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Hiking On A Winter Day – California Style

Kona at the River

We had the opportunity to hike down at the river, sunny skies and warmer temperatures were just too good to pass up. The Kona dog went swimming and brought us a bunch of sticks to throw for her to fetch. She was one happy dog!

Quiet Zone Sign
This sign is for rafters, not hikers. There are stretches of the river that flow through “private” areas and you are not supposed to be loud and rowdy there but then when you hit public lands you can have water fights and swim and holler as much as you want. There were no rafters on the river this time but in the summer there is raft after raft of water lovers floating down this section of the river.

Boys Hiking Greenwood on Log
Hiking still means climbing on things for my teenage boys. This time it was an old oak tree lying on its side. It is a sad sight to see one of these old oaks giving in to the elements. I know it is home to creatures and soon it will melt into the floor of the woods but it still makes me sad.

Stacking Rocks 1
Down at the river the boys made Andy Goldworthy style rock piles again but in the end my rock sculpture was the best…..

Rock Sculpture American River
What do you think? At least it didn’t fall over before I could take a photo….just friendly family competition/fun. It is not as easy at it looks to stack rocks, big and small, into something that looks nice.

Fungus and Moss on Tree
Hiking back up from the river I spotted this little mushroom growing in the moss on the side of a tree.

Moss and Mushroom on Tree
Here is another one that we thought was interesting. My boys call me the Fungus Lady for a reason. 🙂

Seriously, our part of the world is not a winter wonderland but it can get cold. I decided that it is pleasantly warm enough afternoons that it makes our cold winter mornings bearable. I have never lived anywhere else and I just don’t know how I would cope with really long, snowy winters. We have days at a time where it is cold and we get a few inches of snow but it melts and the sun comes out and we see green. Our green season is really from about this time of the year until the end of May…..they our state turns “golden”.  I like “golden”.

Shhhh…don’t tell anyone. Barb is admitting that she doesn’t care for winter as much as summer.

154 days until the first day of summer but I’m not counting.

I am going to have to postpone our winter snow study until we actually get some snow. We are working on our winter tree study though so stay tuned for that this week. We also took another fabulous hike to a different part of the river today…I know….we are spoiled but loving it.

8 thoughts on “Hiking On A Winter Day – California Style

  1. Wow! GREEN! LOL Nothing but white here! With more white coming…LOVE the stone structures! My kids would love to do something like that! Cairns?

    Jessy
    http://oursideofthemtn.blogspot.com

  2. We are missing our nature walks here…we’d have to REALLY bundle up to go out there at the moment!

    Looks like you had a nice day! I love seeing the GREEN there!

  3. Barb,
    I love, love , LOVE your itty, bitty mushroom in the moss. You really have a way with macro.

  4. I love the smooth stones. And the moss and the mushroom, and…

  5. Beautiful photos!! Popping over from Sherry’s. 🙂 I love rocks and I think your rock sculpture…well, rocks!

  6. I am excited about your blog. 🙂

  7. Thanks for linking with Nature Connections, Barb! I hope you’ll link every month. It is so inspiring to me to see your teens still enjoying the outdoors with you. 🙂

  8. It is very inspiring that your older children are still exploring nature with you. I hope we will be the same when we get there. I just love your site and visit often! Thank you for all you offer here.

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