here comes a late update of our labor's day story, I was being extra busy LAZY by not helping Ti mom to schedule this trip, I hope this will not destroy our friendship, and I am truly sorry for not being there.
this post is really broken just like someone is trying to tell you his dream last night but he couldn't remember the whole picture, I am sort of like that unfortunately...
Ti mom planed 3 different locations along Tuolumne River, the first one we got to was the Rainbow Pool
when the time we got there was already in late afternoon, there was not much sun and we had to walk climb even further to get a spot.
this place is an easy access, the river is just right by parking, so you got to be prepared for crowd if you want to come, personally I like those harder trails because I am antisocial so I can keep Actaeas away from kids.
we were lucky to have 3 other people tagging alone this time, in this case we got more hands to safe that little crab toy if Tissue or Tinkerbell ever miss it in the water.
we went up stream even more
wasn't a place I will call it pretty, but we did had a great fun spending an afternoon by the river
are you going to jump now?
it always look funny to me when Actaeas starches his toes so wide apart like that
iphone
peekaboo! our play time for today is over, let's go get something to eat!
the hotel we stayed was so far away from Tuolumne River, at first Ti mom actually wanted to camp but turned out she booked the wrong camp site, and the correct one sadly it's first come first serve, we did not want to risk for not having a spot so we decided to stay in hotel and drive almost 2 hrs per day back and forth, thank god we have more people to rotate!
the second day we went to Tuolumne River Trail, the way drive up there was pretty rough, even me got nerves during the ride, AWD with a good driver recommend, be courteous to other cars so no one will fall off cliff.
we started to see poop here and there when we hiked, those don't look like horse waste, before I could come up with an animal, Ti mom suddenly rushed back and told me she saw a bear, we were all freaked out but finally realized that brown thing on the slope hiding in bushes was actually a cattle.
we had no idea how can a cattle live here or maybe it belongs to someone? it was surrounded by tree and bushes, is the cattle stuck? when our pups spotted that massive creature, Tissue and Tinkerbell ran up to go against it, I think that poor cattle did not care about two tiny little ferocious dogs, what scared it the most could be Ti mom's screaming.
we abandoned regular trail and cut down to get close to water
this is a 12 miles round way hike, we spent more time playing by the river instead of finishing it
hello princess!
maybe it was the tiredness, the way back out seemed to be less scary
the 4.4 mile Preston Falls trail along the north side of the Tuolumne Rive was our last stop on day three, the entrance is confusing and the trailhead is actually called Stanislaus National Forest Trailhead.
The hike is moderate with undulating hills, one of the great things about this trail is that there are several places along the way that you can stop and enjoy the river
come on Tinkerbell! you can do it! that poor little girl swam all the way to the other side and somehow decided it's too scary to swim back.
we sort of gave up on hiking automatically and went straight down to the river at early stage.
Tiru with her boots as always, I wish there could be a better secure shoes design so we don't have to look for missing one everytime we have her wearing them.
wink wink ;)
this is another beautiful spot we found with shades, and a huge flat rock that you can picnic in the middle of the river, how cool is that!
Actaeas managed to swim across by himself to find us :)
and he didn't even wait for me to help him getting back
it's time to go now! stop hiding there, I can see you!
we had a ranger showed up and tailgated us on our way back, it was frightening just like having a portal driving behind you on the highway even you didn't do anything wrong... or maybe this kind of phobia is just for Californian?
we talked to the ranger and he was just checking out to make sure no one stays in the mountain overnight, he also told us about poison oaks.
they are almost everywhere along the trail, at first I did not really mind, but the ranger told us it's not that we will be "safe" if we humans keep away from those poisoning plants, the problem begins when dogs walk through poison oaks and than we hug our dogs.
I wish i'd thought of that :::(
itched like hell!!!
I had rash all over my arms...
itched like hell!!!
I had rash all over my arms...
I definitely think this trail is nice, but you will have some flies in your face for the beginning part of your hike which is kind of annoying to me.
one done, I have few more catch up posts to go :)
the whole point of writing a blog is to "document" Actaeas' life, I know his life is lot shorter than mine so I don't think I should stop doing it, I've been trying to keep myself motivated again recently.
I used to keep a diary everyday started when I was in primary school, I don't do it that often now but I still have a habit writing something for special days or memories. I am sure no one will have interest to know my life, but I hope if I put Actaeas' "journal" up here, maybe one day someone can actually benefit from it.
