Volcano’s Christmas Spirit
Earlier this summer we took a trip to the Elks Lodge in Jackson CA, and visited a small gold rush town a few miles up the highway toward Carson Pass, called Volcano (at 2053 ft elevation). By reason of the name alone, “Volcano”, my interest was cued. Curiously, no geological volcano exists, but 49ers named it such by the peculiar manner morning mists settled in the town’s basin about its mountain frame. However, I wondered if, by this lingering mist, Volcano enjoyed any micro-climate apart from other, usually hotter, Sierra towns. Though I returned empty-handed in this regard (a question I intend to purposely ask at my next visit), I learned a lot about about the town’s (not so) unusual history as well as its very becoming generosity.
Read the rest of this entry »Back to Arroyo Seco
Between massive fires along the Sierra (w consequent closure of the national forests) and the beginning of the school year, our forays into the rivers and hills of northern California (I dislike travelling below San Luis Obispo Co) have been limited to our home abode and jots to Monterey Bay. However, an earlier trip to Arroyos Seco in the Los Padres National Forest, close to Soledad, off HWY 101 which was a real adventure for our family– a bit grueling yet much fun. You might notice the dry circumstances of the River on either side of its shores– circumstances reminiscent of the American R. and genuinely Californian by its aridness. But the waters were utterly reinvigorating– hardly a ‘dry creek’ in the nigh 20 yrs I’ve known it.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bunny Trails 