taking the kids up to camp in truckee next week, gonna have a car and 6 days for the wife and i to avoid responsibility.
ain't never been up that way- give me the spots we need to see/things we need to do.
san fran is an outside consideration, both in terms of travel radius and our desire to avoid a big city (even though neither of us have been there either).
so, 3 hour drive radius from north tahoe area. active type stuff would be nice, or incredible geographic areas. or both. and yes, i've googled aplenty- wondering if anyone has any "off grid" recommendations.
cheers.
and no, i don't gamble, so the only reason i'd go into reno is to hop our flight back.
Lake Tahoe springs to mind - it's a short hop over from Truckee.
If you are inclined, you could drop out of the Sierra Nevada down I-80 past Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Delta, drive along levee roads to a marina and rent a boat for fishing (striped bass, sturgeon, salmon), water skiing, or a houseboat.
Rumor on the street is Karoly has a well stocked liquor cabinet....that would be my first stop
Consider California Highway 49 down the West side of the Sierras. Angel's Camp (Mark Twain's jumping frogs), The Calaveras Big Trees State Park (Sequoias), etc. etc. maybe even down to Yosemite and then loop back East over the Sierras and North up to Carson City and on to Lake Tahoe.
Lots of cool little towns (or they were 35 years ago), and some neat scenery.
Loyal
About an hour north of Truckee is Lakes Basin Recreation Area and Sierra Buttes. It's a very scenic area and if you're up for it you can climb to the fire lookout on Sierra Butte at Elev. 8600' (hardest part might be the steep stairs right at the lookout), or day hike into the mountain lakes. There is another lookout, and some lakes you can drive to in the area. If you golf, there is a nice course or three in Graeagle.
To the west an hour you could try Empire Mine State Historic Park in Grass Valley. It's an old gold mine with lots of the gold rush era structures and equipment still in place. Enjoy your time in the Sierras!
Sierra Buttes, from Upper Sardine Lake. The lookout is on the third bump from the right. Trail is on the backside of the ridge:
Lakes & Sierra Buttes from Mt. Elwell:
thanks baja- that's exactly the kind of info i'm looking for. and yes, i'm always up for a good hike. as a matter of fact i'll be doing a 20 mile run out of truckee this sunday, up and over the pass.
and that's super convenient too- the kids will actually be in camp in portola. we're gonna do some mountain biking in downieville one of the days.
i guess first i have to get these 8 ALTAs out the door- gonna be a loooooong week.
Wow, that was a well needed escape. Though I'm exhausted sitting here at the house today. Baja- spent all kinds of time around that area, ended up being our de facto hub of movement. Mountain biked from packer saddle down to downieville, rafted over in foresthill, did a couple trail runs over near truckee, hit the hot springs in sierraville. Camped in plumas eureka and up near quincy. Great area, can't believe I've never made it out there. Also good to get a reminder that this Texas-centric mindset is often naive: if anyone thinks we have some kind of lock on the secessionist/fringey set down here, they'd do well to pay a visit to the state of Jefferson sometime...
flyin solo, post: 388425, member: 8089 wrote: Wow, that was a well needed escape. Though I'm exhausted sitting here at the house today. Baja- spent all kinds of time around that area, ended up being our de facto hub of movement. Mountain biked from packer saddle down to downieville, rafted over in foresthill, did a couple trail runs over near truckee, hit the hot springs in sierraville. Camped in plumas eureka and up near quincy. Great area, can't believe I've never made it out there. Also good to get a reminder that this Texas-centric mindset is often naive: if anyone thinks we have some kind of lock on the secessionist/fringey set down here, they'd do well to pay a visit to the state of Jefferson sometime...
There are State of Jefferson signs halfway down to L.A.
Dave Karoly, post: 388426, member: 94 wrote: There are State of Jefferson signs halfway down to L.A.
I didn't have time to check that far, but I believe you. Seems like every other ad on the radio (that our rental would pick up in the mountains) was some kind of political paid-for-by. Best part was the utter lack of cell/wifi coverage. Felt more remote than the trip to Guatemala a couple years back- other than the English speakers, I reckon.
Oh, the donner camp picnic grounds was a pretty entertaining sign to see, too.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the area. 3 years ago I spent a week there and have wanted to return ever since.
Most people have no sense of the size and diversity of California. I've been here for all but 3 of my 60 years and I'm still struck by it. Thanks to the southerly part of the state though, I find myself associating with another beautiful state just to the north:)
BajaOR, post: 388432, member: 9139 wrote: Glad to hear you enjoyed the area. 3 years ago I spent a week there and have wanted to return ever since.
Most people have no sense of the size and diversity of California. I've been here for all but 3 of my 60 years and I'm still struck by it. Thanks to the southerly part of the state though, I find myself associating with another beautiful state just to the north:)
Well, I tend to do this with most places I visit, but yeah- been scanning for work ads in the area with some fantasy of moving the brood. There's a hotel in downieville for sale that would make a great 2nd job/headache/kingdom for the spouse to run.
In any event, I'll definitely be back in some capacity. Seemed like we didn't even get to scrape the surface of what's there. A two or three day kayak trip on the feather from Quincy looks like it'd be darn near heaven.
Re: Downieville, it's a beautiful, isolated spot in the mountains, but there's already an LS there, which may be one too many. But he's the sole LS residing in all in Sierra County, so maybe there is room for more. There is pre-1982 Civil (reg. number lower than 33966) residing there, so that's 1 more person licensed to survey.
I assume from your activity list that you're not an old codger like the majority of us. That'll help you handle the mountain terrain, and means you'll be around to grab the opportunities available as we slow down and retire.
http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/wllqryna$lcev2.startup?p_qte_code=ENG&p_qte_pgm_code=7500
BajaOR, post: 388444, member: 9139 wrote: Re: Downieville, it's a beautiful, isolated spot in the mountains, but there's already an LS there, which may be one too many. But he's the sole LS residing in all in Sierra County, so maybe there is room for more. There is pre-1982 Civil (reg. number lower than 33966) residing there, so that's 1 more person licensed to survey.
I assume from your activity list that you're not an old codger like the majority of us. That'll help you handle the mountain terrain, and means you'll be around to grab the opportunities available as we slow down and retire.http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/wllqryna$lcev2.startup?p_qte_code=ENG&p_qte_pgm_code=7500
Between Sierra and Plumas there are only about 4, and 3 of them are in Quincy. In the couple days spent roaming around the valley almost every single person talked about the flight from the area. Which makes sense, I guess. It's a nice pipe dream anyways- could see scratching out an existence between recreational attempts to fight off codgerism (think I already qualify, at least mentally).
Our Grandson's other Grandmother from Alabama visited so we took her on the nickel tour of San Francisco which was so much fun because we haven't gone all out tourist down there in decades. I suggest fly into SMF, Oakland or San Jose on your next trip and go north up route 1, it's pretty spectacular and you can camp if you want. If you like wine there are many great places with less people than the Napa Valley such as the 128 corridor above Booneville.
flyin solo, post: 388429, member: 8089 wrote: Oh, the donner camp picnic grounds was a pretty entertaining sign to see, too.
Is there a BBQ concession there?? If not, I think I see my retirement plans!! Naw, other parts of the country are nice, but I'm still busy seeing Texas.
