Pinecrest Lake Getaway!

We piled up the nuggets in the car and took a little trip to the mountains this weekend! My husband and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary, and we always love to get away and spend time together in the great outdoors. Captain was pretty psyched to hunt squirrels and birds in a whole new area!

Captain's Weekend Part III: Tahoe Rim Trail

On the second day of our Tahoe trip, I wanted to make sure we got in some hiking. Captain was of course eager to hit the trails. So much to sniff, stalk, and hunt!

We took off on part of the Tahoe Rim Trail- a great trail with some awesome views of the lake and just overall peaceful, beautiful forest to walk through. Unfortunately I didn't snap many pictures- too much time spent enjoying watching Captain run around, happy and excited ;-) But here's a few shots from a great little hike!

Captain's Weekend Getaway to Tahoe: Part 1

Obviously the king (or Captain) of the mountain

I've been wanting to take Captain on a weekend getaway for a while. We finally made it happen this past weekend- a trip to South Lake Tahoe, complete with:

-chasing chipmunks and stalking geese
-playing in (a little) snow
-hiking
-lake time
-cuddling by the fire
-more hiking
-getting new treats & gear

Captain was clearly ecstatic, which made me incredibly happy. And it also made me try and snap a lot of photos of him - and the beautiful scenery that is Tahoe.

In this post: Part 1: Emerald Bay
Up next: Lake-side fun
Followed by:
Tahoe Rim Trail Hiking
Treats & Gear!

Read on for more on (the first part) of our trip!

Golden Spike Hike

We took off with Captain and hit the trail today! Since we've only been to Redwood Regional Park once, a while ago (check out the crazy flying ears pics from our previous hike in Redwood!), we decided to make the short drive there and hike a new trail. Today we did the Golden Spike Trail, up to the West Ridge Trail for some good views. Captain bounded out of the car, tail wagging, completely excited to explore.

Beautiful Briones

On sunny Saturday, we headed for the hills of the East bay to do some hiking. I can't believe we haven't made it to Briones Regional Park before this- it's a short drive from where we are, close to San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, and it's a beautiful spot. I was happy to discover what a great hiking area Briones is, with both wide open rolling hills and fields and beautiful views, and also plenty of shaded trails (important when it can get so hot in the East Bay!). Tons of gorgeous space for off-leash running. We did a 7 mile hike around and up the hills, and were all- even Captain-relaxed and content afterwords!

Sibley Volcanic Preserve

Hot day in Sibley!

Since moving, we've done a little bit of exploring. I've been wanting to go to Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve for a while, since it's a mere 6 miles from our new pad, and boasts a nice high peak for views, trails, and scenic roads. So Captain and I snuck off one afternoon for a quick drive & run!

Stanislaus National Forest

We're finishing up the Yosemite weekend trip posts (I really stretched that out, huh?) with Stanislaus National Forest. As I might have mentioned, while Yosemite is very strict about pets, has plenty of dog-restricted areas, and doesn't have any off-leash spots, Stanislaus Forest to the North stands in stark contrast to all those rules. Three cheers for off-leash roaming, wild forests, lakes, and trails-a-plenty!

Elevation: 9,628 ft!

We didn't really have a plan, other than to follow the road and enjoy the day.

Not a bad road to follow, I might add. We were traveling along highway 108, which is to the North of the Tioga pass/highway 120 road we came in on a few days earlier, through Yosemite. It makes for a quite a driving loop! There were plenty of spots to pull off, for a little rock climbing, hiking, or even swimming.

We stopped at pretty much every spot that caught my interest... so we were stopping a lot.

Captain wasn't too happy about this.

Captain enjoyed exploring, although he didn't follow my lead when I took a dip to cool off (he's not much for swimming).

We also stopped in at Pinecrest Lake- a pretty spot, but one of the few places in the forest that is specified as on-leash. But they do have a coffee shop and little store that might come in handy after all that driving! For more information and links, check my guest post on Fido Factor (towards the end of the post, under Stanislaus).

That's all, folks! What a weekend trip! I highly recommend checking out this part of the country- beautiful, and fun for Vizslas too ;-)

Back on the road home

Tilden Trails

I approve of the views here, Mom.

Captain and I love a good hike! Yesterday we explored more of Tilden - a great regional park in the Berkeley Hills with tons of trails. We went with some of our friends and their 9 month old lab, Max for a good 4 hours of hiking.

The last time we went to Tilden park, it was completely foggy and we couldn't enjoy any of the views. This time we were rewarded! I love the way the clouds looked, like a sheet leading right above the GG bridge in the distance.


Captain loves to be in pictures.

You were going to take a picture without me, Mom??

And like a good lab, Max enjoyed running through the mud.

They were both pretty excited to chase a field mouse they found in the bushes around. The poor little thing was reeeaaaallly slow, so I was happy Captain was content to just sniff and chase it.

Good views all around:Seemingly endless trails in Tilden! Can't wait to try out more of them, maybe on a long run one day. Next weekend we may stop in at the Golden Gate Kennel Club dog show, and might try out another East Bay park- Sibley... so many good things to do when you're a Vizsla :-)

Echo Lake Hiking

Here's the last of the Tahoe pictures! Sunday of Labor Day weekend we went hiking at Echo Lake, a beautiful lake and trail region near South Lake Tahoe. It was absolutely gorgeous- and a great way to exercise the dogs!

Come on guys!!

I LOVE this one of Trax, in his "kitten mittens" - aka Ruff Wear hiking shoes:

We started to think maybe we needed some of those booties for Captain- the terrain was pretty rocky for part of the hike... next time maybe Captain will have shoes too!


Not a bad place for a swim:


Typical- Captain waits for the Labradors to do their retrieving...


... and then makes his move!


Some of the beautiful scenery along the way:


Great hiking and a great end to our Labor Day weekend 2010!

Phoenix Lake area hiking

This past weekend we were in the Mt.Tam area doing some hiking- checked out the Phoenix Lake trail, which Captain definitely enjoyed.
His favorite part? Chasing lizards! Luckily they all escaped into the bushes safely...
It was a pretty area... we're looking forward to going back to explore more trails.

Wildcat Canyon

We had a good group of dogs for hiking this Saturday, and decided to try out Wildcat Canyon Regional Park in the East Bay not too far from Berkeley. Wildcat is a great place for hiking with dogs, with its wide open spaces for running and plenty of trails through the hilly terrain. The dogs were happy to run off leash, explore the woody areas and fields around the trails, and play with each other. The trails weren't crowded at all but we did run into a number of other happily hiking hounds.


The SOMA dogs crew: Trax, Ranger, Ziggy and Captain sit for some turkey!

More treat time:
Vizsla silliness: Ziggy tries to get as dirty as possible.Coming through!Trax and his fabulous tongue:
All dogs ahead! The boys charged up the hill......while the humans took a little bit longer...
We had a nice view once we made it to the top!
Trax and Captain pose:
I like this B&W my friend took:We had such a good time we're planning another hike next Saturday!