August 29, 2019 - Small Projects

There have been a few maintenance projects that I have been trying to get to since we purchased the lodge.  The first - the area off the side of the living room, in front of the propane tank.  That area has always been a jumble of small boulders and rocks that has been difficult to traverse to get to the "portable banquet halls".  Just prior to the reunion, Jim and I pulled out most of the rocks, built a large step and backfilled the area with gravel and sand.  Since the reunion, we have added wild rock stepping stone.  So now, as you exit the front door to the left and head to the "flat lot", you no longer have to worry about stumbling over rocks, boulders and weeds.  Photo below:

Additionally, our front stone pillars and metal post have been in very sad condition for a long time.  This weekend, I started fixing the rock on the pillars and Jim added a new (non-bent) rail (the old one being bent and broken).  Photos of the improved front railing:

Now for some interesting tidbits from the last week of summer at the lodge.  Quincy and I were hiking around our property and found this rock that looked pretty interesting.  I am thinking it is a petroglyph - but not sure.  (If you are reading and you know, please send us a note).  It was probably moved onto the property at some point and just became uncovered this spring.  One of our helpful neighbors pointed out the the marks are probably large excavation equipment marks.  They are probably right - but as far as the kids are concerned, this is a Miwok petroglyph. Here is a photo:

And I took a ride up to North Fork Place so that I could get a photo of the old forest service bridge that crosses the NFNFA River well above the campground.  While driving up there, I took a wrong turn and ended up at a small group of summer cabins that are located on the north side of the river, I asked one of the cabin owners for directions, and he told me that there were two dams on the NFNFA a short hike past a locked gate on their road.  I didn't have time to check it out on my first trip - but Jim and I drove back there, parked the truck and hiked about a 1/4 mile up to the dams.  The first dam was easy to get to and was about 5 - 6 feet deep.  We did not see an easy route to the second dam and decided to check that out next summer.

Here are photos I took of the forest service bridge once I finally got on the right road.

And finally, I took Quincy back to the campground on the NFNFA river for his usual "swim" and decided to head over to Onion Valley.  I took a dirt road in back of the campground there, and within about 3 miles saw several signs.  "Active Logging" and "Trees Being Felled".  Just past a beautiful meadow filled with white onion flowers, I reached the burn area from last year's forest fire.  It is pretty devastated.  A crew of loggers have been cutting down the heavily burnt trees.  The Forest Service has a contract with a logging company out of Grass Valley to clear out the burnt trees on the 5000+ acres that were burnt.  They started logging about 2 weeks ago and we have seen a steady stream of log trucks and workers going in and out of the area.

My mom turned 90 yesterday - we celebrated in Manteca (lunch) just before heading up to the lodge. Pretty amazing how fast time is running.  We have owned the cabin for 10 years (this December) and Jim and I are well past 60 now.  We hope to spend a bit less time "working" and the lodge and a bit more time "enjoying" it.  We shall see.  This year is a family Christmas and next summer we are hosting yet another 4th of July reunion.

August 12, 2019 Long Time, No Post

To say we have been busy at the lodge is an understatement.  Most of June was spent prepping for the Guida, Atkins, Plotke (G.A.P.) family reunion which was held the week around the 4th of July.  We had about 40+ members of the family attend.  Many stayed the the lodge, some at the Rancho Sierra Hotel down the road, and some in motor homes.

The week was spent kayaking at Lake Valley and Fuller, hiking to the falls, with trips to Lake Tahoe, North Shore Stateline, 3rd of July Fireworks at Colfax, 4th of July parade at Dutch Flat.  And some of the hardier souls drove down to South Shore to ride the mega Zipline at Heavenly.  We had two big winners on the slots at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe.  And no major injuries or forest fires!

Since the reunion, we have hosted a few days with some of our old friends from Redwood Heights and are now preparing for our annual Cal Alumni weekend.

In between all of these festivities, we managed to get a short trip to Sequoia National Park.  We are hoping to get one more national park visited (Lassen) before fall sets in.

Work on the lodge continues (at a slower rate since it is summer) and we have just about completed the "Snow Room" which includes a new oak staircase leading from the top to the lower floor and cedar sided walls.  And we have added a railing to the lower deck (steps and finish work are still a luxury to be completed later).

One interesting update to our History.  Prior to the family reunion, two lovely ladies knocked on our door and told me that they were the descendants of the first teacher in Emigrant Gap, Annette Greenleaf.  They had found our blog online and read our notes on Ms Greenleaf and stopped by on they way East to say hi.  I hope they send us a note soon so I can add some more information about our first teacher and also send them a photo of the "old school".  In case they are reading this - our email is jguida@pacbell.net.