Donner Pass Tunnels Hike

The abandoned tunnels (Summit Tunnel) at Donner pass is a really fun area for an easy hike.  Kids could spend days here exploring.  Kai was quite enamored with this place as there are old train tracks with tunnels, creeks to cross, rocks to hop over, and beautiful view for everyone.

The first part is uphill over some rocks, but once you hit the fire road it's a easy, flat walk.  It had to be, as it's an old railroad track.  The tunnels are covered in graffiti... and I don't really condone this type of behavior, but some of it is really well done.  And at some point it becomes art right?  And it's inside a tunnel... it's not really "natural" anymore...

The lighting inside the tunnels requires a nice DSLR to capture.  Then every once in a while the tunnels open up to a beautiful view.

The tracks were first used in June 18, 1868 until 1993 when Southern Pacific pulled up the 6.7 mile section of Track #1 over the summit.  This line was replaced by the longer, "Mt. Judah Tunnel" in 1925.

Oh, and I think it's officially off limits.  So don't go there.  Or at least plead ignorance.

Lots of info online... here are some of the more useful links:

• http://www.arounddonnersummit.com/places/railroad.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Pass
• good suggestion for a short loop hike... http://onthesummit.net/wordpress/activities/trails/donner-pass-history/
• http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Tunnels.html#Summit_Tunnel_Map
• http://www.sierranevadageotourism.org/content/donner-summit/sie27ACE11D587F32CB9

LOTs of graffiti in the tunnels... some folks spent a long time back here...  

Kai heading towards the beam of light

Kai turned into an angel!

There are some openings in the tunnel so you can get a view of Donner Lake below

The first opening...

tunnel pano... tough lighting for panos

mo' 'fiti

we turned around at the second opening... perhaps .5 miles into the tunnel, but folks ride their bike through here all the way to Donner Lake.  Pretty flat, and probably a bit boring, but would be a novel ride.

Looking back at our Schmienna...

Some petryglyphs at the Trailhead
http://www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org/pages/storiespages/petroglyphs.html

Kai showing off his bouldering skills as he wanted to read the Petroglyph sign "by HIMSELF!"

after the hiking we drove down for 5 min to Donner Lake... the beach itself was waay too windy, so we went to the beach by the creek....

Where it was naked playtime for the boys, and down beach time for Kimbo.

Check out this cool map of the railroads in CA.

Skiing Trifecta: BC, Resort, Skate....

Well, I didn't have high hopes, but considering I've only gone on 1 dawn patrol this year, I decided I'd get out no matter what.  So at 5 am I got up, drove 5 min, skinned for 15 min, skied for 5 min, and waited for Mingus for 20 min.  The snow was quite crusty, and it was really cold out, but I got some great views of the sunrise and was glad I went.  Still haven't had a "bad" dawn patrol experience.

And lo and behold, the dawn patrol turned out to be the start of a skiing trifecta day.  Backcountry skiing in the morning.  Resort ski in the afternoon, and skate skiing during naptime.  I only got in 2 real runs in at Alpine, but spent a good 2 hours with Kai on the lifts at Alpine.  He is starting to cruise on his own at the resort... although his lack of fear is a concern.  After we made it home, I put Kai down and went skate skiing for my 7th day of the season, and 10th time in my life.  I think I'm getting the hang of it now.

Here are some more pics.  I've posted them on instagram too, if you wanna follow me @ snowymonk.  I mostly post for the sake of having the geotags on Strava link up.  http://instagram.com/snowymonk

Check out White Wolf after this storm...

vs 2 weeks ago.  

Skate Skiing.  This halo was very prominent all day long.  

High Plains Drifter! 

Weekly Pano: Rodeo Beach Hike

Another gorgeous SF winter day.  Shorts and T-shirt weather.  We went up from Rodeo Beach past Battery Townsley up toward Hill 88.  A dog friendly trail... not so stroller friendly.  For all the dog friendly areas in the headlands... check out this map.
http://www.parksconservancy.org/assets/park-improvements/pdfs/marin-headlands-map.pdf

Chico with the Fam!

So for Kimbo and I's anniversary, we've been going on a local getaway for the last few years.  This year, we decided to go check out Chico, CA... the last time I've been here was when I was 15, and went bungee jumping off a 300ft + bridge with the athletic director at Southern Oregon University... but didn't really get a good sense of what Chico is all about from our gas station stop.

I knew that Chico had Sierra Nevada Brew Co. as well as a huge municipal park with swimming holes to explore.  Initially I wanted to take my newly acquired canoe up there and do a section of the Sacramento River... but I settled on just taking the tandem and my road bike up there instead.  The canoe would have been fun, but it was just too much hassle.  Anyway... enjoy the pics.

check out this bird's nest I found in our driveway...

We timed the drive to coincide with Kai's naptime, and he's been doing great in the car recently.  Making road trips fun & easy.

a quick 2.5 hrs later, we were in Chico!  We went directly to Sycamore Pool in Lower Bidwell Park.  Located right next to downtown Chico, it has playgrounds, pools, trails for hiking, mtn biking, horseback riding, and tons on swimming holes.  It's also the third largest municipal park in the Golden State.  

How awesome is this pool?  Cleaned & drained weekly, free and open to the public.  Our AirBnB host told us how back in the day he'd come here after a night on the town and jump in.  Definitely raises the standard of living in for Chico-ites... We're in the shallow end (1 ft?) over here... it gradually gets deeper on the other side.  

Kai, "Wa-Wa... Wa-Wa.... (giggle)... Wa-Wa..."

After our visit to the pool, we went to Sierra Nevada Brew Co for an early Dinner.  The tour is supposed to be awesome, but kids under 12 aren't allowed for safety reasons.  But it was booked up anyway.  If you go, call and reserve a spot the day before.... it's free.  And ride your bike... even if it's broken, they've got tools there for you to fix it.  

The brewhouse is very kids friendly.  Especially in the early dinner hours when we arrived.  I think 50% of the tables had kiddos at them.  It's quite the tourist attraction with a free brewery tour, great food, beers, and a gift shop.  

4 samplers for 3$!  I got 2 of em... 

The winner of the US EPA's "Green Business of the Year" in 2010 along with a host of other awards;  Sierra Nevada Brew Co not only houses solar panels, but is the only brewery in the nation with Hydrogen Fuel Cells.  

The next morning, we went to check out the Chico Farmer's Market on our tandem.  A great atmosphere with cheap produce right downtown.  

Which means it's minutes away from Caper Acres, which is quite possibly the coolest playground we've visited.  The whole area is fenced in, with tons of unique play structures for the kiddos to explore.

Kai zooming down the biggest slide in Caper's Acres.  After getting down and saying, "Mo! Mo!" He climb back up and zoom down again.  

After we tired Kai out, we headed off to the California Nut Festival.  25$ gets you 5 drink sample tickets and 5 food sample tickets, a glass, entertainment (2 stages, including Joe Craven), and some cooking demonstrations.  And unlike events in the Bay Area this was very chill, with plenty of room to spread out and stroll around.  

Sampling one of the dozens of breweries/wineries...

Kimbo with Kai still asleep in the CitiMini.

This fountain provided at least an hour of entertainment for Kai.  Which was great, as we could listen to Joe Craven from here, while drinking and eating our samples.

Bees!

Pumpkin...

Kai with his cuddle buddy, we call him Kat.  

Kai ready to drive!   

After the Nut Fest, we drove back to the Sycamore Pool so Kimbo could take a nap while I played with Kai at his favorite pool.  Here, I experienced one thing that tainted my Chico experience... there was a guy with his family there with a huge swastka tattoo on his chest (amongst other tattoos all over his body).  But really?  A swastika tattoo?  I'm aware that the swastika is an old symbol and was once used to mean many things... but these days, it just means you are a white supremacist.... in fact displaying a swastika is  illegal is many countries... Visiting such child friendly towns like Chico is great... but often times you only see the green grass... and not the decomposing disease infested rat.

... anyway, enough ranting, and back to the fun.  The next morning, I went on a quick 20 mile ride to the Sacramento River and back.  Very flat.  No traffic.... a good way to start your day.  

Then I hopped on my other bike.  The one that seats Kimbo and Kai behind me, and we made our way to  Beatniks (as recommended by our Air BnB host), for a delicious brekky.

and happens to be across the street from Caper Acres...

Kai didn't explore the tunnels on day 1!

Sliding down the crooked house.  

And from the castle.  

Kai enjoying the fountains at the City Plaza.  He LOVED this place.  

His tongue was out 50% of the time.

... too much giggling going on here...

Kai <3 p="" wawa...="">

What a cool city plaza

Tons of kiddos, babies, etc...

On the way out of town, we passed by a baby/maternity clothing swap... 

And GoodGirl hit another milestone...

Going through Yuba City, where chickens run wild.  Seriously... just like Kauai.  http://mkircus2.blogspot.com/2012/02/chickens-of-yuba-city.html

And after a quick burrito stop in Sacramento, we were back in the bay, where the weather was still nice.

We stopped at Pt. Richmond to take Mingie out.  We loved our trip to Chico, but we were glad to be back in the reasonable temperatures and most importantly the sea breeze, which we weren't allergic to.  We were sniffling, crying, and sneezing the whole weekend.  

Bye Bye...