A day excursion to the Sierra Nevada Mountains...

Saturday I headed with some friends to the Sierras for a day away from the hectic Bay Area. That's one marvelous thing about living in California; in less than 3 hours, we can be in the mountains, OR headed for a day at the beach.

(Remember to click on the pictures to see them full size!)

First thing we visited was the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park (known as "Chaw'se" to the native Miwok Indians). These bark huts were used as housing, and off in a secluded part of the park are other huts that can be rented out for camping.


The grinding rock is where the tribespeople would gather and grind acorns into meal. These divots are about 7" across, and there are TONS.


Thanks... good to know!


After, we headed down to the small town of Sutter Creek. It was founded in the 1840s as an outpost for pioneers, and later, forty-niners who were panning for gold.


The creek itself!


One building in town captivated me; my mind was wandering, thinking of all the layers of ads and words that had been painted on the wall.



We headed next to the Jackson Vista, a lookout over the small valley we were visiting.

A panorama shot...


Since the Sierra Nevadas are GOLD COUNTRY, there are a number of mines in the area. This is the head shaft of the Kennedy Mine (the head shaft is the top of the track that controls the ascent and descent of the mining cars). Behind me is the Argonaut Mine; these two mines are listed as California Historical Landmarks. The Kennedy Mine is noteworthy in that it's one of the world's deepest (almost 6,000 ft. DOWN), and the Argonaut Mine has the unfortunate distinction of being the site of the worst mining disaster in the state's history.


We then headed to the house of the person we were visiting; this is the site from the back deck. I could get used to this!


Lastly, this is an interesting shot; the temperature there was about 90*, and lo and behold, that's SNOW!!