Dogwood Trees

The Dogwood trees are in full bloom in the Stanislaus NF right now. Traveling to our campground this past weekend was such a delight. Dogwood trees were one of my parents favorite trees. They had numerous ones growing on their 2 acre wooded property. I don't recall those Dogwood trees ever looking this beautiful.

We camped at Wakalu Hep Yo campground by the Sourgrass Recreation area. 

A mudslide destroyed a portion of the campground and the bridge back in 1999.  

This is the bridge today. At the far end of the bridge by the bend is the entrance to the campground on the right and location of the mudslide. 

The view from the bridge is gorgeous! The mighty North Fork of the Stanislaus River is high this year. On Mother's Day weekend there were no folks out fishing, which was a surprise to us. On past trips here there have been numerous folks standing on or near the large rocks casting their lines. 

There are excellent views of the bridge along a small portion of the campground trail closest to the bridge. 

Since the campground was almost empty, we decided to try a site in the back area.  In the past, we have alway stayed at the sites closer to the entrance and camp host site due to the back area being full. 

Site 44 has a very nice area with a picnic table and area for tents. The plus to this site is that there are no neighbors!  It is situated away from the other sites in the back area. And perfect for the travel trailer!

It is also located close to the historic Miwok site. From our site is a path leading up to a clearing. 

Last time we were here at this clearing it was just grass and stones. Looks like someone is starting a spiritual maze. There was also a large firepit that looks like it hasn't been used. 

We hiked our favorite hike along the 4X4 road. This Mother's Day weekend only a couple of hikers were on the road. We were rewarded with numerous seasonal waterfalls. This waterfall was new to us and such a delight!

 

Seasonal Creeks and Waterfalls

We headed back to Wakalu Hep Yoo Campground off of Hwy 4 this past weekend.

Nobody was around our location of the campground. Everyone wanted to be at the end or back where it was dark and wet.

We were at site 2, which is located across from the camp host site and near the exit and entrance. Not even the camp host had arrived for the first weekend of the season.

That's correct! Nobody was around us. It was like we had the entire campground to ourselves. Just the way we like it, peace and quiet.

When we camped here last fall, this creek wasn't flowing. This is close to the entrance to the campground. We could hear this creek and the river from our site, a very soothing sound.

Luckily for us, a very large group of off-road vehicles had finished their touring of the road we wished to hike. They were all parked at the day-use area, Sourgrass, when we headed up the road to explore what mother-nature had created.

We were surprised at the numerous seasonal creeks that we encountered. Last fall the road was dry and there was only one creek to cross.

This is what the creek looked like in the fall.

And this is what the creek looks like this spring. We couldn't even cross the creek to continue on the road.

So as we headed back, we enjoyed the waterfalls.

One creek had numerous falls. If we were younger and willing to climb up the hill, it would have been fun to explore those falls too.

After a relaxing evening and a peaceful sleep, we explored other areas of the campground and found this snow plant hiding under a young pine.

The path under the bridge lead to this swollen creek. We didn't feel like crossing what looks to be a slippery bridge.

So instead, we crossed the bridge and explored a portion of the trail across from the day-use area before heading back to camp for lunch and breaking camp. Next time we visit here we will explore the rest of that trail.

Fairy Hut and Gargoyle

We headed back to Mt Madonna County Park to hike the beautiful trails that this wonderful park has to offer to hikers and equestrians.

We took a gamble by not making a camping reservation for a Saturday night, and we got lucky! Arriving early, around 10 AM Saturday morning, worked out to our advantage. We were able to snag a spot in Valley View 2.

We just managed to situate the RV into site 219 for optimum leveling. Most of the longer and more level sites were already taken.  After a lazy morning relaxing at our site, we headed out for a hike from Valley View 2 campground to Tan Oak campground. We had never explored the Tan Oak area of the park during our last visits to Mt. Madonna.

Walking under the canopy of redwoods and manzanitas was so peaceful. And even though all of the campgrounds were busy with folks enjoying the park, few folks were out hiking the magnificent trail system of Mt Madonna.

We hiked by a couple of dried up seasonal streams that cross the trails.

And we marveled at mother-nature's work of art.

Some of the woodland plants were in bloom, along with the meadow flowers that we saw as we crossed a small meadow near the Blue Springs Trail and Meadow Trail junction.

Back under the canopy of redwoods near the Tan Oak camping area, we came across this structure that looks like a fairy hut. Some kids must have had hours of fun entertaining themselves...unless there really are fairies living here.

After a delightful time of exploring the trails, we headed back to camp for a relaxing evening and pizza! We tried our new Biolite Camp Base oven, which worked wonderfully after we got the hang of keeping the fire going.

Cooking the Trader Joe's Gluten Free Cauliflower pizza with added toppings on the Biolite made the BEST gluten free pizza. The crust was crispy, not soggy like in the oven at home. The wood gave the pizza a nice smoky flavor to the crust too! I topped the pizza with small mozzarella balls, olives, basil, artichokes, smoked cooked red bell peppers, and garlic. It was so Yummy!

The next morning we headed out for a short 3 mile loop before packing up camp. We hiked from Valley View 2 to Blackhawk trail to hike a loop: Blackhawk, Iron Springs, Ridge, and Contour trails.

Nestled beside some of the trails are archery range areas. We still haven't seen anyone using the archery ranges; this is our third visit to the park.

It's very difficult to get lost here since the trails are very well marked and informative on a trail's route.

While hiking the loop, we came across a gnarly, root structure that looks like a gargoyle of the forest. The gargoyle is pointing one down the Contour trail in the direction to a very small waterfall.

We heard the water falling over the logs before spotting the falls. 

We are looking forward to many more hikes in this magical forest with beautiful treasures.

Chasing Waterfalls and Making Burgers

We purchased a new toy for camping, a Biolite Camp Stove and Grill-top. We were excited to try out our new toy; but before we did, we headed off to chase waterfalls at our new favorite campground, Arroyo Seco. Yes, we were just there less than a month ago, but we enjoyed our stay at this pretty spot that we decided to head back before the warm-weather campers make it difficult to reserve a spot at the campground. Plus, it was Spring Break for our college son, and we thought he would enjoy seeing the waterfalls and hiking the region.

So, off the three of us went to hike closer to that waterfall my husband and I tried to hike to on our last trip. This time we brought with us water shoes for crossing the Santa Lucia Creek.

This time the water level was higher due to the rains the previous week.

We had to cross the creek twice to get closer to the falls...

And do a lot of bouldering to make it to this little island in the creek just below the falls. Doggy wasn't happy with the wading across the creek-she isn't a water dog.

A couple of smaller falls were running. We saw a newt trying to run for cover while we hiked through his lush, green habitat. He was too bashful to pose for a photo; so, my son posed.

The seven mile round trip hike took us by a hut that was used by rangers in the 1920s.

Swimming holes along the Arroyo Seco river can been seen from the trail we hiked along. The weather was warm enough for a swim that day, but we wanted to get back to camp to set up the Biolite grill camp stove.

I collected twigs, while husband looked after the burgers. Surprisingly, not a huge pile of twigs and sticks were needed. I only needed to pick up the fallen sticks around our site; which wasn't too much, but more than the amount in the photo.

The first batch of burgers were so yummy! We were so happy with the performance of the stove and grill top that I cooked the last two burgers as the sun was quickly setting.