A National Park Service ranger leads a walk at 11am daily to the Devils Postpile from the Ranger Station and today is the day we’re going along too.
But first, we’re moving from our lovely but sunny site next to the hikers for one under more pines and along the creek. Once we’re somewhat established, and have stashed some drinks and a watermelon in the creek, we make the 1.2 mile dash along the mostly level trail, crossing creeks, spying fish, towing the boy, and passing by the Postpile to make the 11am walk and talk.
About a dozen people join us, including a family covered in mosquito bites. They’d been backpacking Continue reading →
Day 5: On a mission to go fishin’ — Middle Fork San Joaquin River, Sierra
The Big Monkey wondered at first what we’d do for more than a day or two down here in Reds Meadow along the San Joaquin River near Devil’s Postpile National Monument. Now he never wants to leave!
Today we hiked from our campsite near the hot springs shower to the store and café to check it out. We’d heard from the PCTers and JMTers that the food in the café was good, especially the homemade pie! The boy wants to go fishing, so we need to get some tackle—maybe a pole, certainly some hooks and bait. Plus we need ice!
The trail to the store area leaves the campsite near the showers, climbs a little, traverses the hillside above the meadow, and crosses two small creeks before dropping to the small cabins and motel rooms available to rent. It’s an easy walk and offers views of the meadow, the granitic outcroppings, and lots of wildflowers beside, below, and above the trail including one of my favorites, leopard lilies, a striking orange spire against the green backdrop.
The store sells the usual back country goods—cold beer, ice, Continue reading →
After a leisurely breakfast of delicious french toast made with raison walnut bread from Schat’s famous bakery in Bishop (the secret of great French toast is to use exceptional bread, one egg per person, equal amounts milk plus a tablespoon or two, and soak for a long time!), we headed north along Highway 395 toward Reds Meadow Campground near the ski area of Mammoth.
We’re anxious about getting a campsite since this is such a popular summer destination for hiking, fishing and sightseeing so following a quick resupply at the huge upscale Vons in Mammoth, we climb to 9,000 Minarets Pass which will take us from the east side of the sierra to the west. Continue reading →
Day 3: Keough’s Hot Springs, 7 miles south of Bishop just off Highway 395, Eastern Sierra, California
Someone recently tried to convince me that I am a wine connoisseur. No—not yet anyway! A connoisseur to me means someone experienced, knowledgeable, an expert of sorts. I would admit to being a connoisseur of life, of exceptional places, and a few others things..but not yet wine.
Hot springs of the American west? Of that I am a connoisseur. I have tasted, experienced, evaluated, judged, tested the waters, and the soul of hot springs all over the western US and beyond Continue reading →
Slurp up specials on wine, bacon, and other culinary delights perfect for holiday gifts and meals at the Grateful Palate Warehouse Sale in Oxnard this Saturday November 22!
And yes, the sale is IN the warehouse–so once you get off the 101 freeway between Camarillo and Oxnard and head toward the ocean on Del Norte Blvd, drive around from the front office at 701 Del Norte Blvd Ste 205 to the back where there’s plenty of parking and a large loading dock door open for you to stroll on through first thing Saturday morning.
The sale starts at 9am–get there early for the best deals. You can bet someone will be cooking up bacon–maybe even Dan Philips himself! R Wines chef Greggory Hill will be there, preparing treats for us to eat while we roam the warehouse collecting cases of wine for ourselves and for friends. Grateful Palate sells coffee too–let’s hope a pot is brewing and real half and half to go in it!
In addition to wine, coffee, and bacon, you’ll find super high end soy sauce, real maple syrup, distinctive olive oils, and more.
The postcard I received in the mail promises up to 75% off on select stock. If past sales are any guide, there will be some wonderful wines at amazing prices. For example, I’ve been astounded by a 2001 RBJ Theologicum for $9.99 (that’s a Chris Ringland wine which blends granache and mataro). I will be picking up a bottle or two of Chris Ringland’s Ebenezer shiraz for sure and probably some Luchador as well. MMMnnn and maybe I’ll find an RBJ Mataro and and and…
As many people know, Grateful Palate recently cut back on the number of wines they import and the wineries they represent here in the states (here is Micheal Pollard’s list of what’s in and out). I imagine at this warehouse sale there will be a number of bin ends and previous vintages of these wines as well as wines they will continue to carry marked way way down from the $50-100 range to around $20-25. Pollard also has commented that Australian wines have been over valued. Watch also for “damaged” bottles–last time I picked up a couple of bottles of Majella shiraz for $10.
While the wine most people think of when it comes to Australia is shiraz, think sparkling shiraz for holiday gatherings. It’s festive, fun, and a sure conversation starter. The warehouse sale will probably offer Paringa sparkling red for under $10, as well as Trevor Jones and Majella for under $20.
The Grateful Palate Australian wine that I always have around is actually a port wine–Jonesy port (which Parker scored in the low 90s) which I can buy from Ventura Wine Company on Telephone near Market but will probably be a dollar or two cheaper at the sale. While the Jonesy is great as an every day port, I fell in love with Old Codger and another one with horses on it…I will be on the lookout for some unusual ports and dessert wines too to warm up cold winter nights and liven up the end of holiday meals.
In case you didn’t know, R Winery makes American wines as well–be sure to check out Ringland’s Green Lion cab if just to look at the bottle art. I can’t tell you how good it is because mine is still in the cellar at my mom’s house on the hill, so I’ll be able to keep it longer. If it was here, I would have drank it already!
Day 2: White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, Eastern California
After an easy oatmeal breakfast with coffee and exceptionally delicious treats from the Alabama HIlls Cafe and Hard Rock Legends bakery in Lone Pine (a croissant and even better a Danish made with locally grown fresh peaches), the boys play more ball and I dive back into Mysore yoga challenges with Barbara Henning (You, Me and the Insects). She’s plagued by bugs and heat; here we have no pestering insects and the temperature is perfect. My life is calm while she is learning how to manuever a scooter in crazy traffic…(has a car gone by yet today? Maybe one or two?) She is surrounded by hordes of people and no one she knows; the two people I love best are laughing and playing together. We can’t see or hear another human; there is no one else within miles.
Too soon, we pack up and continue to Schulman Grove. Random patches of wildflowers including various purple and violet penstamen delight us, and soon we’re at the Visitor Center. The Ranger on duty has been there 18 years; my first visit there was 20 years ago when I was on a college environmental studies field quarter with ecologists Dr. Kenneth Norris and Dr. Stephen Gleissmann. There was no visitor center or much information then; now it is a lovely space, a log cabin with windows and light and a wood burning stove for the plentiful cold days, especially in early season, around Memorial Day, when the days are cold and the popular 4 mile long Methusalah trail still has snow on it.
We spread peanut butter and jelly on bread and head up the Bristlecone cabin trail, a new trail built within the last 5 years. The trees may not be that “old” along this part of the trail (maybe a few hundred or a thousand not like the 3-4,000 year old trees on the other side of the mountain), but the child is excited about seeing the old cabins and the mine remnants and that motivates him to keep moving under the hot sun. Continue reading →
When I was in college, my environmental lit and writing class taught by Page Stegner (Wallace Stegner’s son) went on a rafting trip through the goosenecks on the San Juan River in the American Southwest. I traveled there with other students in climber Mike Carville’s brand new VW pop-up Westfalia campervan, and we stopped on the way at his dad’s place at Northstar Lake Tahoe which he was developing. That night I had a very vivid and strange dream which included walking in a leather mini-skirt along a trail in the redwoods; Continue reading →
from the Ranger Station and today is the day we’re going along too.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 