Swimming in the Wintertime

Grover Hot Springs State Park

California

October 2017

Laurel was asking to go swimming and camping in one trip. With the cooler autumn weather, I was worried it was too late in the season to do both without a hotel stay. After a quick search on the Internet, I found Grover Hot Springs State Park. 

The park had a large pool that was the temperature of a hot tub while also having a swimming pool kept at "cool" 88 degrees and the park was only 2 hours from our house in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

We left after work and arrived shortly before nightfall. The campground was closed for winter, but the park allows camping in the picnic area. It was hard to find a level spot, so we picked the least inclined spot we could.

While I setup our camp, Laurel made some new friends and shared her slime with them. When we were both done, I was ready to cook dinner and retreat inside our tent for the night. Laurel had other plans, she was ready to go swimming. I was hesitant because it was now dark and also starting to get cold. We had about an hour to spend in the hot springs before they closed at 9pm and it was a glorious hour spent soaking under the nighttime sky filled with stars. When it was time to leave, we dried off, changed our clothes, and drove back to the campsite. We used the few minutes in the car to warm up the rest of the way.

Ramblr App Test Walks

Miners Ravine 

Roseville, CA

September 2017

Test Walk 1: We've been using Garmin products for years to track our walks and hikes. I read a few reviews about Ramblr and decided to download it to my phone. It's a lot more user friendly and I like the way it marks the location of where pictures are taken. Kellisa and I went for a short walk on our home path, the Miners Ravine Trail in Roseville, CA to try Ramblr. My first impressions are positive, I just need to learn all the features and benefits and how to easily share the map of the route walked/hiked. We look forward to trying Ramblr on a wilderness trail. 

Great American Eclipse

August 21, 2017

Weiser, Idaho 

The road to Weiser, Idaho to witness the Great American Eclipse was a lot longer than the 1,144 miles we drove round trip. By the time (early 2017) we realized that we lived a day's drive from totality, all the hotels were booked. We considered hotels close to totality, but gridlock was predicted on all the roads leading to totality for the 24 hours before the event. We didn't want to risk being stuck on the road close to the path.

The next plan was to book a campsite somewhere in Oregon in totality, but these were also completely booked. Since hotels that were only close started at $500 a night with a 3 night eclipse minimum, I booked a campsite as close as I could and we would just have to hope and plan to leave in the middle of the night to reach the path in time. With a campsite in our back pocket, I frequently checked hotel websites hoping for a cancelation somewhere in the path. I even looked at airfare to farther places, still in the path, but every flight was completely sold out. People would be traveling from around the world to witness this amazing event.

Independence Trail West

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South Yuba River State Park

Nevada County, CA 

June 2017

Distance: 3.14 miles

Rating: 2

Type: Out & Back.

Elevation: Almost level.

Surface: Dirt & Wooden Flumes.

Nearest City: Nevada City, CA

Location: Just over 6 miles from Nevada City on Highway 49 North.

Parking: 1 disabled spot.

Bathroom: At trailhead.

Water: Bring your own.

The Independence West Trail is recognized as the first Wilderness Trail in the country for all abilities. We were surprised that it took us a year before we realized that we lived less than 50 miles from this historic trail. Once known, we were at the trailhead in less than a week. It was nice to find a disabled parking spot adjacent to the trailhead. Despite being along the highway, we had more than enough room to unload the chair and safely transfer Kellisa.

The trail was created from the old Excelsior Ditch high above the Yuba River. The path hugs the hillside high about the South Yuba River as it crosses several restored wooden flumes. Instinct told us to pushike inside the ditch instead of above on the miner’s access trail. This would prove to be the easier and safer route to pushike.

Hoh Rain Forest

Olympic National Park

August 2017

The drive was long, very long from Bremerton, Washington to the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park, but it was a beautiful drive.

After checking out the visitor center, we didn't let a "No Wheeled Devices" sign stop us from enjoying a short trail through the forest with several bridges over amazingly clear water with baby salmon swimming.

On our return drive, we made a side trip up Hurricane Ridge. It was a little too late for a hike and the visitor center was closed, but we did have a perfect viewing spot as the moon rose for the evening.

Olympic was Laurel's 23rd and Kellisa's 29th national park visited.

Ride Rainier 2017

July 2017

Mount Rainier National Park

Washington

Kellisa loves being outside and on a trail, but she is always the only one on wheels. We've been known to fly and/or drive crazy distances for the right trail. Therefore, it was a no brainer to drive up to Mount Rainier National Park for a hike with other wheelchair users once we found out about the Ride Rainier 2017 event from a FB friend. 

Kellisa always lights up when we are getting ready to start a hike. It usually takes some time at the trailhead to get everything just right and Kellisa sits there with a huge smile and will let out an occasional giggle as she waits to start a new adventure. Her pre-hike excitement lit her up several notches that I didn't even know she had once she saw many other hikers at our trailhead who were also in wheelchairs. She was with her "peeps" and she knew it. Besides the extra excitement, I could see Kellisa also felt a sense of belonging as she was clearly more confident, verbal, and out going during the entire hike.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to share this experience with others on wheels (and their friends and family too) and hope to join our new friends on future hikes!

And for those keeping track, Mount Rainier National Park was Laurel's 22nd and Kellisa's 28th national park visited.

Crater Lake National Park

July 2017

We spent an afternoon exploring Crater Lake National Park. It was Laurel's first and Kellisa's second visit to this beautiful national park. We spent a week at Crater Lake back in 2009. With this visit, Laurel has now visited 21 national parks and Kellisa's total remains at 27. 

Colusa County Hike

Wetlands Discovery Trail

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

May 2017

Even though it was a little hot out, we drove south for another hike after visiting Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Our second hike of the day was a short trail in Colusa National Wildlife Refuge which happens to be in Colusa County. 

Before hiking, we drove the auto tour to observe just a few birds (disappointing) and a couple of glimpses of Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world.

Glenn County Hike

Wetlands Walk Trail

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

May 2017

CA Counties Hiked in 2017: 4/58

Lisa was in Chicago for a long weekend visiting family, so we decided to drive north a little ways to look for wildlife and hike a few trails. Our first stop was the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. After driving the auto tour to observe many birds, we hiked part of the Wetlands Walk Trail. It was very hot for a May afternoon and the views played tricks on our minds as we could see snow capped mountains not that far off to the north and west. 

Hiking California Counties- May Update

O'Neill Regional Park- Orange County

May 2017 was all about Kellisa's 18th birthday, from her cross country "day of flight"  to posts summarizing her first 18 years. It's also a chaotic time of the year as school for the girls winds down with talent shows, dances, and other end of year festivities. In the middle of all that, Lisa flew back to Chicago to spend a couple of days with family. 

While Lisa was away, we managed to hike in two new Sacramento Valley counties in Northern California bringing our total to 5 counties hiked in 2017. We ended May with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Southern California to visit family. I was hoping to hike in at least 2, if not 3 counties on the trip, but Laurel wasn't feeling well when we attempted to hike a trail in Orange County and waited in the car with Lisa. We did not attempt any other county hikes and Laurel has been a little down on the idea of hiking lately. Not sure what that means, but it may add a challenge, if not a change to our 2017 goals. Full posts with pictures from the Sacramento Valley coming soon.

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