Beautiful Day Hike

Great winter trip to California and Nevada to hike, snowshoe and visit our daughter.  Started out on the West slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains and finished the trip on the East slope.  The Stanislaus River valley had seen 35' of snow before we arrived and they've had another 20' since we left, and it's still snowing! 1262 miles driven and 91 miles of snowshoe and hiking.  Snow boots were a necessity! Looking east to Sonora Pass in the Stanislaus River watershed.  Second photo is New Melones reservoir, which is filling up fast!

 Snowshoe day!  Near Graeagle, CA.

 New snow!  East Keystone trailhead, Reno, NV.

Near Fernley, NV. 

Peavine Mountain. Storming in the Sierras! Near Reno, NV. 

Pah Rah Mountains. Regional Park near Reno, NV. 

Tahoe NF, near Reno, NV. 

Toiyabe NF. Near Verdi, CA. 

Stanislaus NF. Dodge Ridge pano. Near Cold Springs, CA. 

Stanislaus NF, near Cold Springs, CA. 

Stanislaus NF, near Long Barn, CA. 

Snowshoe from Crabtree Trailhead. Down Ridge Trail. Stanislaus NF, near Pinecrest, CA. 

Bull Run Creek valley. Stanislaus NF.  Near Strawberry, CA.

Stanislaus NF. Near Dodge Ridge, CA. 

Snowshoe day! View up the South Fork Stanislaus River valley. Stanislaus NF, near Strawberry, CA.  

Stanislaus NF, near Long Barn, CA. 

Westside trail. Near Tuolomne, CA. 

Stanislaus NF, near Pinecrest, CA. 

Stanislaus NF, near Dodge Ridge and Pinecrest, CA. 

Stanislaus Valley overlook. Near Sierra Village, CA. 

Snowshoe hike on a mild February day. Stanislaus NF, off Hwy 108 near Cold Springs, CA. 

Sun-drenched visit to Southeast Arizona was very enjoyable.  832 miles driven and 78 miles hiked over eight days.  The highlight was visiting so many mountains ranges - what they call "Islands in the Sky".  These pop up out of the desert and each one is different and as you go up in elevation the flora changes from desert to forest.  The ranges that I visited were: Tucson Mountains Santa Rita Mountains Santa Catalina Mountains Rincon Mountains Whetstone Mountains Dragoon Mountains Pinaleno Mountains Gila Mountains Black Hills San Francisco Mountains Greasewood Mountains Chiricahua Mountains Sunrise and sunset are also spectacular in Arizona when there's a little cloud cover.  This was sunset near Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. My next visit I intend to explore some more segments of the Arizona Trail.  Out of the 800 miles of the trail, I've only hiked about 4 so far!

View of Chiricahua Mountains with National Monument in foreground. Near Willcox, AZ. 

Chiricahua National Monument. Echo Canyon Loop. Near Willcox, AZ. 

Near Safford, AZ. 

Apache NF, near Clifton AZ.  

Apache-Sitgreaves NF, near Clifton, AZ.

Black Hills Scenic Byway. Between Safford and Clifton, AZ. 

Desert walk near Safford, AZ. 

From bottom, at Angle Orchard, to Veach Ridge.  Coronado NF, near Safford, AZ.