Tag Archives: Manteca

Yosemite Valley For The Day

What to do on a beautiful Sunday morning? I know, let’s drive up to Yosemite Valley for the day!

Living in Manteca, I’m a whopping 99 miles from Yosemite Valley. A nice, leisurely drive takes about two and a half hours to get there. That’s certainly close enough for a day trip.

So Yum and I left the house, with just ourselves and what we had on. Well, Yum brought her camera of course. One stop at the gas station and one bathroom break later we were holding our breaths through the tunnels on the road down to the valley.

It was a gorgeous day in Yosemite. Clear skies, deep blue. Slight breeze. The temperature almost broke 60, but not quite. Snow everywhere, but melting fast. Waterfalls gushing. Icebergs floating down the rivers.

Yum and I had a nice meal the cafeteria next to the Yosemite Lodge. Double bacon cheeseburgers without the bun, large side of meatballs with meat sauce, and a chicken caesar salad. A quick detour after lunch to get Yum some much-need chocolate, and we were off.

Spent a few hours walking up to the base of Yosemite Falls, and took the long way back to the parking lot. Many pictures were taken by Yum.

The spray from the falls felt wonderful on my face. I turned my face towards the sun and closed my eyes. The ache in my legs from the hike up the hill let me know I was still alive.

Soon the sun was going down and poor little Yum was getting sleepy. I drove home with a smile on face while Yum snoozed happily.

Sometimes living in California ain’t so bad.

Click here for some pics taken with my mobile phone.

Lovely Weather We’re Having

It’s been an unusually mild summer here in California. And don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining.

Usually we can count on 100 degree-plus temperatures every day in the central valley for a good six months straight–June through October. But this year we’ve only had a handful of days over 100. And that’s fantstic.

My beloved city of Chico has mostly seen days hovering around 90. Manteca is pretty much the same. And out in Livermore, where I work, daytime highs have been in the 80s. San Francisco has been rather cold, as usual.

This week I spent a couple of days in the mountains. I was surprised to see how much snow is left on the highest peaks. I mean, here it is almost September and there is still a lot of snow up high. As we drove up Tioga Road from the eastern side, a la highway 395, there was so much snow I had to remind myself that it was late August and not early Spring.

Hunting season is right around the corner, and this cool weather has got me and my hunting buddies really excited. Opening weekend in mid-September can be a bit miserable some years because it’s so hot. This year we’re hoping that the cool weather will continue, and we’ll get a nice comfortable opening weekend. And, I hope, the cool weather continues throughout the season into late October.

It’s supposed to be 75 in Manteca tomorrow. That’s perfect weather, if you ask me. Now all we need is some rain.

More mountains? Yes!

We moved to Manteca so we could spend more time in the mountains. So far this is all going according to plan. Since we moved out here we’ve been to Yosemite twice, Sonora Pass twice, Carson Pass once, and Ebbetts Pass once. We’ve camped in Yosemite and Hope Valley. We’ve done a lot of fishing–Yosemite, Sonora Pass, highways 4 and 88. Mission accomplished.

So this last Sunday we drove up highway 88 to Hope Valley. We’ve been dreaming about this place since we discovered it late last year. It’s 125 miles from Manteca. It’s full of our beloved granite rocks and pine trees. It has several places to camp. And it has a great little trout stream. It’s majestic. It’s just over the crest of the Sierras so it’s technically the eastern Sierras, Yum’s favorite side. And the PCT goes right through it. So it’s a very special place.

Yum and I camped Sunday night after a long drive and a very late evening of fishing (Yum was still fishing by moonlight). If I hadn’t mentioned bears, Yum might have fished until midnight. We had a great campfire and a quick bite to eat and were off to bed, snoozing before the witching hour.

The next morning we broke camp and drove a quick 25 miles to Minden/Gardnerville. It’s amazing how close Hope Valley is to this part of Nevada. One day Yum and I will live in the Minden area, and Hope Valley will be our playground. Anyway… after breakfast we started home. We decided to take highway 4.

I knew there would be lots of places to fish, and I was right. I must have stopped the car 3 or 4 times to get out and fly fish on the way home. It was a perfect afternoon, one that fly fishers dream about. My grasshopper patterns were killing. Every other cast was granting me a strike. The top water action was incredible. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me whoopin’ and hollerin’ way down here in the city! As the late afternoon became early evening I found myself in the middle of a hatch, and those hungry little trout would snap at anything. At one point, while I was wading upstream to the next riffle, I let my line drag behind me. A brave little brookie rose and took my fly. I wasn’t even looking! Magical.

Highway 4 was the long way home, but it was worth it. I’ve only been back in the city for two days and already I wish I were back in Hope Valley.

Here are some pics of highway 4.