rancho Cordova. It is a low-key time which we enjoy talking with each other before we get served. Then we continue on while we eat. Peter drives us back to their house and we leave about 1:45.

There is much more traffic going down Highway 99 than we had this morning. But for the most part, we keep moving. One of the debates was do we stop at the Turlock Costco and get the car washed. But with the off and on rain, we decided to forego that.

We do need to get gas as we have been using the same tank as when we filled up in Oregon. Modesto’s Costco is close by, so we stop there. It is 3:45 and we are making good time. Afterwards, Sherri notes that 99 shows red on Google Maps.

We used to live in Modesto, so we should know our way around. But that was over 45 years ago. Modesto has changed a lot since then. We let Google tell us where to go. It takes us to the west of 99, then has us go back on it a couple miles later. But we still see red. Sherri provides a tour of downtown Modesto and gets us back onto 99 in Ceres.

Traffic along 99 for the home stretch has some stoppages, but nothing bad. We got home at 5:45, pretty tired. Steven has already gone out as we expected. The car gets unloaded. Then we collapse onto our chairs and watch a round of Jeopardy. Life is good.

March 30, 2026 - Going to Redding

 

 

Title: March  30, 2026 - Going to Redding

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Lower McCloud Parking area

Trail:  McCloud River Trail

Destination: Middle McCloud Trail

Distance:  2.82 miles

Travel Time: 1:27  (1.9 mph)

Elevation Rise: 509'

Descent: 507‘

Maximum Elevation: 3,338'

Minimum Elevation: 3,271'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Today we leave Bonnie and Dennis. It has been enjoyable. I get up at 7:00. Once Sherri gets up, I pack the car. Bonnie had breakfast ready for us at 8:00, French toast was the main part of the meal with sausages and other goodies.

Yesterday, Dennis showed us a table he was working on. He wanted it brought up to the Barn where we slept. Since I am mostly an abled body, we bring it up. Not terribly heavy, just a good size table. The wood grain is beautiful. Dennis has topped it off with a coating which both protects and brings out the wood’s color.

We get it up to the Barn and talk some more. Sherri and I had talked about going all the way to Fresno today. But as we had a good time, we just talked with Dennis and Bonnie. It is 10:25 before we leave.

Shasta

I am driving. There is not much to write about, except that occasionally there would be some rain. But nothing which inhibits driving. When we get to Medford, we fill up with cheap Oregon Costco gas before leaving the state. Then we head over to the Harry&David Country Store. Even if there was no other fun on the trip, this would make the trip worth it for Sherri. Sherri buys her salsa and then tops it with jams and chocolates. Fortunately this store is a day away, else I think we would go broke fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower McCloud Falls

From Medford, it is a short drive to the California border, not that it's the end of the earth or anything. By the time we approach the town of Mt Shasta, it is close to 3:00. We have not had lunch yet. We debated if we wanted to go down to Dunsmuir at Yaks or try something in Mt Shasta. There is a Yak’s in Mt Shasta, the original one actually. But when we look for it, all we see only a place called Drizzle. Turns out the owner has recently renamed the place. The food is very similar, so we are content. As a note: the name is confusing, mostly because of the rain we had previously. We saw the word Drizzle on the map and thought it was alerting us to a weather condition.

After we ate, the perfect after meal activity would be to do a hike. Steven told Sherri about a hike outside of McCloud. We head east to it. The hike is to McCloud Falls. We understood that the trail was to the lower falls. But the lower falls are pretty much right off the overview at the parking lot. 

 

 

Gary

We did not come here just to gawk at the falls, so we took the trail heading towards the Middle Falls. The first thing we do is to go down a set of stairs which gets us close to the level of the McCloud River. The trail itself is pretty level for a while. Nothing really outstanding, just a good walk. After a while the trail rises up to a campground. We walked around the edge of it-I do not think anybody is staying here. There is an interesting sign about some early settlers, the Fowlers.

Sherri

At the end of the campground, our path turns to dirt. We are about halfway to the Middle Falls. I am playing tag with Sherri. I take a picture and catch up. After one of these, I noticed Sherri hopping over something. When I get closer, I see a line of ants crossing the trail. I fall further behind as I try to take some pictures.

The Middle McCloud Falls are duly impressive. We stayed around for 15 minutes, admiring the falls from different perspectives. The trail goes on to the Upper McCloud Falls. But we returned back to the car along the same route we came. As we get close to the parking lot, we meet a boy and his mother. Sherri finds out that they are locals and asks for some further local points of interest. She suggested:

 

• Bunny Flats
• Siskiyou Falls-I could not find a reference to Siskiyou Falls. Maybe Lake Siskiyou and I mis-heard her?
• Upper McCloud Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle McCloud Falls

We get back to the car and leave at 5:20. Now the issue is where to sleep tonight? We are pretty sure in Redding, but where? We both agreed that the Travelodge where we have stayed before is acceptable but a bit lower on our priority list. We have had good success at Quality Inn lately. Sherri finds a place for $83 a night plus taxes. Sherri tries to book it, but is not too successful as it is rejecting my membership ID. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McCloud River

She has me stop at an off ramp and I confirm she has what I think it is. As we are about to start up, a man appears by the window. He explains that his car needs a jump. We are willing to oblige. The car gets started and the man is appreciative and offers some mushrooms he has gathered. I am not a fan of mushrooms, so we politely turn down the offer.

We got to the Quality Inn. I will say I am not impressed. First, hardly anybody appears to be in the three buildings. Second, where is the office? We finally found the office a bit away. The clerk has someone who is trying to pay in cash, but the hotel also wants a $200 cash deposit since there is no credit card to charge. After a while he leaves. The clerk seems pretty apathetic to serving anybody. But we got a room. Sherri has reserved a king room which turns out to be one for handicap. The clerk does not seem to be too interested in changing this, so we get that room, room 102 on the ground floor.

I am pretty tired, so I just lounge around for the rest of the evening until we get ready for bed a little before 10:00.

 

 

 

 

Extra Photo's

Lower McCloud Falls

Gary and Middle McCloud Falls

Dennis and Gary

Lower McCloud Falls

Ants go marching into their crack

McCloud River

Gary

Middle McCloud Falls

Middle McCloud Falls

Looking up to the Middle McCloud Falls Overlook

McCloud River

McCloud River

Lower McCloud Falls

Mt Shasta