Figwort Family, blooms March-August, great source of nectar for hummingbirds.
This is the third kind of monkeyflower we have identified this year!
The river was so green and lovely as we hiked along the trail. There were a few people floating down in tubes, enjoying the the cold water and the hot sun.
If you are interested, I have been updating my Yosemite Wildflower blog this week and I would love for you to pop over there and check it out. Here is the link: Yosemite Wildflowers
All of the photos are from our trips last summer to Yosemite. I am aiming to finish all of the photos I have stored up before we take our next trip in July. I still have quite a few to go, but I am making headway.
We took a hike to the river today because it was *hot*!
Twenty minute drive, 1.2 mile hike and then we were at the river.
Since I am tired tonight, you will get a photo essay instead of a lot of words. 🙂
Mr. A brought his bike and decided to take the scenic route….up the hill, across the ridge, and then down to the river.
We took the old ranch road which is much more direct…..no trees but a shorter distance.
You can’t beat this landscape of flowers and green grasses.
We made it to the river and there were lots and lots of river rafters coming by the whole time we were there. Many of them were wearing wetsuits since the water is still ice cold. We sat, watched, and waved as they paraded by in their rubber boats. Some of us took off our shoes and dipped our toes in to cool off. The sun was hot, the water was cold, and we had a glorious time sitting on the rocks.
There were a few kayakers as well.
Even Kona enjoyed watching the boats. One boat had a dog with a lifejacket on and Kona thought maybe she would like to go down the whitewater in a raft. We have a raft but we have not taken it out in some time. Hmmmm…..
Wildflowers were still to be found along the banks of the river. I think these are some kind of aster.
As the afternoon progressed and we made our way back up the hill to the trailhead, we again saw the thunderclouds building up over the Sierra.
There was some complaining about the heat on the way back up to the car…Okay, so it was me whining about the heat. 🙂 It was not only hot but it was humid as well which makes it even worse and that combination always makes me cranky. We had ice cold drinks waiting in the car so that helped my mood just thinking about it as I hiked those 1.2 miles back up the hill.
Hope you had some outdoor time this weekend. We enjoyed every minute of ours.
One of our Spring Break days was filled with a delightful hike in the river canyon. The weather could not have been better for this trip. You can see at the top of the photo the really tall bridge that they built when they thought they were going to dam this area and fill the whole canyon with water. This area would have been flooded with water and this beautiful stretch of the river would have been gone forever. I know there are reasons for dams but for now, I am really glad that they haven’t built it so we all can enjoy this natural beauty.
The boys opted to ride bikes this day and my hubby and I walked. I am just now feeling confident to give the boys the freedom to take off on their own. I know we live in a different world than I grew up in, and it seems sad that I have to think twice about allowing them to have an adventure on their without worrying that something bad might happen. It feels better to allow a little more freedom gradually and build up my confidence and trust that they will make good decisions.
This particular hike along the confluence and then the North Fork of the American River starts off fairly level. It is then what we like to refer to the up, down, up, down kind of trail.
You hike up out of the canyon to the top of a small dam that holds back water to form a lake. You actually hike above the dam and then you hike back down again. This means when you turn around to go back you repeat the up, down, up, down process over again in reverse.
Here the trail comes out of the woods and out into the open at the spillway. If you look closely, you will see a rainbow above the mist.
This shows the lake behind the dam. This lake is a beautiful lake that we have spent quite a bit of time boating on as well as camping up at the upper end. You have to boat in all your stuff since there is no road access. It is quiet and peaceful and in the summertime the water is cool and clear. The boys made it up to the lake quite a bit faster than we did since they were on bikes. They spent some time exploring the boat ramp and the little marina.
They got tired of waiting at one point and here is where we met them on the road to the dam. We met only one other couple hiking and one other bike rider so we felt like we had the trail to ourselves which is nice.
The hike back down from the lake was very enjoyable and the trail meanders along the side of the river. The wildflowers were blooming in masses and we would take a break every now and then to just enjoy the experience quietly.
The sound of the river was pleasant and we heard lots of birds as well.
You might not believe me but we live about 30 minutes from this place and we have never hiked here before. I am always amazed that we have missed out on so many beautiful places just because I am too lazy to research new areas to hike.
I found a book that includes local hikes of all types and I am determined to find new and interesting places to try more frequently.
Here is a place we took a picnic lunch to this past Monday. We had rain all weekend but when the rain stopped late Monday morning, I prepared some sandwiches and drinks and loaded the car. It is the first time we hiked down to the river here although we drive by many times a week. We never knew there was a trail alongside the river, but now that we know about it, we will be here frequently to enjoy the water.
We took a short hike and found a great place on the shore that had rocks perfect for sitting on and watching the water flow by. This is a shot from my rock as I enjoyed my sandwich.
The river was really high and normally you can walk out to these rocks but not today. 🙂
This is a prime place for kayakers and in the summertime they boat this stretch of the river en masse.
If anyone is interested, this is the South Fork of the American River. The hike at the beginning of the post is the North Fork. Both hikes are on the same river but above where they meet at Folsom Lake.
I think I have one more hike to catch up on from our Spring Break romps but then I will have a treat for you next week…..Yosemite again. Can you hardly wait?
Our part of the world is best known for being the place that gold was discovered in California back in 1848. We live very close to the South Fork of the American River and in fact, we spend much of our outdoor time in or around the water of this river. My parents live even closer to the actual gold discovery spot and have remains of an old town where the Chinese workers came to work in the mines and along the river.
The river was used for hydraulic mining which destroyed much of the habitat and you can still see remains of ditches dug for diverting water and piles of river rock where the soil was washed away looking for gold. The scars remain even today.
So much history left behind for us to explore and experience today.
This is an abandoned mine that we discovered on our regular hiking trail. This was taken a month or so ago and we were just there yesterday and it looks very different. The water level has dropped inside the mine and you can step inside a little to check it out. The water is not raining down inside as heavily either. The plants around the opening are getting green and somewhat covering up the entrance.
We took a hike to a different part of the river two weeks ago and it had lots of rocks that looked like this with the quartz encased in the other rocks.
This short video gives you an idea of what the rock and the river is like where we are. In the beginning of the video you will hear my husband’s narrative….please know he was trying to be silly. Don’t miss me almost falling into the river at one point… the rocks are hard to walk on especially when you are taking a video.
We had packed along our gold pans and the boys tried their hand at finding some gold. No luck this day.
The water was really cold and they decided there is a definite skill to panning. We wondered about the gold miners back in the 1800’s and how they must have remained motivated by either their success or the success of others around them. It is back breaking work.
On another hike, we saw this guy alongside the river on the North Fork getting ready to start using his sluice box for gold mining. Here is an easy explanation of how a sluice box works. My husband has used one before and he says it just is an easier way to sift through the gravel looking for flakes of gold. He took a geology class where they actually did gold dredging in this river and he was surprised that there still is quite a bit of gold if you take the time to look for it.
I bet you don’t see this very often. We have one place that we like to hike to along the river because it has a perfect spot for skipping rocks when the water is low. We went there the other day and for the first time we saw these signs posted everywhere. I have to do some research because as far as I know, this place is on Bureau of Land Management land which seems like an unlikely place for someone to post a mining claim. Anyone know how that works?
Edit: Here is a link to answer my questions: BLM FAQ
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little glimpse into the gold country around our house. It is something that interests my boys so we might just need to tackle a geology course and use mining as the basis for our study. We already have a ton of rocks that we have collected over the years to study and identify. I should look at it as a project.
I am so far behind in recording our hikes. I haven’t even touched the photos from two weeks ago when we did twenty-six miles of hiking. I am sort of in a slump about posting for some reason.
Here are a few photos from today’s hike with the two older boys.
The trail in this section has grown over with greenery. You can still find a narrow path through the woods but it is just about covered up with grasses and flowers. Now that spring is here the trail is a whole different world.
Here is the view at the one end of the trail. The river is really running fast and high. The sound as you round the corner is amazing. Soon there will be whitewater rafters and kayakers on the water. Right now the water temperature is pretty cold. The other day we had a glimpse of a boat full of rafters but they were wearing drysuits.
This is about the only new flower blooming along the trail that I noticed today. I think it is some sort of caterpillar flower.
Monday we went on a picnic lunch…boxed up some sandwiches and bottles of water and took an hour or so to enjoy the opportunity.
The view from my picnic spot on a rock was very peaceful and I soaked up the sun. The sound of the water flowing by was relaxing and I could have sat there for a very long time but the men were anxious to move along. This is the same river that is in the photo above but this time we were down at the shore and down about ten miles.
I gathered a few rocks from my sitting spot and realized when I looked at the photo that the white rock looks like a heart.
The trail here is overgrown too….gorgeous.
Here is a photo I tried to take of the rafters as they floated by. If you look closely, you can see their blue raft behind the bushes.
The fairy lanterns are blooming thickly along this part of the river.
One last photo from yesterday’s hike….lupine like I have never seen it before. It is a banner year for the lupine in our area.
The amazing thing about wildflowers that I have come to appreciate is that although they are randomly planted and grow pretty much wherever the conditions are right, they look just perfect. Better than any garden planting that I have every seen.
What a time of year for getting outdoors every day.
On Monday we drove down to the bridge across the river near our house and this was what it looked like. The rainstorm has brought the river level up much higher than last week and look at that mist…..awesome.
We got a chance between pouring rainstorms to go out for a hike today. It was colder than I expected but it was worth the effort. I took a short video of one of the creeks that has sprung up since the rain started last week. Enjoy the sounds of water rushing down the hill.
Here are a few more shots of a different waterfall along the trail….one that I have shared before. The water was the highest we have seen yet.
What a glorious little waterfall.
There is a flower just starting to bloom right at the waterfall.
Here is what the flower looks like close-up.
I think it may be some sort of saxifrage…not sure.
We also were treated to some Shooting Stars today….the first I have seen blooming for this season. I didn’t get a decent photo but I will try again tomorrow.
This area around the trail is changing very fast now and it has a whole different feel to it as we take our walks. Spring is very, very close.
We really enjoyed our Discover Nature in Winter reading in the chapter about winter weeds. It is a totally new topic of nature study for us. I feel like we are just getting our feet wet this year and as the years go by, we will be able to observe more subjects. I gathered a few of our photos from recent walks here at the beginning of the entry.
The one thing that the boys noticed about the winter weeds that we observed is that during this season it is not the flower we are looking at but rather the seeds.
We discussed how the seeds were important at this time of year as food for many of the animals that inhabit the area. We also talked about how the rain and the snow knock the weeds over and as they lay on the ground, they are dispersing their seeds in that way as well.
I hope that we remember to look at these particular plants in the summer to compare the differences. It would make a great nature journal entry.
These last photos are from yesterday’s family hike. We took a couple of hours to hike along the American River which was just roaring! It was the first time that all six of us were out on the trail together in a very long time.I told my husband as we hiked along that it was great to have us all spending time in the fresh air and I relished the conversations and relationships that the kids have with one another.
Here are a few of the weeds we saw as we hiked along.
It was such a great afternoon and as always, with any trip to the river, there was eventually rock skipping….so many lovely rocks to choose from.
How about a wildflower photo from the day?
I love a good purple wildflower photo. 🙂
One last treat from the day…..
A beaver dam!
I am so glad that I organized the Winter Wednesday activities. It has given our family a new perspective on the winter season and another reason to get outside and enjoy the day together.
The shapes of trees have inspired me of late to try some brush painting…don’t they just look like they should be sketched with black ink on blue paper? This particular tree is a very large oak along a new to me trail that we tried out yesterday. It is on the opposite side of the river canyon from “our” trail that we take pretty much every afternoon. This side is the sunny side of the canyon and it has a totally different feel and look about it.
This is some sort of pine and we decided we would call it the “V Tree” since it has the very distinct V in the trunk at the top. Yes, once again we got a late start and the sun was beginning to set on us. It is such a great time to be out in the woods.
This is a rather steep trail from the canyon rim down to the American River. This view is right at the top as you start descending and you can see the river’s bend at Chili Bar. There is a quarry in the background…ugly huh? But the river here at the bridge is the start for river rafting trips that descend down the river and end at Salmon Falls or Folsom Lake. As the crow flies, this is about a mile from my front door….I live on the ridge on the opposite side from where I am standing. We forgot our GPS or I would tell you exactly how far it is.
Here is a little flat section of the way down where we stopped to enjoy the view. The trail has burst out in lots of green. This particular hike my husband does a couple times a week with a co-worker on his way to his day’s work. He does it in full uniform with his heavy boots on for his morning workout. It is a tough climb out of the canyon.
Holes are all up and down the slopes and I am pretty sure they must be gophers. If you venture off the path at all, you sink down in all the holes. Kona had to stick her nose down every hole she could find so she was very busy and had a very dirty nose when we finished.
Here is the only blooming flower we saw along the trail and there was only one flower blooming…the first of the season’s buttercups. I spotted it right away and had to scurry off the trail to get a photo.
Here is the view when you get to the bottom of the canyon. Someday I would like to bring a picnic and my sketchbook and spend some time drinking in all this beauty, maybe meditate a bit on the gifts of the Creator has given us. I imagine in the summertime you do not have this clear of a view of the river once all the trees push out their leaves. We could finish the last little bit down the slope and put our toes in the water if we were hot….a welcome relief in the summertime my husband informs me. He promises to hike down here again with me in the near future when the wildflowers are blooming and the newts are out.
I will post our official tree silhouette entry later in the week.
Pacific treefrog, Hyla regilla, found at the American River, California.
Bright sunny day.
He and a friend treated us to a show of their voices. They are very loud and make their song by expanding their balloon like throats. It is a fascinating thing to see.
Here’s a video that I shared on my other blog that has the frogs croaking at 25 seconds and 50 seconds into the video. Pacific treefrog Video
The video is terrible but the audio is fantastic. They really were as loud as they sound in the video.
Handbook of Nature Study, page 186 “The frog may be studied in its native situation by the pupils or it may be brought to the school and placed in an aquarium; however, to make a frog aquarium there needs to be a stick or stone projecting about the water, for the frog likes to spend part of the time entirely out of water or only partially submerged.”
On pages 178 and 179 of the Handbook, Anna Comstock talks a little about a different variety of tree frog and shows a few photos. “It is by means of these sticky, disclike toes that the animals hold themselves upon the tree trunks or other upright objects.”
Here is a nature journal entry my son did last summer of another Pacific treefrog that we observed.
We are going to be able to identify this little creature now when we hear his call and we feel privileged to have had this experience.
March 1, 2008
Dear Nature Friends,
Today we took our Outdoor Hour Challenge on the road, or should I say trail? The last Friday of every month we take the day off from our regular schooling to have a Nature Day. This is something I have been doing all year with my 12 and 14 year old sons. We take the day and focus on some aspect of nature that fits in with our science lessons or our interests.
Please remember when you read my post and view my photos (and a short video) that we have been doing nature study in our family since these two boys were able to walk….a long time. We also live in a moderate climate and have limitless access to wilderness. This hike is literally out our door and a few miles away. On a scale of one to ten, this day was a perfect ten. I hope that puts our experience in perspective for you beginners. This is what your nature study can look like in a few years if you keep at it, little by little.
In challenge number 1 I shared our hike on a new trail…the one with the ferns and the unusual bud. We wanted to take the hike all the way to the river this time so after a short stop at our tree in the woods, we headed over to the trail head. We set off at a quick pace but soon we found wildflowers blooming and of course I had to stop to take a few photos.
Buttercup
I wasn’t able to identify this one yet, need to see it flowering.
We saw our first butterflies of the season, big brown ones and little blue ones. The sun was actually hot and we shed a layer of sweaters and sweatshirts…good thing I had my backpack on this hike. 🙂 We had good conversation as we hiked along. Oh, we saw what the “unusual looking bloom” was from our last trip. It is actually just the way the leaves pop out on this particular plant.
It was a long downhill hike to get to the river, I think about a mile and a half but the hard part is that it was a really steep downhill grade. I kept thinking about the hike back up with great dread. Would the hike be worth it we kept asking?
The minute we hit the edge of the river and I was shedding my pack, the boys excitedly called to me to come over and look at something. I could tell it was something good by the tone in their voices. Wow! A whole pool of California newts!
We spent quite a bit of time watching them in their courtship dance in the crystal clear water. Fascinating and we felt so grateful to have seen it. My youngest slipped into the water with one foot and had a soaking shoe, sock, and pant leg for the rest of the hike. After a few photos and a video, we all sat at the edge of the river and rested and listened and just soaked it all in.
Yes, you can train your children to sit quietly and listen.
The boys were soon doing their usual river thing…throwing in rocks. I sat and worked in my nature journal drawing the blackberry leaves and vine next to me. The boys found a little gold flake in the gravel at the edge of the river. We actually live near where the California Gold Rush started on this very river.
I need to make a note to put a little vial for collecting things in my backpack. This flake was dropped into the rocks and was never seen again. He wants to go back and try again some time.
But the highlight of the day happened right when we were packing up to go back up the trail…..yes, you haven’t seen the highlight yet. The boys spotted a frog that had just jumped out of the water onto a rock. Back out comes the camera to try to get a photo for their nature journals.
While getting a few good photos, two of the frogs started croaking. Their throats blew up like balloons and the sound of it was awesome. Would you like to hear? [If you are on email subscription you will need to come over the the blog to see the video..I think.]There are actually two frogs croaking in the video and they croak at about 25 seconds and 50 seconds into the video. When we got home we pulled out our field guide and identified this as a Pacific Treefrog.
Both boys wanted to do their journals on the newt.
I got a new scanner but I have not learned how to operate it very well yet…maybe next scan will be better.
Thanks for sharing our very exciting “day out” with us. Hope it inspired and encouraged you in to have some of your own adventures with nature study. Our family looks forward to each time we have to share time out of doors. The answer to the question earlier about whether the hike would be worth the effort? Yes, totally and completely. I would go again right now….sore muscles and all.
One last photo of my son and I kneeling over the water trying to see the frogs.
