Red Hills Wildflower Hike
This is the best time of year to drive Highway 120 up to Groveland – green hillsides thanks to the recent rain and, as I noticed on my last drive down to Sonora, wildflowers lining the roadsides. On my drive I pass Chinese Camp, the very small town that is the portal to the BLM Area of Environmental Concern: The Red Hills, which I had recently blogged about this presidents day. Other than…
Hiking the Merced River Canyon – with a pup!
Trailhead: West of El Portal take the Foresta Rd bridge over the Merced, then immediatly turn left onto Incline Road. The narrow Incline road goes past many nice looking forest service campsites, then turns to gravel before you reach a gate. Park here and start hiking past the gate.
Distance: About 4.5 miles out and back (2.25 miles each way). The trail is really a service road that runs parallel to the North side of the river, which ends at where Hwy 140 crosses the North side Merced to via a small aluminum bridge to avoid a landslide that happened a few years back.
Spring Wildflower Identification in the Merced River Canyon
Spring has started – and wildflower season too! I didn’t end up hiking on the Hite’s Cove trail, but did see a TON of wildflowers, and not just poppies. Using my amateur botanist skills I have created Beaut-tree.net’s first wildflower guide: the Merced River Canyon Spring Wildflower Guide
Camping Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur
I’m not going to lie, whenever I am car camping anywhere new I worry about not finding space to camp. A pretty justified fear thanks to past experiences, like the time we reserved a campsite at Butano State Park and someone still tried to take our spot. I mean the people who we ended up sharing the spot with had assumed they could find a spot, and then they couldn’t –…
Tanbark Trail Big Sur: Hiking at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP
Following Saturday’s short hike to the beautiful McWay Falls in Big Sur I was adamant about wanting to go for a longer day hike. Unfortunately the trail I had noted to hike, the Ewoldsen Trail, is apparently closed right now (March 2013)… but looking at the maps in the parking area of the McWay Falls trailhead Curtis & I discovered that the previously closed Tanbark Trail was now open instead, and it did look like a very similar, although slightly longer, hike.
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Camping & Hiking McWay Falls
Tourist season is almost upon us again up in Groveland – slowly the local businesses are livening up, we are beginning to see a steady flow of traffic Yosemite, and I can hear the PML golfers outside teeing more and more often. These changes made me realize that if I wanted to go to any traditional popular tourist locations I had better get moving now, or face the higher prices and thicker crowds that true summer tourist season demands. Impetus enough for Curtis & I to make our (moderately spontaneous?) trip to Big Sur this weekend!
Yosemite Snowshoeing: Crane Flat Fire Lookout
Winter is almost over! Or, at least it seems that way since daylight saving time and 60 degree weather has started here in Groveland. But, since it did rain last week Curtis and I were able to Yosemite snowshoeing one more time this weekend. We ended up picking a classic, the Crane Flat Fire Lookout. We have cross country skied up to the lookout before, but I could return to again and…
Stanislaus National Forest Hiking: Groveland Dog Walking Along the Tuolumne
Note that areas located within the 2013 Rim fire, including this location, are not accessible for safety reasons until Forest Service employees note otherwise. There is obvious signage in this area to indicate closures. Please follow all rules and use your common sense as always when entering into public lands. Hiking in the Groveland Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest is not really a thing. Nobody around here does it that much when Yosemite is so close. Plus, those darn low elevation national forests are…
Yosemite Firefall 2013 & How to enjoy the Yosemite Sunset
This weekend I got to check an item off of my Yosemite Bucket List: seeing the Yosemite firefall! Curtis and I spent two evenings (Saturday and Sunday, February 23rd and 24th) among a flock of fancy cameras & photographers waiting for the sun to set in just the perfect way on Horsetail Falls. Except calling it “Horsetail Falls” is a bit of a stretch – perhaps we should temporarily label…
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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