Hey, I'm almost caught up... to September! Maybe by the end of the year I'll be back to real time. In the meantime, it has been enjoyable to relive our summer adventures.
Another fun set, some random pictures of our last days in California, at least for 2023. Cathy had to return to TX :( but Robyn was able to hang out with us a bit longer, yay!
We hiked down toward Lake Crowley to look at flat/round rocks - how's this for something different?
Ah yes, the Crowley Stone Columns! We love these and it was fun to be able to show them to someone else:
The lake was WAY higher this year. No pictures from inside the columns this time. Still very cool.
More mountain hiking, excellent! We really like staying at French Camp for easy access to the Little Lakes Valley (plus at higher elevation where the temperatures are usually quite lovely).
Robyn and I set off to see if we could locate Cox Col. This had been an alternate route over to the SHR, but I wasn't sure it was something we could do. A little recon for future trips was in order.
Enjoying the views without carrying large packs this time:
We did some off-trail travel to Dade Lake, with a view of Bear Creek Spire. Cox Col is to the right of the spire. It looks super steep from here (although of course you never really know until you're there). The long spur is written about as the easier way up - that's a "maybe" for us. Good to see it, anyway!
Worth it for the view of the valley we'd come up:
Side trek to Chickenfoot Lake on the way back:
Raven on a roof at the trailhead:
One more day with Robyn, making it count with a climb up to Mono Pass. Another extra-neat area to explore (and another alternate entry point to the SHR that we didn't need to use). Hello from up high!
Wide open landscape and a bleak lake (possibly even a bleak tarn):
We had a wonderful afternoon looking across to spots we'd been, mountains we'd seen from other angles, and more places we could venture to someday:
Hello to the game camera (we assume?):
Still not sure how there is snow at the end of August:
Ruby Lake and the Sierra skyline - thank you beautiful place!
Time to move along, with one more stop in California. We spent a couple days in Palm Springs and WOW was it ever "summertime". Way too hot, even overnight. I can usually manage around high daytime temperatures in the desert if it cools down in the evening. Not so here.
One thing that worked was going up in elevation. John wanted to climb Mount San Jacinto and I was interested in driving uphill to climb from the back side (higher starting point and new trails for me to explore). That suited John just fine, as he could descend with me so he didn't have to go all the way back downhill on foot.
Back among the pine trees - possibly ponderosas:
Fun rock shapes:
Pretty little water rivulets all along the mountainside:
Hey, it's the Pacific Crest Trail! Always fun to travel (however briefly) on one of America's long-distance trails:
The stone cabin near the summit:
Can't say I've ever noticed pine cones growing sideways from the ends of branches before:
Other hikers at the top of the mountain:
And here's John! He had quite a day of climbing, 10,000 feet from town all the way up to here. Impressive!
Proof of summit:
We were so pleased to find a new Rivian charging station in Quartzite, complete with a pull-through so we didn't have to unhook. Now THIS is how you do it. It was also free (free!) at the time, although recently Rivian has started charging regular electricity rates. Still cheaper than gas (especially in California!)
Totally random way to finish this blog post, but this adorable pika popped up as my laptop screen saver, and it was the perfect end to our summer tour. "A russet potato with ears" - love it!
Except - summer wasn't quite over yet for us. One more trip before we finally "settled down" (as much as we ever do)...
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