Summer At Home July 11 - July 31

The Rest of July Just Flew By... with lots of hiking for me in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe and the I-80 corridor.  We did an out and back (usually 12.5 round trip, but cut it short and turned around at about 4.5 miles) for a 9 miler!!!  You are on a ridge after the first grueling 3/4 mile uphill right out of the car.  UGH...  The following week it was Mt Baldy north of Kings Beach Lake Tahoe...climbing to 9202’ with a more gradual “get use to the elevation” kind of start. It was a cool cloudy day with rain forecast for the afternoon...which never happened.  YIPPEE  The nextTuesday it was a 6.75 miler, starting at 7200’, instantly climbing to 7884’ in 1about a mile,  then lots of ups and downs along the way with a total accent of 1580’ even though our elevation gain was slightly under 1000’.  The Castle Summit/Andesite Loop is one of our favorites, especially since we shortened the hike this year by about 3 miles.  At our age everyone enjoyed it a lot more.

Best of all, a Ladies Day Birthday Celebration, as our daughter Kristine turned 49, and her daughter Cassie 19 while I reached 74... and that was reason enough for a good visit, shopping spree and a quick lunch.  Speaking of Cassie, she is releasing her 2nd single “RxLove” on August 10 on i-tunes.  Check it out after that date.  Remember to search for  KASS on i-tunes and you’ll find her.

As you can tell, Don’s doing all the work around the place while I was doing all the playing!!!  I'll have to pitch in a little more next month (Tee Hee)

This portion of the PCT offers stunning distant vistas
as you hike along the ridge line.

The pioneers brought their wagons and oxen up this
steep canyon... as they crossed near Donner Lake.

Yippee, heading down hill before

we cross the saddle and climb towards
Anderson Peak

After 4.5 miles we turned around to enjoy the ever present
view of Castle Peak in the distance...we'll hike over
there in a couple of weeks.

And we were amazed to see how many
wildflowers had opened as we returned
to the car.

A popular photo stop on the way up to Mt Baldy
the following week...

which provided us with an equally stunning display of flowers.

You know, it's all about the "lunch vistas" we enjoy
every Tuesday, with good long-time hiking friends.

The rain didn't come so we continued on
as the trail went thru a massive field of
Mules Ear...

After one last look from above the North Shore of
Lake Tahoe, we turned around and headed "downhill"

There were lots of "Pine Drop" along the trail
as we hiked the next week.  We don't see
them often.

After the first climb, we enjoyed the
"thru the meadow" portion

because there was still more climbing on
the way to Andesite Peak...almost there.

This is a "pussy paw".  We hadn't seen them so pink before.

Near Andesite summit, we looked back to Castle Peak
on the right and Basin Peak on the left...2 more places
where we've enjoyed "Tuesday Lunch" many times
over the years.

Ladies Lunch, Kristine, Nancy and...