After our successful hike to
Bull Run Lake we ventured to the
pool and had dinner with friends at the
Lodge. It was great to have some time to relax and good conversations, however after a successful hike our adventurous spirits had been let loose and we had to go out for more. Our thought process, start at
Sourgrass campground, walk along the river and in about three hours we should end up in
Big Trees State Park where my mom and grandma would meet us with lunch. First problem, the hike was not in our
hiking book, but we went anyway. The first 2+ miles went well, we were on a trail and following the river, then we hit some interesting
"Keep Out" signs (see slide show below), followed some fire roads, found a
compound, reminiscent of
Waco/Branch Davidion Stand-Off, where one person kind of thought we were crazy, but said our best bet was to cross the raging river (about four feet deep and 40 degrees), then we should make it to the park after about five more miles of walking. We went to the "river crossing," dipped our feet in and changed our mind. We had seen a
bridge about a half mile up stream and decided to walk up to it and cross. We had actually seen a
historical monument .... the real
Board's Crossing (yes the bridge was made out of wood, aka "boards"). We then followed a fire road for miles (and straight up hill) before ending up about two miles up the road from where we were dropped off, nowhere near Big Trees State Park and nowhere near our ride. Our new destination, the pool, an oasis of wifi, where we could e-mail my brother so he could text my mom and then hope she would have a signal while looking for us (yes it was confusing, but
Verizon and
AT&T are yet to provide reliable cell service in
Calaveras County). The plan worked, after about an hour and a half at the pool, our ride came and took us back to the Bradley Lodge where we could share pictures and stories of our lost adventure.
Next up, a more modest drive to
Spicer Reservoir (for those that know, this is where I went to a wedding a few years ago), we met up with the bride, her two twin daughters and the proud grandparents (dad was on a flight to New Jersey for work), and kayaked around the lake, feed the
geese (sorry, not
ducks), had lunch and got a little sun. Also, for those wanting to see the
awning we put up a few weeks ago, fully extended we took some
great pictures for you (also in the slide show below) and if you remember the
tree that fell onto our house a few months ago, we had the rest cut down as well.
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