It is my husband, Alan’s, 84th birthday. Daughter Kristen, her husband Brian and their dog, Loki, come from Palo Alto to celebrate. It’s Alan’s choice for activities—local hikes. We head out to Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, a huge wetland between Sacramento and Davis. We navigate the driving loop. Disappointingly few birds during this migration time. Are they all out foraging in fields during the day? We see flocks of Least Sandpipers and Dunlin. A dozen Common Raven. There is a huge flock of Yellow-headed blackbirds. Scant waterfowl but we do spot Black-necked Stilt and American Avocet, Northern Shoveler and American Coot.
We park on top of the levy, the entrance of the bypass and walk it, stepping over the locked levy road crossing. There are great views—in one direction the sky line of Downtown Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada, snow covered. We see Mount Diablo and the Sutter Buttes and the Inner Coast Range. We choose this walk so that Loki can get in a good off-leash run. He dashes madly ahead, goes up and down the levy hill on either side, doubles back to us, dashes ahead. He loves the freedom to run. Sadly, we need to leave him at home when we head for our next adventure.
We eat a quick lunch at home and head towards Winters. Destination Cold Canyon which is right before the Berryessa Dam. We have been enjoying Cold Canyon for 55 years. When we first arrived in California and lived in an apartment, our neighbor told us about a good place to walk—the Keep Out place. There was a big sign saying Keep Out but we went there repeatedly and were usually the only people there. Our son is 45 now. I remember fondly when he was a baby, and nobody around, we did a spontaneous nude swim in a widening of the creek with nobody else there.
Some years ago, the University of California, Davis bought up the land and now it is called Stebbins Cold Canyon Natural Reserve. Research projects happen there. A retired cardiologist now organizes tours with specialized leaders—lessons on edibles, history, flowers and photography. We are lucky because it is one of the few natural reserves open to the public. It’s located in both Solano and Napa Counties— a great place to walk and feel removed, only 33 miles away from our town of Davis. There are multiple trails. Dogs are not allowed, though last time we went, we counted three dogs.
We choose the climbing route on the west side of the creek, a 1.6 mile path snaking uphill for 1000 feet. Alan and I are happy to have brought our climbing poles. To our delight, we have hit peak blooming time—April 26th. There are flowers along the entire trail. We have never seen flowers in such profusion there, the most beautiful version ever. Perhaps the flowers are a result of the many fires there in the past ten or so years, and lots of rain at the right time this year.
As we begin to hike, we initially hear the creek that will soon be dry. We see little wildlife. Vultures fly overhead. We hear the chi-ca-go, chi-ca-go chi-ca-go calls of California Quail but we don’t see them. We are walking on a well-defined path, with California interior chaparral and foothill grasslands on either side. There are few opportunities for shade as fire took most of the few trees that were there. As we climb, we see a dramatic cliff ahead. We have the hike almost entirely to ourselves which is unusual as it has become well known. However, today there is a light sprinkle, the threat of rain and cooler than normal temperatures.
There are many varieties of plants and we have learned about many when we did docent training years ago. However, we’ve forgotten names. Right away, we spot Pacific Poison Oak. We remind one another to avoid it. We soon see Wolly Indian Paintbrush, Orange Bush Monkeyflower, Common Yarrow, Yellow Diogenes Lantern. We realize how lucky we are. We have obviously hit a peak flowering time as there are endless varieties of flowers all along the trail.
The reserve is 638 acres with elevations ranging from 300 to 2,500 feet. We’ve been on all of it at one time or another. My favorite is the hike we’re doing today. The climb gets me huffing and puffing but I know, when I get to the top, there will be a great vista. This time at the top, we are in for a surprise. There is a metal bench to sit on dedicated to someone who lived only 18 years. How hard it must have been to get that bench up there. It is a welcome addition to sit on. I marvel at how extremely lucky my husband and I are at ages 84 and 82 to still be able to hike up this mountain. And have children and grandchildren who are all athletic, love nature and are thriving.
Arriving home, Kristen insists on cooking the dinner, marinated flank steak that she prepared before our hikes. We shower, then enjoy dinner, birthday cake and conversation about the many adventures we have planned. We had decided to explore California and Oregon and forget about international trips after our last 27 hour/3 plane trip returning from Patagonia. But then a last minute bargain appeared on my computer from Overseas Adventure Travel. We signed up for our first ever cruise, Norwegian Fjord Cruise and Scotland’s Orkney & Shetland Islands.
There’s more to look forward to. May 10th we are off to Kristen’s house to celebrate granddaughter Sophie’s graduation from University of Michigan, grandson Jack’s 25th birthday and the success at his job in Wisconsin, plus grandson Luke’s paid internship with Mattel working on games. May 23rd, we do a three-day bike tour near the Oregon border and this year, Kristen, son Skyler and their partners will be on the bike tour also. June 5th, we head to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland Oregon on a bus run by a theater company and we’ll see two musicals and two plays, and take breaks walking along glorious Ashland Creek. This is our third year on this trip with Capital Stage and we love the Ashland Hotel with botanicals, nature in all art forms everywhere from bathrooms to elevators. And then, our first ever cruise in late June. We will end up in New York and visit sister Joy and husband Peter and daughter Molly and her two children.
And to think, that as a self-supporting University of Minnesota student, working countless jobs, I thought that all of the teachers there with the Dr. title, were medical doctors. I wondered why they taught at the university. Wasn’t being a doctor enough? And now I am in a family where everyone in my family has graduate degrees. Grandchildren are thriving. Everyone has adventures. Is this real? I want to pinch myself and feel even more gratitude. I am lucky.