Title: April 24, 2021 - El Dorado Trail
Hike Info : Description : Background : Animals : Flowers and Plants
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)
Elevation Rise: 643 '
Descent: 656‘
Maximum Elevation: 2,646'
Silverthorn Meadow
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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| 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 |
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.
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.
Sherri, Lawrence, Andrea, Steven and Korra
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| Steven and Korra |
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:
- Mountain Democrat, July 24, 2020
- CBS 14, Sacramento, Sept 4, 2020
- Mountain Democrat, Jan 10, 2021
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 |
Flowers and Plants
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| Dogwood at Silverthorn |
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| Lupine |
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