June, 23, 2021

 June 21, 2021

Coastal Trail, Lagoon Trail Loop to Rodeo Beach

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

hikers:  Mark and Lecia

distance:  a mile and a half loop, easy.

There is actually parking at Rodeo beach but we wanted a little walk so we parked in the parking lot for the Marin Headlands Visitor Center, which was closed unfortunately.  We took the Coastal Trail to Rodeo Beach.

That strip of sand out there is the beach 

and the water on this side of it is Rodeo Lagoon.

There's the ocean and what looks like a pile of rocks.

Only it wasn't a pile of rocks!  It was a beached whale.  A baby whale I guess 

but then I don't know a lot about whales.  It has been there for a while 

and if you are on the side away from the ocean the breeze blows your way 

and it has quite a stench!  

It was actually really cool.  Not every day you see a beached whale.  

First time ever for me!

You can see it's size compared to me.

Here is the ocean

And on the other side of the beach is the lagoon.

The white building you see on the other side of the lagoon is the visitors center, where we parked.  We walked back on the other side of the lagoon, 

the Lagoon Trail Loop.  

The coastal trail was the nicer trail because the loop trail goes along the road, but we were able to walk all the way around the lagoon on those trails.  

Monday, June 21, 2021

 Lam Watah Historic Trail at Lake Tahoe

hikers:  Mark and Lecia

length:  2.8 miles

We drove by Lake Tahoe on our way to California and saw this little trail so we tried it out.  It was a walk, not a hike, but it took us to a sandy beach, Nevada Beach, where we dipped our toes in the water and watched parasailers.  

It also had signage to tell us about the Native Americans that lived there and the  planned casino development that was halted by the Nature Conservancy. 

June 19, 2021

Pine Creek Nature Trail 

at Wasatch Mountain State Park

length: 2.5 miles, maybe shorter since we started in the campground.

hikers: the parentals, who are now Grandpa and Nana, first born son and his wife and happy little daughter, son #5 and his wife, and son #6 without his wife since he doesn't have one yet.

 

We camped overnight at the Oak Hollow loop of Wasatch Stake Park and after breakfast and packing up we went on a nearby nature trail.  It started just up the road from where we were camping.  

                                The trail started across the road from this campground.

Apparently dogs are allowed on this trail.  At the top of the post you see the sign pointing to the trail.  It starts out in the open and after going up a little ways we came to this nice bench.

We continued on the trail and there were pretty wildflowers, including this one.  It appears to be a sego lily!  I don't think I've ever seen our state flower in the wild and there were a lot! 

Once we got going up the trail it was quite shady and followed a creek bed.  We walked through the gambel oak and eventually got into maple and aspen.  

  It is an easy hike, going uphill but never steep.  There were a couple of bridges.  Some of our crew turned around at the second bridge and for those who continued on we came to a glacial outwash, which was a very large boulder field.

Geology lesson on glaciers!

Going back to the trail from the glacial outwash.

The rest of the group left us this cairn so we would know they crossed the bridge.  

Hiking back down the trail.

 I think this would be a good hike for kids.  2 year old Rosie was on shoulders most of the time.  

There weren't any hikers on the trail until we were on our way back down.  If you are camping here you should definitely do this hike.  If you're not camping you would need to pay the state park fee to do the hike.