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Thirsty Thursday: About a Year Ago

Rambler: Terry
Drink in Hand: 2009 Ventana Rubystone

About a year ago we were lost in the wilderness. Specifically, we were in the Eldorado National Forest Desolation Wilderness, CA searching for a place to camp and walking across seemingly endless granite. The Mas was enjoying everything about the adventure save the blisters on her paws from the granite. We were enjoying the views and watching her run around. Looking through the archive this evening, I stumbled across a few shots that neither of us posted. Happy virtual Friday!

Thirsty Thursday: Desolation Wilderness Trip

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Ancient Peaks Rose

Hey Welliver Photography fans! Thanks for tuning in for another Thirsty Thursday...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. This week I'll give you a little recap of our recent backpacking trip to Waca Lake and Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness.

Desolation Wilderness is in the Lake Tahoe area and is one of the most heavily visited wilderness areas in the country. Therefore, getting a wilderness permit for this area is a challenge. We wanted to go to Lake Aloha, but that's super easy trek destination, so the permits were sold out for that zone. I figured, hey, the Team Welliver is a hardy bunch, so the three of us could handle a little cross-country travel to a zone that still had overnight permits available. After much topo map studying, I was sure that a roughly 2-mile off-trail, cross-country over a saddle point that was only 1 contour interval on the map to a beautiful alpine lake would be easy peasy lemon squeezy for us. So on a warm Friday afternoon we left the Echo Lake parking lot for Waca Lake.

What's that? You've never heard of Waca Lake? Yeah, turns out most people haven't. Why is that? Because its ridiculously difficult to get there. The first 6 miles of the trail (yes, trail) were easy, straightforward, no big deal. Then we left the trail to begin our 2 miles of exhausting scrambling up and down granite boulders with our packs on. Not as easy as it looked on the topo map. But we made it and the lake was pretty and we collapsed into our tent. The next morning had a nicely colored, albeit cloudless, sky. One of these trips we'll get some clouds! We decided to pack up camp and head back toward Lake Aloha in order to cut off a little bit of distance and pain for hike back to the car on day 3. We originally planned to spend most of Day 2 exploring the numerous lakes and playing around with a little bouldering. Unfortunately, little Miss Massey and her delicate little paws had a rough time on the abrasive granite on Day 1, so once we made it back to Lake Aloha for Day 2, we took it easy. Terry didn't seem to mind either. The final sunrise at Lake Aloha wasn't too bad either. Get out there and find your own backcountry adventure this weekend!

Massey Monday: Watch Dog

Massey's poor little paws got a little beat up during our last backpacking trip in the Sierra. So while photographing the final sunrise of the trip, the dog who normally runs all over this place in a slightly ADD manner (bird, oooh chimpmunk, oooh pika, oooh there's that bird again, etc) was quite content to relax in the comfy soft dirt next to me. Of course, she was still on alert, just a more sedentary alert. She always has our backs.

Massey Monday: Center of Attention

Fans of Welliver Photography are well aware that we take a lot of photos of our dog. Generally, she doesn't like the paparazzi attention and runs away or turns her head the opposite direction...she's quite a slippery subject. So imagine my surprise when little Miss Massey plopped down right on top of the wildflowers I was getting ready to photograph at sunrise during our last backpacking trip like it was her job. I guess she woke up ready to model.

I had to go elsewhere to find some wildflowers.

Such a diva!

Thirsty Thursday: On the Trail

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Yogi Ginger Tea...wine taper for a little race I'm running this weekend.

Thirsty Thursday here again. Time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans! A few weeks back we went backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness. It was a tough journey as we decided to do roughly 2 miles of cross country travel to reach our final destination. I'll put it this way...hiking on established trails in the Sierra is fairly straightforward; backpacking over granite slabs with 42 lbs on my back, not so easy.

On the second day of our trip, we found our way back to some trails. I think I have a thing for singletrack. I spend more time hiking on singletrack these days than swooping along on a mountain bike, but I still love a tidy little dirt line cut neatly through a wildflower-choked meadow, snaking lazily through a deep forest, meandering around an alpine lake.

Get out there and find your own singletrack this weekend!

Thirsty Thursday: Tahoe Exploring

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Water...boring, I know. Tough run tonight.

Thirsty Thursday here again! Time to pouring something yummy (or rehydrating in my case!) and make those weekend plans. A few weeks back I was looking at a weekend home alone while Terry was out of town, so I decided to go somewhere. My original plan was Mt. Shasta, but after a long day of work on Friday, I decided to go somewhere closer. I'd never been to Tahoe, so the dog and I jumped in the car Saturday morning and off we went.

I didn't really have a game plan. I literally woke up Saturday morning and decided that Tahoe was the destination. I usually do a little research to figure out good photo spots (and good places for grub), but this time I was flying blind. Ended up at Zephyr Cove for sunset, above Emerald Bay for sunrise, and took a little snowy stroll in Desolation Wilderness with Massey before heading back home Sunday. Tahoe was beautiful and I can't wait to get up there for a couple of backpacking routes I've picked out for the summer.

Get out there and explore a new place this weekend!