Yosemite Weekend August 27, 28, 29, 2010

Linda and I had an opportunity to go to Yosemite this weekend. I had business up near Modesto on Friday so after handling business we went up to Yosemite and found a nice first come first serve campsite at White Wolf Campground. It was a little chilly during the day and at night it got down to about 35 degrees up there at around 8000 feet elevation. We did some great hiking and driving in some areas that we have not been to yet plus a quick tour of the valley before we left. It was really strange but Sunday morning in the valley we had Bridalveil falls all to ourselves, Cathedral beach all to ourselves and Sentinal beach all to ourselves. Great Yosemite trip. I have fallen in love with Yosemite and I already can't wait to go again. As you can see in the pics below, first we drove through miles of cornfields with yellow flowers growing around them and then through many mile of oak woodlands and grasslands before heading up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Calavera Preserve August 22, 2010

Linda and I went for an early morning hike on the Calavera Preserve this morning. It has a nice small lake and and a small mountain to hike up. The mountain is actually a volcanic plug where the molten lava came just to the surface and cooled into granite. Then over the years the surrouding softer sandstone has eroded away creating the mountain at a little over 500 feet above sea level just about 4 or 5 miles from the beach. From the top of the mountain on a clear day you can see up to about a hundred miles away to the Cuyamaca Mountains, Palomar Mountan, San Gorgonio Peak, San Jacinto Mountains and out to the Pacific Ocean.

camping at La Jolla Indian Campground August 2010

Nice camping weekend. Innertubed down the San Luis Rey River. Slightly dangerous. Everybody got banged up a bit on the rocks but it was really fun. Six days later and my head and my butt still are hurting. Anyway, six of us went: Dave, Leanne, Nicole, Linda, Barbara and me.

Bataquitos Lagoon Mid August 2010

There are several Lagoons along the San Diego County coastline where I live. Freshwater streams and rivers drain in from the east and the tidal surge of the ocean drains in from the west. This lagoon in Carlsbad has a nice trail a couple miles long on the north side. I hiked most of the way east on the trail. This is a nice quick after work hike. Several Habitats are found here. Coastal sage scrub, Mud flats, Salt Marsh and the non-native Eucalyptus groves here offering nice shade along the trail.

Laguna Mountain & Cottonwood Creek August 2010

Linda and I invited several people for a day hike up in the Laguna Mountains. Everyone canceled so it was just the two of us. We were out to explore some new territory and some familiar territory. We explored Cottonwood Creek canyon. It was a very nice canyon with a seasonal creek that cascades down through the canyon with several small waterfalls. The largest one was probably about 10 feet high. We were lucky to find water in the creek. We also seen a large tarantula next to the creek. Luckily we did this lower elevation hike first thing this morning because we got out of there just as the extreme heat was coming on. Then we went up to the higher elevations of the mountain and explored the lightning ridge trail for the first time and then found our way down into the Laguna Meadows. Another beautiful day in the mountains.