Kayaking and Hiking Adventures

  Season 5 . Yosemite National Park - Hikes # - 9 & 10 Point of Interest :  So much! Half Dome, El Capitan, Glacier Point, Mirror Lake, and more. Distance : How much time do you have? Hundreds of miles of trails. (Hiking Page) Difficulty : You decide. Some easy, some really difficult. Lots in between. Bathrooms:  Yes. Many, well placed, clean Parking : Quite a bit, but it gets really busy during the days Transportation : Hiking, Biking rentals, Park transit buses, YARTS buses to bring you into the park. EV Chargers :  Yes, mostly around lodging, level 2 Planning Wow. Where to start? How about planning to visit Yosemite. You have to plan ahead because it's so popular. Campgrounds and lodging go quickly. We ended up staying outside of the park at a private campground about 30 minutes away from the park, but then there's another 30 minutes to get into the valley. We spent 3 days in Yosemite. Days 1 and 3, we used the YART shuttles to take us to the park. ...

  Season 5 . Hike # - Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Starting Location:  parking lot near entrance Point of Interest :  Wildlife (birds, rabbits) native plants Distance : Variable (trail map ) Difficulty : Easy. Level packed trails that are maintained Bathrooms:  Yes, at visitor center Parking : yes (under construction while we were there.) EV Chargers :  No We actually walked here twice, on the way to and from Yosemite. We stayed in Willows, CA, and this is only about 6 miles from our hotel. The Refuge has walking trails that are well marked, and also a self guided Auto Tour, which was closed while we were there, due to construction on the parking lot and access road. The trails were still open, so we headed out early in the morning to beat the heat. The trails are well marked, and maintained. There were many rabbits running around, and a wide variety of birds. We saw bees and dragonflies as well. We did not take the auto tour, since it was close...

 S5. Hike #7 - Upper Table Rock Starting Location: Upper Rock Trailhead Point of Interest :  Great views of the valley and surrounding mountains, geology,  Distance : about 3 miles, depending on path at the top. Difficulty : Easy to moderate. Some rocky areas on the trail Bathrooms:  Yes Parking :  paved lot with decent amount of parking EV Chargers :  No I I've driven by Table Rock a lot of times in my life, always wondering what the view from the top would be like. We were in town for a wedding nearby, and had the time for a hike, so we headed up. We were staying in Eagle Point, and it was only a 15 minute drive to the Upper Table Rock Trailhead. Did you know that there are 2 Table Rocks? I did not know this until today. There is Upper and Lower Table Rock. Upper is to the East and is a bit taller. The views as you climb are amazing. We got there around 9am, and there were not many hikers, plenty of parking. The weather was perfect for hiking. The path i...

S5. Rafting #1 - Upper Rogue River at Shady Cove Starting Location:   Office of Rapid Pleasure Rafting in Shady Cove, Oregon - we drove to McGregor Park Boat Ramp to put in.  Point of Interest :  Upper Rogue River, wilderness, wildlife, class 2 and 3 rapids Distance : about 10 river miles. Time on float:  Just under 3 hours Bathrooms:  Yes, at rental office and portapotties at boat ramp Parking :  lots, with plenty of parking for trailers EV Chargers :  No Rentals:  Yes, at Pleasure Rapids, both guided and just equipment We were in town for a wedding this weekend, and one of the pre-wedding activities was a Rafting trip on the Rogue River. We were up for that! We had about 25 people from the wedding party and families together, including all 9 of our immediate family. The weather was pretty good. A bit on the chilly side maybe, but no wind. We had 1 official guide for our group, so the other boats had whoever sat in the back to steer. Our boat had...

  Buena Vista Starting Location:   Boat Ramp at Buena Vista Park Point of Interest :  Willamette River, just downstream from the confluence of Santiam and Luckiamute Rivers Distance : about 11 river miles. Time on float: Just over 3 hours Bathrooms:  Yes, brand new vault toilets Parking : just paved, with plenty of parking for trailers EV Chargers : No Rentals: No Our First float of the year, so we went somewhere relatively close, and had a friend shuttle our truck down to Independence for us. That was nice. The weather was great, although a bit windy. We were waiting for the ferry to head across, and then go behind, but the driver actually reversed back to shore, and waved us through. I'm assuming this is due to the kayaker who died under the ferry last year. No big surprises on this float, having done it several times before. We did stop to pee on one of the unnamed islands, but did not swim today. We only saw 2 other boats, both pulled up on shore, and on...