Driving to Truckee

On our way to California!  This is still back in June (around now is the time of year when I'm behind on posting).  I do enjoy looking through the pictures and I hope you do too.

After a rare "no, you actually can't charge your truck at our RV park" (even after we had called to ask and gotten an affirmative) we decided to skip that overnight location and continue driving (luckily had not prepaid for once and luckily we had enough battery to make it to Barstow).  I found a rustic campground called Fossil Falls, not far from our route.  It took only a bit of dusty road to get there and we were psyched to sleep in the middle of a lava flow:

The next morning we took a little hike to see the sights, and although we found neither fossils nor falls, it was a super cool place to roam around:

Looks like climbing bolts!  This would be an interesting place to dangle off a rope:

The valley below the cliffs:

Admiring a big lava rock overhang:

We found a way to the bottom for another excellent viewpoint:

Water has done a LOT of carving work around here:

We randomly found a petroglyph while clambering around on the rocks, super cool:

The nearby cinder cone (and a barely visible Howie):

From the sign-in box - "Gravity sometimes hurts her playmates"

Thank you Fossil Falls for the quiet overnight stay and fun morning trek!

Some of the charging stations along the eastern side of the Sierras are quite scenic:

Some even more so:

And... we've made it to Truckee, our "home" for several weeks.  We started at the state park and really enjoyed the campsite and all the great trails.  And views of the lake:

Looking across at a ridge where I'd previously done a trail run:

We're getting into the big granite already:

I saw a few Donner Party mentions as I wandered around the park, including this plaque about the Emigrant Trail:

Also this tablet with the list of Donner party members (those who died and also those who survived) - I had no idea it was this many people:

The huge Pioneer Monument in the park:

A calm lake, as I start a journey around it on foot:

Fish!

And a much bigger lake (Lake Tahoe), which I did not trek around.  Enjoying the view from Picnic Rock:

It was a lovely start to some California Time.

Sedona and Flagstaff

Hello blog-world!  We're on our summer tour, and as usual I'm low on extra time for blogging (in the midst of travel, running and hiking, exploring, planning, etc.)  While I have a few minutes, here are some pictures from June in Arizona.

We drove up from Tucson to Sedona for a day.  We'll never see all of the trails around Sedona, but that won't stop me from trying!

Starting out on a quest to find the Subway (rock version, not food version):

Pausing to admire the colorful scenery:

And fun formations:

Looks like cliff dwellings up there:

It's a turtle!  Maybe...

It was a surprisingly easy climb up to the cliff dwelling:

And quite a view from their front door:

The main chute going up to the Subway formation - I wasn't sure about going up (and down) but managed it OK:

It was worth it for the side perspective of the crazy-shaped canyon walls!

This location is approved by John:

We hiked further up the valley to the left to admire the giant sandstone walls around the cirque:

I had time for a bit more trail running and rock-gawking:

Love the Sedona trails - and we have plenty more to explore next time!

On to Flagstaff... I'll spend time in the summer here any chance I get.

I got the idea that another round of the 12 Hills would be good training, and a chance for another FKT.  The road we normally take to the start was closed, so I thought that ruled out the idea.  Until I realized I could climb Elden and start from there.  Ascending 2000+ feet just to reach the beginning of an FKT route isn't a normal thing, but why not?  It's good training too.

John came with me to the start and helped schlepp water while he was at it - he's even crewing for me on uncrewed adventures!  Thank you sweetheart!

Hill # 0:

A beautiful set of aspen trees on the run down the road:

I believe I'm looking over at O'Leary through the trees:

Hill #3, one of the more shallow hilltops:

Hey, there's a bunch of water in Schultz Tank for once - also still some snow on the San Francisco Peaks:

Passing through the Sunset parking lot (to keep to the same loop as other FKT's on this route):

Ta da - #5!

I took this picture to show the marsh in the sometimes-dry field, but now I see that there was a plume of smoke on the horizon:

It's not so easy to use one hand to show numbers above 5 in a still photo - this might be hill #10:

The long climb back to the Elden towers - I tend to forget that this route is a lot of work!

I definitely noticed the giant smoke cloud now - turns out there was a wildfire to the west of town.  The good news is that it was under control within a day or two:

And back to the starting point to finish the loop, happy with the effort and the chance to get back up here one more time:

Time for a hike with Taylor!  The best part of visiting Flagstaff is spending time with her and the pups.  We went over to Kendrick Peak since neither of us have been there in a while:

Nico and his dog Pearl joined us for the climb up the mountain (and occasionally up an extra boulder):

Time for treats and water for Oy and Basil:

Nice view of Humphreys and Snowbowl:

It's always fun doing adventures with Taylor, yay!

Nico has a Polaroid camera so we got an extra-special souvenir from the summit:

That was an excellent start to the summer travels and altitude acclimation.  More to come!