So this last Sunday we drove up highway 88 to Hope Valley. We’ve been dreaming about this place since we discovered it late last year. It’s 125 miles from Manteca. It’s full of our beloved granite rocks and pine trees. It has several places to camp. And it has a great little trout stream. It’s majestic. It’s just over the crest of the Sierras so it’s technically the eastern Sierras, Yum’s favorite side. And the PCT goes right through it. So it’s a very special place.

Yum and I camped Sunday night after a long drive and a very late evening of fishing (Yum was still fishing by moonlight). If I hadn’t mentioned bears, Yum might have fished until midnight. We had a great campfire and a quick bite to eat and were off to bed, snoozing before the witching hour.

The next morning we broke camp and drove a quick 25 miles to Minden/Gardnerville. It’s amazing how close Hope Valley is to this part of Nevada. One day Yum and I will live in the Minden area, and Hope Valley will be our playground. Anyway… after breakfast we started home. We decided to take highway 4.

I knew there would be lots of places to fish, and I was right. I must have stopped the car 3 or 4 times to get out and fly fish on the way home. It was a perfect afternoon, one that fly fishers dream about. My grasshopper patterns were killing. Every other cast was granting me a strike. The top water action was incredible. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me whoopin’ and hollerin’ way down here in the city! As the late afternoon became early evening I found myself in the middle of a hatch, and those hungry little trout would snap at anything. At one point, while I was wading upstream to the next riffle, I let my line drag behind me. A brave little brookie rose and took my fly. I wasn’t even looking! Magical.

Highway 4 was the long way home, but it was worth it. I’ve only been back in the city for two days and already I wish I were back in Hope Valley.

Here are some pics of highway 4.

Sonora Pass is the second highest highway overpass in the Sierra Nevada. It’s also the last one on my list. Yum and I have traversed highways 120 4 88 50 80 70 and now 108. More red ink for our map of California! (we have a map on our wall at home with red ink tracing all the major roads we’ve traveled together)

First we stopped at Kennedy Meadow Resort. It’s a nice little place tucked away in a corner not far from the main road. There is a general store, a restaurant, a bar and many cabins and campsites by the river. About 15 minutes walk up the trail and over the hill is the huge meadow. The river flows alongside the meadow, and looks to be PERFECT for fly fishing. The water was a little high this trip, but in about four weeks it should be JUST RIGHT! I’ll be back.

Yum and I explored this area for a few hours and then continued our journey up highway 108, ever closer to Sonora Pass. Lightning arced across the sky and thunder BOOMED and echoed across the canyons and mountaintops. It began to rain pretty hard. The road became narrower and windier, and the rain turned to snow. Snow! This close to June? Yes.

It’s always amazing to me how unique and distinguishable the environment changes as I drive one of these highway overpasses. In the central valley it’s flat and hot and you mostly just see weeds and cows and farms. As you get close to the foothills of the Sierras the terrain becomes rocky and flat plateaus scatter the landscape among the plentiful oak trees and black volcanic rocks. As you climb higher you begin to see more pine trees and less oak trees. At around 5,000 feet it’s almost all pine trees and the weeds are long gone. At about 8,000 feet the trees are starting to thin out a bit and that beautiful high Sierra granite can be blinding in places. Above 8,000 feet is my favorite part of the mountains–up here it’s quieter and there are less people and the scenery is the most spectacular. On the way down the eastern side of the Sierras–no matter where it is, it’s extremely steep and jagged–there is a noticeable absence of trees and vegetation in general. As it flattens out again I’m in the high desert, and it’s hot and dry and dusty and… desert-y. And that’s pretty much how each highway goes, from west to east. And I love every inch of it.

So then. Once in the eastern Sierras Yum and I turned north on highway 395. After a quick detour on highway 89 we reached highway 50, where we drove down to Placerville and stopped at the Red Hawk Casino. Yum found $20 on the ground and was so excited she peed her pants. OK, not really. But she was super excited. She’s so cute! I love that little Yum =)

And then we went home.

Click here for pictures from our trip!

In mid-April we went swimming at Lake Camanche off highway 88.

Lake Camanche was nice and cool during that heat wave we had here in California. We finished off our evening with some gambling at Jackson Rancheria.

In late April we explored the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus River off highway 108.

Clark Fork was a nice surprise. I haven’t been up there since I was a kid. I loved all the smooth, bright granite rocks. There’s nothing like that High Sierra Yosemite-like scenery. I can’t wait to explore highway 108 some more!

That is, after the rest of road opens…

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Only a few hundred miles.

Silver Fork of the American River

Yum with her new friend in Kirkwood

My new crush, Hope Valley.

Hope Valley is such a beautiful place. It lies between Kirkwood and the Cal-Neva border along highway 88. It has everything that I look for in the mountains: bleach-white granite rocks, high altitude(7,000 ft.), a trout stream (West Fork of the Carson River), designated camp grounds (US Forest Service link), alpine scenery(meadows, high mountain peaks), and my beloved pine and aspen trees.

I’ve spent all day Monday and today dreaming about Hope Valley. I can’t wait to go back for another visit.

Click here for some more pictures of our roadtrip.