Showing posts with label California State Parks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California State Parks. Show all posts
so much fun!
we have been having so much fun shooting spring family photos in the SF Bay area! Time is just flying by.....even when it's pouring rain we are still out visiting California State Parks and Beaches, or doing puddle hikes. We are definitely enjoying each and every day here.
Are you following us on Facebook? If not, click the tap up at the top of this page and it will take you there. Facebook is so easy for us to update from the road that it gets way more attention than our actual website.
Here are a few examples of photos we've taken over the past few weeks:
Pacheco State Park
Have you ever been to Pacheco State Park? We go there quite often because it is pretty close to our 'home base'. It has great trees and skies for photos and nice trails to walk on with family. This I borrowed from the California State Park discription, but it tells all about the park and the history. Please take a gander when you have a chance.
Pacheco State Park is the last remaining portion of the Mexican land grant, El Rancho San Luis Gonzaga. Francisco Pacheco and his son Juan were granted the property and built the first house in Merced County on this land in 1843. The land remained in the Pacheco family through five generations until Paula Fatjo, the great-great granddaughter of Francisco Pacheco, donated the land in 1992 to be a park for future generations who share her love of animals, horse back riding, history, and unspoiled land. This land has been a horse and a cattle ranch since 1843 and has breath taking views of the Central Valley to the east and the Santa Clara Valley to the west.
The park has beautiful displays of spring wildflowers, scenic vistas, and outstanding trails for horse-back riding, hiking, and mountain biking. The 28 miles of trails offer several loop options to give visitors the choice of a hike or ride of from one to twenty miles or more. During the spring the park's grassy slopes abound with blossoming wildflowers. The park is home to tule elk, deer, bobcat, coyote, fox, several hawks, golden eagles and many other smaller animals. Cattle continue to graze on the ranch in the winter and spring months.
Among the historic features of the park are an old line shack used by Henry Miller's cattle company in the 1800s, part of the old Butterfield Stage line route, and the remains of the original Pacheco adobe. There is also a wind turbine farm which generates enough clean electrical power for 3,500 homes.
Although the total park area is 6,890 acres only the western 2,600 acres are open for public use at this time.
Location/Directions: Pacheco State Park is located 24 miles west of Los Banos or 20 miles east of Gilroy off Highway 152 on Dinosaur Point Road.
Address:38787 Dinosaur Point Road
Hollister, CA 95023
Telephone: (209) 826 6283 Fax: (209) 827 3704
Operation Hours: All year. Day use hours are 8:00 a.m. until sunset.
Seasons/Climate/Recommended Clothing: The area is semiarid, with daytime temperatures ranging from 80 to 100 degrees in the summer and 45 to 65 degrees in the winter. Evening are quite cool all year due to coastal marine air moving eastward across the Pacheco Pass. Remember to bring a hat, sunscreen, and a lot of drinking water especially in the summer months.
Camping: There are no facilities for camping except for special events. There is no potable water for human consumption at this time but there is water in the park's several lakes for horses. Camping is available at nearby San Luis State Recreation Area.
Recommendation: During the mild spring and fall months, visitors are encouraged to roam the hills that have been traversed by Central Valley Yokut Indians, Spanish missionaries and soldiers, Mexican vaqueros, gold seekers and bandits.
Special Events/programs: Springtime guided walks and rides highlight park history and wildflower displays. Call the park for dates and times.
Fees: $5 day use fee per vehicle
NOTE: No Dogs allowed on the trails
Pacheco State Park is the last remaining portion of the Mexican land grant, El Rancho San Luis Gonzaga. Francisco Pacheco and his son Juan were granted the property and built the first house in Merced County on this land in 1843. The land remained in the Pacheco family through five generations until Paula Fatjo, the great-great granddaughter of Francisco Pacheco, donated the land in 1992 to be a park for future generations who share her love of animals, horse back riding, history, and unspoiled land. This land has been a horse and a cattle ranch since 1843 and has breath taking views of the Central Valley to the east and the Santa Clara Valley to the west.
The park has beautiful displays of spring wildflowers, scenic vistas, and outstanding trails for horse-back riding, hiking, and mountain biking. The 28 miles of trails offer several loop options to give visitors the choice of a hike or ride of from one to twenty miles or more. During the spring the park's grassy slopes abound with blossoming wildflowers. The park is home to tule elk, deer, bobcat, coyote, fox, several hawks, golden eagles and many other smaller animals. Cattle continue to graze on the ranch in the winter and spring months.
Among the historic features of the park are an old line shack used by Henry Miller's cattle company in the 1800s, part of the old Butterfield Stage line route, and the remains of the original Pacheco adobe. There is also a wind turbine farm which generates enough clean electrical power for 3,500 homes.
Although the total park area is 6,890 acres only the western 2,600 acres are open for public use at this time.
Location/Directions: Pacheco State Park is located 24 miles west of Los Banos or 20 miles east of Gilroy off Highway 152 on Dinosaur Point Road.
Address:38787 Dinosaur Point Road
Hollister, CA 95023
Telephone: (209) 826 6283 Fax: (209) 827 3704
Operation Hours: All year. Day use hours are 8:00 a.m. until sunset.
Seasons/Climate/Recommended Clothing: The area is semiarid, with daytime temperatures ranging from 80 to 100 degrees in the summer and 45 to 65 degrees in the winter. Evening are quite cool all year due to coastal marine air moving eastward across the Pacheco Pass. Remember to bring a hat, sunscreen, and a lot of drinking water especially in the summer months.
Camping: There are no facilities for camping except for special events. There is no potable water for human consumption at this time but there is water in the park's several lakes for horses. Camping is available at nearby San Luis State Recreation Area.
Recommendation: During the mild spring and fall months, visitors are encouraged to roam the hills that have been traversed by Central Valley Yokut Indians, Spanish missionaries and soldiers, Mexican vaqueros, gold seekers and bandits.
Special Events/programs: Springtime guided walks and rides highlight park history and wildflower displays. Call the park for dates and times.
Fees: $5 day use fee per vehicle
NOTE: No Dogs allowed on the trails
favorite snap of the day
This is one of our favorite places to go walking, especially after a storm. The stormy skies reflecting in the water are always wonderful to see and make for beautiful snapshots. This is a walk we take on a paved trail in San Luis Creek, San Luis Reservoir.
MAP
MAP
Help SAVE Henry Coe State Park
We visited Henry Coe State Park yesterday again and did a family hike on Memorial Day. It was sad but great to see how many families and groups were there hiking and playing outside together. At the end of the Holiday weekend, there were still full parking lots, a big number of bikers riding up and down, and enough people on the trails that we had to say 'excuse me' and pull over to let others pass. ;)
2011 Kids Fishing Day
We visited San Luis Creek this morning to watch the families fish. We really enjoyed taking our daughter for her first fishing trip and she loved getting to use her new fishing pole.
7 more days!!!
We will be headed back to California soon, only 7 more days! Of course, once we leave we will be posting photos from stops along the route and you are welcome to follow along. We will be sharing on our Facebook Fan Site, so make sure you are watching.
Stops on the return trip may include:
Red Rock Park (near Gallop)
More stops along Route 66
Mojave Airplane Graveyard
Lake Havasu
Antelope Poppy Preserve
Stops on the return trip may include:
Red Rock Park (near Gallop)
More stops along Route 66
Mojave Airplane Graveyard
Lake Havasu
Antelope Poppy Preserve
Have you visited the California Missions?
Search Amazon.com for california missions
The architecture of the California Missions always gets my attention. I love to visit them, as often as possible. My favorite is in San Juan Bautista. I took a few pics there today, but i have filmed there many times in the past.
California Missions
The architecture of the California Missions always gets my attention. I love to visit them, as often as possible. My favorite is in San Juan Bautista. I took a few pics there today, but i have filmed there many times in the past.
California Missions
New friends!
Natural Bridges State Park
Yep, we even visit the California State Parks in the pouring rain! We went Sunday afternoon to the Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz. It was wet and cold, but so beautiful! For the first time, we went to the visitor center and read all about the Monarch Butterflies and then walked the boardwalk Monarch trail down to their 'resting place' at the bottom in the eucalyptus grove. At first glance, we saw maybe a dozen butterflies fluttering way over our heads. Even that small amount was cool! So, we started walking back, enjoying our stroll, when the guys noticed all of the 'clusters' of butterflies in the trees above. VERY NEAT! I guess this is what they do when the weather is cool, they cluster together for warmth. If you haven't seen them, you should really make a point of going. The reason why we didn't see them at first is that when they aren't flying, and are hanging upside down, they really look like the leaves on the trees. ;)
Catching up!
We have family visiting this week, so we have been even busier than normal playing tourists and enjoying the California 'liquid sunshine'. Yesterday, we drove up to take the steam train in Felton, California. It was raining sideways. But, we all wore raingear and still had a great time. The train ride is incredibly relaxing going through old growth Redwoods and fresh clean air. If you'd like to know more about it, I thought I'd throw in their website. http://www.roaringcamp.com/
Good morning!
Wow what a gorgeous day! So tired from the last few weeks of travel, but up and ready to get right back out there today. Today is Halloween, so we are trying to decide between more pumpkin patches or just going and playing at a California State Beach this afternoon. What would you do? ;)
Only a few more days until voting on Prop 21 here in California. There are some great videos that have been made for the contest with yesforstateparks. Want to see?
Click Here!
Our favorite is this one!
Well, time to wake up everyone else and get on the road! Here's a big hello from some of my friends at Point Lobos State Park!
Wildlife
Well, we just got back to Morgan Hill in time for the rain! We had a great time today at the wildlife refuges near Los Banos. Even though most of the Tule Elk hid from us and the mosquitos swarmed us and the hunters woke us up at 4am getting ready for opening day, it was a beautiful time!
Here are a few snaps from this morning.....
Have you ever been to Los Banos?
Good evening and hello from The Great Grasslands of the Central Valley. Have you ever been to Los Banos? I thought maybe I'd share a little history about this area in case you'd like to visit some day.
Los Banos history
San Luis Reservoir
Great Valley Grasslands
We are still on the road, back in Los Banos this evening, and then visiting the Tule Elk at the reserve in the am, followed by a nice walk and visit to the San Luis Reservoir, then hopefully we will make it to Santa Cruz by 5pm for the bonfire and smores! Beaches this weekend and then back on the road headed to Sacramento/Truckee/Tahoe and beyond on Tuesday. Happy weekend everyone! ;)
Thoughts of the day~
Thinking about the California State Parks today. To us they are one unit....one safe place to play even though they are not in the same location. They have brought us so much pleasure, especially over the last year. My daughter runs there, found her first sanddollar there, saw her first close up of a seal and otter there, learned to build sandcastles there, plays in tidepools there, watches birds there, hikes mountains there, hug trees there, uses bike trails there, and of course we take pictures there! ;)
Just a few more reasons.....
Why do I love the California State Parks? Here are just a few more reasons.......
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