One of our summer camping trips took us to Cottonwood Creek campground near Sierraville, California. This is a great campground that's less than an hour from our home. We had camped here before, but not since our 2011 Road Trip and it was good to be back.
Part of the reason we wanted to camp here was to do some hiking, especially the popular hike to the summit of Castle Peak where there are spectacular views of this beautiful country we live in.
This is a picture of Hannah on the Castle Peak Trail about two thirds of the way to the summit.
Click Here for a PDF of the GPS topo and stats of our hike/climb. It's only a six mile round trip, but you gain and lose a little over 2,000 feet of elevation, so it is a good workout.
Lisa hiking up the ridgeline that leads to the summit of Castle Peak.
The amazing view to the north from the summit of Castle Peak.
Dad and Caleb on top. Even Chester got to come along, but most of the trip was either on Dad's or Caleb's back.
Dad and Daughter enjoying the views. What a magical place.
Bob and our kids. We just love the outdoors and times like this.
Our camp setup at the Cottonwood Creek campground. For this trip we left the camper behind and took tents. Sometimes less is more and tenting was pretty familiar to us after our epic, three week trip rafting down the Colorado River.
Caleb's "home sweet home" the couple of nights we stayed at the Cottonwood Creek campground.
On July 2nd Bob had the honor of joining number of others in accepting a $21 million Regional Technology and Innovation Tech Hub grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA). The EDA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and this is a picture of Gina Raimondo, the U.S. secretary of commerce presenting the award.
Bob standing with others in front of the award announcement including Fred Steinmann, UNR Center for Economic Development; Dean Greg Mosier, UNR College of Business; Thomas Burns, Executive Director at GOED; Eric Smith, EDA National Tech Hubs Program Director; and Jeff Sutich, Northern Nevada Development Authority. The event was held at Dragonfly Energy a lithium battery manufacturer Bob has worked closely with over the years.
On June 16th Caleb ran in his third Rock Tahoe Half Marathon. He had done well in 2022 running the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 38 minutes and 6 seconds and was a bit slower in 2023 running the distance in 1 hour 50 minutes and 28 seconds. His goal this year was to do at least as good as he did in 2023.
You can see him in the middle of this picture pumped and ready to go at the starting line.
Caleb at a good pace about four miles into the race.
The Rock Tahoe Half Marathon starts near Spooner Lake (State Highway 28 and US 50) and ends in the town of South Lake Tahoe. We took this picture of him as we drove by to the finish line to pick him up when his race was over.
Caleb coming in strong at the end of the race. His final time was 1 hour 46 minutes and 52 seconds, right in the middle of his previous two times.
His overall rank was 83 out of 1,626 runners; 10 out of 50 in his age group; and 68th out of 648 men. Again, Caleb is well above average.
Tired son, proud Dad.
For the first time, Hannah also participated in the Rock Tahoe Half Marathon and did it with her friends Taylor and Melissa. Unlike Caleb, however, they walked it and had a great time together.
The girls at the Rock Tahoe Half Marathon finish line. Hannah's time was 4 hours 9 minutes and 17 seconds; little different than Caleb's but with a completely different goal in mind -- to have fun together.
Our first camping trip this year was to our favorite local campground, Fallen Leaf Lake. This year we camped mid-week which was kind of nice because it was somewhat quieter than it is on the weekends. It's popularity is for good reason though as the sites are large, well spread out and located in some of the most beautiful country around.
As in previous years we pulled our camper up and took bikes and kayaks along. There are almost always bears in this campground so it's nice to have a camper to keep stuff in. Additionally, there are bike trails everywhere and Fallen Leaf Lake is just the best to kayak on.
Bob ready to ride and so is Chester -- what fun!
Caleb having fun pedaling along the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake.
Lisa and her buddy hanging out next to the Lake.
Having fun doing one of our favorite things while camping, playing Scrabble.
Bob making breakfast with Chester very curious about it all.
Bob's famous blueberry pancakes. Nothing like campground blueberry pancakes and fried bacon. Yum!
Two happy boys!
Did I mention bears frequent Fallen Leaf Lake campground?
The photo opportunities here are everywhere and, while kayaking with Hannah, Bob took this one of an old, drowned stump as a place for new life to begin.
Hannah loves it.
As we paddled along, we got to see more new life with these baby common mergansers catching a ride on their mother’s back. What a treat!
Speaking of treats, you can't beat another camping staple, chocolate S'mores.
All in all, a great way to close out another wonderful time camping at Fallen Leaf Lake.