Welcome to Gary's 2004 California Adventure!
Here is my 2004 trip to California with Carol & Jeanne:
On July 17th I flew out to Oakland from Tampa, arriving around 2 p.m. I drove to a park in nearby Castro Valley and had a picnic lunch that I'd picked up at 7-11. Then I drove to my cousin Karen's in Pleasanton for her husband Jim's 60th birthday party. After a few brief conversations I had to excuse myself and return to the airport to pick up Jeanne & Carol, who had just arrived from Maryland. We then drove into San Francisco to spend the night with Carol's friend Lil. The next morning we got up, untangled ourselves from the dogs & cats, and went to breakfast in the Castro district of SF. Then we drove to Lassen Volcano National Park, and while chatting with the rangers, decided to climb Lassen. So we drove to the trailhead.
It was not a difficult climb from 8,500' to 10,485'. The weather cooperated, and we got some nice views along the way. We spent a pleasant half-hour on the summit, then headed back to the car. Carol & Jeanne cooled their sizzling feet on a parking-lot glacier while I cooled my heels in the car.
Then we drove up to Redding for the night.
The next morning we shopped for some last-minute supplies & food, packed our backpacks, picked up climbing permits at the Shasta Ranger Station and drove up to Bunny Flat in a light drizzle. We strapped on the packs and hiked up the short trail (from 7,000' to 8,000', under construction) to Horse Camp.
We set up camp and rested a while before making dinner of al dente rice with bouillon, parmesan & peas. Then we went to bed around 7:30.
At 1:00 a.m. we got up and had a light breakfast of oatmeal, hot chocolate and bad jokes. Then we hiked in the dark up Olberman's Causeway and glacial moraines to 10,000', where the trail turned to snow & ice. So we strapped on our crampons and got out our ice axes and continued up to Helen Lake at 10,800'. We paused there for a while and discussed our options, continued a short way further up, then decided to retreat and continue our vacation.
We headed back down with a combination of sore knees, headcolds and general tiredness. The sun rose as we removed our crampons, and we stumbled back into camp and took a nap. Then we got up and started to pack up our camp, and I discovered my camera was missing.
I left a note at the caretaker's hut about the camera. Eventually someone found it and mailed it to me! Thanks, Gary #2! We headed back down to the car and found a place to stay in Shasta. Went for a good lunch at the Tolo Mediterranean Grill. Then we washed up and rested before heading to a grocery to pick up a picnic dinner. We hopped in the car and drove a circumnavigational route of Mt. Shasta. We found a nice spot (with elk, or maybe moose, tracks) to have our picnic out in the middle of nowhere (no other cars or people), then headed back to town.
The next day (Wednesday) we drove through Susanville, Reno and Carson City to Gardnerville in Nevada, where we stayed with Carol's friends Ellen & Ron. And their extended family of dogs, cats, alpacas and prize-winning llamas. Ellen prepared a nice dinner for us which we ate outside as the sun set slowly in the west over the Tahoe Rim mountains.
The next day we got up and packed for a hike along the Tahoe Rim Trail. We climbed 6 miles, from about 7,500' to 9,500' up Snow Mountain in warm weather with 3 dogs.
When we reached the summit I was suffering from the flu, and Jeanne's knees were hurting, but Carol & Ellen were feeling frisky enough to climb telephone poles and serve the dogs a few extra tons of water that Ellen had hauled up. After a nice rest and some lunch, we struggled back down the very warm trail to the car, with the dogs running from one shade patch to the next. Back at the house we washed up, then went out to Casino Fandango for dinner and light gambling. Jeanne was the big winner (up 50 cents!). Then we drove to see the Waterfall Fire in Carson City, which had justed burned out 16 almost-new houses, and many thousands of acres of trees.
On Friday we got up and headed south to Mono Lake and Yosemite Park, where we did a driving tour and had a picnic lunch under El Capitan.
Then we headed back to San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, where Jeanne got her first look at the Pacific Ocean on a typically foggy stroll along the beach.
The next morning we visited Muir Woods and Muir Beach, then went to Stinson Beach for a long walk along the shore. Afterwards we headed back to cousin Karen's for dinner & wine & another long walk, this time around the neighborhood.
