We visited Split Rock.

On July 22, I wrote that the day before I left on Amtrak with my nine year old boys to embark on a vacation to Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe. The train had left a little late. When we boarded the train, I know I took two naps but I was not exactly certain when. I started writing and then I took a nap but at that point the train… I guess it was in the Yuba Canyon someplace.

One of the boys was being weird in the observation car so I decided that we needed to return to our seats and I gave them their iPads. I know I took a nap then. I woke up someplace near Donner Pass. I had a coke while watching the view from the observation car. The boys tried to have some of my drink but by the time they had it, it was gone.

At Soda Springs we looked at the sights and as the train we descended into the Donner Lake we packed up. When we got off, I took the boys to the Mexican restaurant even though I have started to bring food for the trip as back up. The plan of course is to eat it eventually, but it is just there to make certain we have something.

One of the boys spilled his root beer but it turned out OK. It wasn’t too hot outside but the mess fixed itself pretty quickly. We took the local transit service, TART Connect, to the Donner Lake Campgrounds. It is a free ride share offered locally. When we arrived, I selected one of the two backpacker sites. We set up the tent and I put everything away.

We visited split rock and I got some cool sunset pictures. I texted with friends and siblings. Everyone missed me or asked for pictures. I was overly chatty. I texted a picture to my family’s group chat. My older sister, who lives in Reno, told us that she wanted to see us the coming Saturday as we were winding down. So, I spoke to the boys and we agreed to go to Tahoe city the next day so we could be back at Donner Lake to meet her.

When we settled in, I realized I really needed to go to sleep. Strangely, after the boys had nodded off in their tent, a police car drove through. I was in the sleeping bag at that point and for some reason they needed to lean out of the car and say there were bears… Or perhaps they said “They were bears..” I wasn’t entirely certain but I knew that it would work out. It was overcast as we feel asleep and it even rained a little bit.

When we got up in the morning of the day that I wrote this, I had the boys break the site down as soon as we were able. We were all really groggy. I had a can of cold brew ready in my food stash. Sadly, the boys didn’t want to move around too much.

We eventually got everything rolled up and packed. It turned out we had enough room in our bags and the boys kinda were learning how to do it on their own. We walked to the entrance station for the park and I paid for our campground. We then walked to Cold Creek and caught the bus to Highway 89.

I looked at the post office when we got off and it was closed for some reason. We went to Starbucks where I showed them pictures of Olympic Valley. As our travels usually involve a lot of active travel (bikes, transit or walking), it can sometimes take a while to get them focused on the trip. I often have to use incentives like ipads or cookies. However, there are always moments with they don’t want to stop using their iPads or they lag and say everything is boring.

I put effort into reviewing the bus schedule and was miraculously able to get us onto the bus to Tahoe City then. When we got to the Tahoe city campground, the host gave us the ADA because the hikers in the hiker site were the no-good-rowdy-troublesome kind. The boys pitched our tent. One of them wanted to sleep outside – like his dad does–but I said no.

We stopped by Safeway then and went to the hotel across the street where I ordered a last minute reservation (they were booked solid for that night). After that we returned to the campsite and paid. I noted that the host was really nice. We walked the lake trail to the playground. I saw a pizza place on the way.

The boys loved the climbing wall at the playground. There were a lot of other kids there too. There was some private corporate party on the beach. However, it was overcast enough that there wasn't much novelty to being there. Occasionally there was even a little bit of rain.

It was pleasant and we had a lot of fun though. I let the boys run off and found something else to do. I think that the boys were embarrassed I was near them due to the number of kids around.

Later, the boys and I walked the trail to pizza, which was good. The dining room was really busy and we ended up sitting on the veranda. I walked around the restaurant and discovered there was a whole unused dining room upstairs– for special parties, I assumed.

We returned to the playground and got some ice cream. The sunset alpenglow on the tallest mountains above southlake was beautiful. I noted that my older sister was actually across the way at Sand Beach for an ABBA cover band.

We walked back to the campground and the boys got in their bags. I took the time to start writing.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Prepare for Our Donner Trip

On July 21, I wrote that I spent the weekend preparing for a vacation to Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe I had planned for my nine year old boys and I on Amtrak.

I picked them up from the ferry building the day before – they had just finished a trip to the Southern Yolla Bolly Mountains earlier in the week. We stopped through Sunday Streets on the way home. We saw the organizer and a few other people before heading back to the apartment. Then, later, I took them to REI to get them boots.

After dinner that night, we created a schedule for the morning. I have found that step especially useful because the kids see the times and make the connection. It also generates a sense of anticipation which I find drives their resolve to get out of the house. As they got ready for bed I could see that they were intent on getting a good sleep. I spent a few more hours packing as I had had no other opportunity to make get my stuff together that week.

I set an alarm and slept until 5:10a. It goes without saying that the boys followed the plan and we got out of the house by 6:20a. We caught a bus to Salesforce Tower and boarded the Capital Corridor bus to Emeryville.

At the station we ended up waiting three hours because federal cuts made less maintenance work. I thought that this was the ultimate irony given how nervous I had been getting ready. I was dead–I still was when I was writing about the day in my notebook.

When the train finally arrived, I had just finished showing them a greenstone fountain across the street. On the train we had had coffee and hot cocoa. The boys played iPad and I took a nap. The car was relatively new and the lounge downstairs was really different.

I sat with the boys to the café car and we played Uno, drank soda and had sandwiches. They got restless but didn’t fight too much. I gave them notebooks and iPads. They took naps too. I ended up carrying one of them to his seat after I was done writing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

West Point

On July 14, I wrote that Saturday night. My friend and I sat on the rocks behind the hotel we were staying at in Volcano – the Union Hotel. We saw a rabbit as we wandered over to the amphitheater. Sadly, the show was a private affair. Back at the hotel, we had to watch the Return of the King DVD because Two Towers was missing from the library.

I got up lazy the next morning at around 8:15 but we got going quickly. We went downstairs and had French toast. I was really content with my morning.

We drove to Highway 26 and we descended to the Mokelumne Crossing. It was a bit late so it was hot. We got the bikes out and tried riding the canal trail in the direction of Tiger Creek Reservoir. We had to stop in shade several times and we decided to take it easy at that point. I only wanted to see if the road between the reservoir and the highway connected anyway.

We gave up on going swimming and we went to West Point instead. We got a drink at Willow‘s restaurant. We even met Willow. She seemed like a nice lady. We had thought they opened later, but they were actually closing for the day.

I suggested we take a drive up the hill on Winton and we agreed that might be a nice idea. The drive gave me insight into the area and views of the Mokelumne River, Blue Mountain, Bear River and Blue Creek. It was a breath of fresh air for both of us.

When we returned to West Point, we went to the VFW. They told us about the nonprofit up the street, a supper club promoting local schools. So, we went there and discovered they were having their weekly dinner deal fundraiser. They offered us tri-tip and mac & cheese. The food was great and we were really happy about the whole experience.

We returned to the river then. It was not too late, but I only got in once. We clapped for a little girl jumping in the water. We decided that the water was too quick for real swimming though. So, we drove up to 88 then. I looked at a couple of other roads as we drove back. One went to the hardware store. We descended to Volcano and had a small meal and a drink.

The evening was pleasant. We went for a walk. There was an old apartment complex or something maybe part of the (now closed) St. George Hotel. We found two phone booths. We walked along the creek. There was a big mansion kind of house there. We watched Merchant of Venice from the DVD library at the hotel.

The next day, we got up and left at 6:45. There was food in the fridge for us. We drove to Pine Grove, Ridge, over to Highway 16 and out to Rancho Murietta.

After we got gas, we went through Sacramento to Vacaville and arrived in Vallejo a short while later. We got on Highway 37 and went to Novato. Most of the drive was unnoteworthy, but we had scones from the Union Hotel. We were stoked about seeing birds in the North Bay as we drove along. We put folk and country on the sound system.

We hit a bunch of traffic then but we got to the toll plaza a short while later. Then I dropped my companion off and after I unpacked I dropped the car off at the car rental place and caught a bus to work.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Garnet Hill

On July 12, I wrote that my friend and I got up at 7:30 and had breakfast downstairs in our hotel in Volcano, California. We left by around 9 and drove to Pioneer to look at maps, get gas and pack a lunch.

From there we descended to Lower Tiger Creek Reservoir and proceeded to the upper reservoir. I noted that it was paved most of the way but there was gravel in spots. Eventually, we transferred onto Salt Springs Road but it wasn’t really obvious where. As we had no cell coverage, I was relying on a cached mapping application on my phone.

The roads’ names changed with no transition so I had to stop to consult the map a lot. I discovered that Salt Springs’s connection to the highway there was actually closed so it was good that I had selected Tiger Creek Road. However, that also made me concerned that we would encounter another barrier somewhere. Luckily we were following the main aqueduct between Tiger and Salt Springs Reservoirs so it looked like, both on the map and in person, that we were on the right track.

Our anxiety over which way we were going continued until we got to Bear River though. The drive was really interesting and it took a really long time because the road was narrow, winding and steep. We thankfully had a lot of conversations on the way. When we crossed Bear River we noticed a guy with a bike and a potential swimming hole. That was about where we descended into Moore Creek Campground and crossed the Mokelumne River.

We arrived at the “Coast to Crest” Garnet Hill Trailhead one and a half hours late – at around noon. I think the total time for the drive was 2 1/2 hours. We put our hiking boots on then and began our ascent, which begins in a southeasterly direction. There were pick up trucks on the road ahead of us, one with a winch.

Basically, the Garnet Hill trail is an unimproved road which climbs above Moore Creek but follows its southeastern trajectory. It is primitive but because it’s in the national forest and not close to wilderness, people can drive their cars anywhere they want as long as it’s on a road. There are a few spurs which branch off to the creek at the intervals where the trail switches to the north.

I noted that the terrain is really rugged but passable for a four-wheel-drive. For instance, as we topped out on the second switchback, we passed a pick up truck owned by, what appeared to be, based upon plates and stickers, a professional geologist. It was parked on a northbound spur. No one we saw on the road knew who owned it though.

Halfway up the hill, my friend noted that the heat was slowing her down. So, I traded my bag with her to lessen her load. The temperature was pretty high.The grade was really difficult at this point too. We sometimes could only go a few yards before having to rest. I was also kind of worried about water consumption.

As we approached the base of the hill around the fifth switchback, the trail began trending in an eastward direction. We met two guys on a walk. Then we entered a more forested area on the south facing slope. At that point Moore Creek had already ascended into it’s own canyon and we were on the side of Garnet Hill proper.

Two switchbacks later we arrived at the saddle where the Coast to Crest Trail ascends to the top of Moore Creek. To the east we could see the granite walls of Calaveras Dome. This was where the trail we wanted split off to the west as it began the final ascent to the top of Garnet Hill. The forest was a little more sparse there. We met a couple who had just concluded their day searching for gems.

A short while later, my companion found the “dump“ on the east side of the hill. On the geology maps I was using this indicated a place where a bunch of rock had either been dropped or left behind from a dig. There was plenty of evidence of human activity there. The trail to the dump was exactly where the documents I had printed said it would be. Using that as a guide I began to understand how to interpret my surroundings.

From here the trail made its final stretch on the south side of the hill. As we approached the top, we were finally able to identify the veins of coarse-grained metamorphic rocks known as skarn which were formed by the contact metamorphism found in the area.

This was essentially where the ruins of the mine began and we immediately found numerous interesting specimens. I was amazed at how I could discern the way carbonate-bearing rocks had been replaced in the parent material as metamorphism progressed. In fact the geology was so varied at that point it was hard to stay focused on reaching the two landings at the top.

The first landing was clearly set up as a staging area for equipment when the mine was in operation. I gathered, based upon everything I knew about the location, that the central vein was just scraped out of the pit below and loaded onto trucks to be shipped to labs and processing plants elsewhere. The literature showed that a lot of chromite rich ore (tectites) had been mined from the location but it wasn’t economical so the mine had been abandoned.

We poked around in the dust and rocks for a good hour and identified a lot of different types of rock and minerals–mostly gneiss and garnet but there are accounts that epidote and other minerals have been identified. I was very tired at this point and was having trouble navigating the dust and sand.

We ended up climbing to the second landing–the actual top of Garnet Hill–separately. I looked out over the Mokelumne to the west and Salt Springs Reservoir to the East and knew I could see some of the towns we had visited in getting to the place. However, lacking cell reception I could only stare in awe.

I found my companion there sitting under a tree drinking water. We were really tired but not defeated. I encountered more stunning examples of the place's mineral beauty as we descended. My companion was ahead of me at first and at some point I actually started being concerned at our separation.

We got to the bottom at 3:30 and once we had gotten into the car and cooled down, we drove to Salt Springs Reservoir and dipped our feet in. The people with the pick ups we had seen earlier and the one with the winch were all at the lake. There were a bunch of other cars there too. After we parked and viewed the lake from the dam, I noted that there appeared to be a causeway that runs from the reservoir partially around the shore of the lake, but the trail actually ascends above the lake quite a bit. According to the map, it goes all the way back to the end of the canyon.

We wanted to go to the swim place my friend saw but the air had begun cooling for the late afternoon and we weren’t certain about the best way out. So, we decided to just head to Highway 88. I found Ellis on my maps easily enough but wasn’t certain about it until we had made it down into the canyon and up to the Bear River crossing.

As we climbed out of the Bear RIver we figured out where Ellis was using my map cache and local signage and we were able to get to Highway 88 pretty quickly. It was only a bit later that we made it to Volcano for a delicious fried chicken dinner.

We walked around town for a bit. We didn’t see any bats.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Underground Lakes

On July 11, 2025, I wrote that I had rented an all wheel drive vehicle the day before and when I woke that morning. I drove to get coffee before heading over to my friend’s house where she loaded her things into the car.

We went over the bridge and took 580 through Livermore. We got gas at Vasco Road and headed over Altamont Pass and onward to Stockton. Eventually we turned on to 88 and took Highway 49 to Sutter Creek. I told stories of the fun times I had had there while we looked at the shops and book store.

From there we headed up Sutter Creek Road and visited the Black Chasm Cavern National Natural Landmark. We had barely made it in time for the cavern tour, which turned out to be fantastic. There are a bunch of underground lakes there. They showed us the fairy cave which I thought was amazing. I bumped my head, but it was OK. I noted that the map they showed us in the visitor center afterwards was really interesting. There was also a geode display that the kids in the tour were ecstatic about.

When we were ready to go, we drove to the Town of Volcano and checked in to our tiny hotel. We had beers in the lobby and we walked over to the grocery store. We also visited Volcano Park and had dinner at the pub. The fried chicken was really good. Later we walked up to the cemetery and sat on the stoop and on the porch to manage the extreme heat of the late afternoon. That night we found Lord of The Rings in a stack of DVDs next to the antiquated player in our room.

 
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

We Climbed Candlestick Hill

On June 16, 2025, I wrote that my friend showed up with sandwiches before we went to the old quarry on Geneva Avenue to look at turbidites, which are fine-grained “anomalous” geologic deposits, most often shales, of turbidity currents. After that we drove over to Bayshore Park to look at the outcrops from the Franciscan Complex which makes up most of the geology of the Bay Area.

Later we climbed Candlestick Hill and I tried to figure out the specific materials of the rock. I found stuff which might be described as metabasite but there was a lot of serpentine as well. We looked at the tank on top and looked at the radio tower before returning to the bottom.

We went to the brewery nearby for a beer. The board games there were not enough so we continued to discuss geology. Later we returned to the Mission for a drink and a slice of pizza. We also ended up watching the movie Paprika.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

East Bay Bike Party

On June 14, of 2025, I wrote that the day before I got my bike and left for East Bay Bike Party at 7pm. I went to the empanada place before boarding a train and going to Mosswood Park near MacArthur Station in Oakland. I found some close friends at the entrance. I finally was able to meet a personality from social media from Las Vegas who I had known for a long time.

I noted that other social media personalities I knew were there also. An old school cyclist with a penchant for posting pics of sandwiches was there which was really cool. Turned out I know the lady who was marvelously leading with the flag was there too. She was leading the ride with a cyclist who normally brings his disco ball trailer.

The ride went one way and another, but ended up on California. I noted that my buddy from SF took a turn. I chatted with two riders with cargo bikes just like mine about how my motor had died. The ride leader’s daughter did North Berkeley turns.

The ride ended up on an alley in Berkeley. There were plenty of old school Butter Lap and SF Bike Party people. I saw a guy I knew from North Beach. I reconnected with an acquaintance from Butter Lap.

We left leisurely and went to a place in Emeryville near Amtrak. It was called Big Tank Park or something. The dancing was marvelous. I told the ride leader it was wild. People I knew but had never seen together were asking about each other.

We departed a bit late. The ride leader took us to Seventh Street via Target. By Mandela we had lost a lot of people, but there was a lot of dancing at Lake Merritt. I got selfies with the regulars including my buddy who has a tall bike. I saw the ride leader’s roommate.

I hopped a BART train home with all of the people and when I got home, I had a grilled cheese sandwich.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life.

This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.