Trail Tour Part 1

                               

                   Looking at the sunset in the side mirror of the Ranger’s Truck.

Ranger Theresa and I finally hit the trails yesterday.  We waited until it was a bit cooler which allowed me to get some really neat sunsets pictures.

We started out at Grant Lake.  Because of the drought, the lake is really low, although there are still fish in there and we do get fishermen there all the time.

We headed out on Halls Valley Trail.  At the beginning there is quite a bit of shade from the oak trees.  As pretty as this looks, you wouldn’t want to go tiptoeing through there or pick any.  It’s Poison Oak!!!  It not only grows like bush, but as a vine,  It is everywhere.

We continued going up the trail with magnificent views.  The camera can’t do it justice.

A lone oak tree.

The trail continues. We connected with the Canada de Pala Trail, going higher and higher, thru Deer Valley on towards the site of the Pala Seca Cabin.

That Poison Oak grows everywhere, even right out of a big rock. 

One more hill to climb before we get to the cabin site.  At the top of this hill we spotted a coyote, which disappeared as soon as it saw us.  Yes, there were deer down in Deer Valley.

The information board picturing and explaining the site.  That’s Grant on the left and President Hoover on the right.  You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

 

Views of and around the cabin site.  There is a spring nearby, so they had running water.

                                         The sun is beginning to set.

 Along our way there is a base rock that was used as a mortar with a pestle for grinding acorns and other things.

 

 

In my hand is a piece of chert. It is a piece of rock that the Indians mined to make arrowheads.  The outcrop of rock on the left is one such rock.

Below are some of the sunset.  The cloud in the second two reminded me of the surf on the ocean.

As the sun continued to set it left some beautifully lighted hills.

Here there were some California Quail on the trail that flew off as the truck approached.

If you enlarge this picture, you can see both the rising moon on the right and Licks Observatory on the left.

When people ask me how big the park is, I tell them that if they see the power lines to the east and to the west, that is the area between those two lines that is how big the park is.  It’s just a visual for them,  but the park is 11,000 acres.

We were losing light and so headed back to the campground along the highest ridge in the park.

We could now see Grant Lake where we started.

I really enjoyed going out on the trails.  Thank you Theresa,  I learned a lot that will help with advising campers as to what's out there on the trails.  If you ever get a chance to visit this park, I’m sure that you will enjoy your visit.

Thanks for visiting

As usual I had to stay at home.

Susan and Angel