Snakes...

 ...within the grasses.

This pink flowering plant is called Snake plant since it's stems wander ...

and intertwine with the grasses. 

We were back at Acorn Campground in Tuttletown for a couple of days of relaxing and Spring hikes. 

From site 62, we were able to see the lake and...

the bridge. It's like where is Waldo in this photo, but in this case it's the bridge.

It's so nice to see the water level up. Our hikes along the shoreline were beautiful since Spring here is in full bloom!

Besides seeing the Snake plant, we saw White Fairy Lantern. Having PlantNet on our phone is so helpful in identifying these plants that we aren't familiar with.

The grasses this year are super high, due to the large amount of rains this past winter. 

Even though the grasses were so high, beautiful patches of flowers were in full bloom.

We hiked the trails for three days. First day in one direction, the second day in the reverse direction, and last day a short hike down to the point. It never gets old! So much peaceful beauty to heal the soul!!

Where the Ospreys Rule!

We headed back to our favorite lake during St. Patrick's Day weekend thinking the campground would be close to empty.

And we were correct! We were able to get our favorite site too!  

An easy walk down to picnic table!

Between the views, easy parking the trailer into site, the short walk down to the picnic table, great hiking trails right from the campground, and few folks at this time of year camping, we loved this area at this time of year. You couldn't pay me to come here in late spring or summer when it is hot...and it gets HOT! 

After lunch, we headed out to hike the trails. One of the trails heads down to the boat launching area. This weekend the parking lot was full-a surprise to us! We discovered there was a Bass fishing tournament. 

Onward we hiked just a bit inland and spotted this osprey hanging out on a branch just above the trail we were on. He showed he wasn't a fan of us by pooping. Luckily his aim was off!

We headed down to our favorite point before heading back to camp. We were surprised at the water level height. Back in April 2021, this area was so low that we took a hike down to look at the lupine. Back at camp, we enjoyed a quiet and restful evening.

Tarantulas and Love

We went to Eastman Lake to camp and check out the water level.  Last time we were here in Feb 2022, the lake was almost dry. On this RV trip, we were elated to see the lake full--or almost. We learned that they had released some water from the lake that week. It might be in preparation for this winters rains or it could be that the farmers are in need of water for their crops. 

We also learned that end of October/ beginning of November is Valentine's Day for Tarantulas!! They are out looking for love. We saw 8 of them while hiking the trails. 

We also saw 1 bald eagle, two coyotes, 1 rabbit, and two deers. 

And lots of jets busily heading to their destinations.

For the first time, we checked out the visitors center, which is excellent and has an awesome vista point. The views of the lake and the Sierras that day were spectacular and so clear. 

This is the view of the dam from the visitor center.  

We met a guy fishing that told us more history on the dam and Chowchilla. We drove over to the day-use area to hike to 1.5 mile trail there. The trail is ok with great views of the lake, but...

I prefer this trail to Raymond Bridge! 

Wildcat campground doesn't have views of the lake, but I don't care with a view like this right out my window. I kept looking for a coyote to come walking up to the window, but none showed. Instead, we were serenaded at night from the howling of the coyotes! Eventually, they stopped and we fell into a peaceful sleep. 

New Melones Tuttletown

 Last time we were here at Acorn was in December 2021, which was the last time camping with Meeks.

This time we picked a new site for us....

with a view of the bridge and lake that is now 80% capacity. 

At this site, we were able to access the picnic table with no steep grade down. 

After a relaxing lunch with the spectacular view of lake, we headed off to hike almost the entire trail system. We hiked the trails closer to the lake. The only sections not hiked were a portion of the Black Bear loop and the trail from Acorn campground up to the Entrance Station. Total miles were 6.15. Nobody else was using the trails, at least we didn't encounter anyone-- not even a mountain biker. We saw numerous deer that were alone. One was over by the dump station.

The winds started to pick up when we returned from our hike. That only lasted about an hour. As evening settled the temperatures dropped. We stayed warm inside the RV eating our veggie/mushroom ramen soups.

Fraser Flat

 

Fraser Flat Campground is one of our favorite campgrounds in the Stanislaus NF since there are numerous forest roads to hike and explore located close to the campground. 

We got lucky by arriving around 10 AM to snag site 7. We snagged this site last year. It is located away from the river and closer to the road 4N01, which means away from the crowds. We really don't use the picnic area of this wonderful site. Instead, it's fun sitting up by the RV watching other campers' children bicycle around the loop below the site. 

After settling in and having lunch, we hiked 4N61 from campground to 4N14 and back, about 5 miles. We noticed some bear scant heading up to the junction of 4N61 and 4N13, close to the flume. This year there was one person camped up the hill near the flume. 

On Sunday, we hiked the 4 miles along 4N13 that follows the flume/ditch on the north side of the Stanislaus River into Strawberry and another 1.5 miles to the Strawberry General Store. The General Store is just ok. Our return trip to camp was by way of Old Strawberry road and then the Strawberry Grade Trail down to Fraser Bridge. That trail is very pretty with a gentle incline since it was once a railroad bed. Total hike was 10.2 miles. The hike on 4N13 had four steep inclines.  Next year we'll just hike the Strawberry Grade to town and back to omit those grueling elevations.

Hope Valley Campground

 

We got lucky the weekend before Labor Day weekend by snagging a first-come-first-serve site at Hope Valley campground.  Five years ago, we tired to camp here but found the campground full.

This time we left earlier to arrive in time to claim a wonderful site away from the main campers.

Nobody was at the double site on one side of us, and the other side was forest. Each campsite was very well maintained!

We wondered if the picnic table was sitting low due to heavy snows sinking the table down into the ground. 

Across the street from the campground is Hope Valley. It's a gorgeous valley!! After lunch and a short nap, we headed across Blue Lakes Road to explore the area.

The west fork of the Carson River runs through the valley.

The short trail just takes one to the river, which was very low. After exploring this area, we headed to Faith Valley to do a short hike. 

Five years ago, we didn't know the name of this valley that we had dispersed camped. I thought is was all part of Hope Valley, but this year we learned that there are two separate valleys. 

I did remember a short hike that starts at the Faith Valley parking lot. This trail runs parallel to Blue Lakes Road with a slight incline and ends at the road. We did this hike to get acclimated to the 7,000 + ft before our more strenuous hike the next day, Sunday. 

Returning back to the car, we noticed some other hikers coming from the valley on another trail, which is difficult to see and has no trail marker.

Folks with horses use this trail, a known horse trail. After talking to the hikers, they told us it is about a 7 mile round trip hike that follows the river. We hiked a small portion of the trail through this huge meadow before heading back to camp for the evening. 

 Five years ago, we had hiked on the PCT heading south due to the heat and wanting to be under the canopy of pines. This year, we headed north on the PCT in the direction of the Nipple. 

Yes, that is the name of the mountain next to Blue Lakes. The PCT doesn't go to the top at 9342 ft, thank God! 

This hike started at the parking lot. We hiked about .45 miles before crossing Blue Lakes Rd and then heading up through the pines. 

After a mile or so climb on the PCT, the trees disperse...

and spectacular views to the south are our first reward.

Overall this section of the PCT isn't very steep. 

We came across numerous patches of a California native, Wooly Mule's Ears. 

And to our delight, we saw hummingbird moths feasting on the coyote mint. 

We found some rocks to sit at while eating lunch and taking in the view of Lower Blue Lakes. 

There were patches of snow with some pink snow. This is caused from algae that turns the snow pink and speeds up the melting of the snow.

I found this patch of pink penstemon to be prettier than the pink snow. 

Before packing up and leaving on Monday, we took the trail from the campground and followed it about 1.5 miles before turning back. It was getting hot. We did chat with someone on his bike exploring the trails. He had ridden from Faith Valley disperse campground over to Hope Valley campground without a map or knowing where the trails would go. I found this Topozone's map after returning home. Wish we had had it before heading out on the trail from the campground. 

Hope Valley and Faith Valley will be calling us back to explore the trails that we discovered on this trip and to enjoy the peaceful and beautiful campground again.