Bigfoot print?

Tanner and I fished Caples creek today and came across this very interesting footprint. At first I thought that it was from a large hiking boot but then I noticed faint toe prints. If you look closely to the left of the print, you may be able to see a couple of impressions that, to me, look like toes. The print was in an area where the ground was slightly softer than the surrounding soil. My guess is that the area had a lasting patch of snow that was slowly melting over the last couple of months which made the ground wet. The area of the print where it shows the sole of the foot was slightly lower than the area of the toes. The toe area was drier while it was obvious that muddy water had settled in the sole area and then dried. The print measured 15.5 in length and 5 inches wide. I know that it's really hard to make out the toe prints from the photo but up close in person, it was much more clear. I'm thinking of going back to make a plaster cast of the print. It's a remote place and very rugged though, i'm not looking forward to the hike back in. About an hour after seeing the print, Tanner heard some loud wood knocking near by which is is a way that some primates communicate with each other. Unfortunately, I did not hear what Tanner heard as I was a few dozen yards away playing with Foxy.
As for the fishing, it was tough. They are emptying Caples lake which meant that the creek was raging high and fast. I did manage to catch four wild Rainbow trout while Tanner landed a wild Brown trout.




One of the photos of the print.



Tanner on top of the mountain on the hike back to the car.
I found the print down in that first canyon right behind Tanner.



Me and Foxy.

Burney falls

Some photos of the last year

While going through my photos, I realized that there were some that I had forgotten about that really should have been posted. The first two photos are from an afternoon that we spent at the American river, the last two are from Maya's first Halloween.

Fishing with Tanner

Well, it's that time of year again, fishing season. For those of you who even casually know me, you know that I am a complete fishing addict. And, of all the different times of year to fish, my favorite is summer fishing for trout in the Eastern Sierra's. The Sierra trout are not the biggest fish, but there is something so special about being on a cool mountain stream and fly casting for beautiful trout.


This year, I have picked up a new fishing partner, my cousin Tanner. We have gone fishing on Truckee river for beautiful wild trout as well as the East Carson and West Walker rivers. We just came back from a two day trip on the West Walker. The fishing was AMAZING! We had hundreds of hook-ups and many dozen fish each. Here are a few of the photos taken over the last couple of days.

Tanner on the East Carson.


This is a photo of one of the bigger fish that I caught on the
West Walker, a 16 inch rainbow trout.

Tanner with a nice fish.

We had several double hook-ups!

Tanner with a real nice fish.

Sorry it's been so long!

Several fans of the blog have been emailing me with complaints about updating the blog. Im sorry but I have been so busy the last two or three months. I am now the the department chair for the Social Science department. That little development towards the end of the school year added quite a bit of work for me as the semester came to an end. I have also been fishing my tail off ever since the end of school. Raquel, Maya, Foxy, and I have all been busy on our usual adventures since the last posting. I will try to get into each one of them when I can. For now, here are some photos from the last couple of months.




Maya's first Easter egg hunt


Maya and Dad on a hike.


Maya and Mom in the rose garden in Golden Gate park.


Maya getting ready for her first swim.


Maya's first time in a pool.

More Photos from Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Raquel, Maya, and myself went to Niagara falls for spring break. I know that it's kind of an odd place for spring break given the fact that the falls area is freezing in March but it's the time of the year that we had free time to travel and it has always been a dream of Raquel's to visit Niagara falls. We had a good time visiting the falls, Canada, and Toronto. All together, we spent five days there.

On day one (friday), we spent five of the longest hours of the year flying to Washington D.C. Maya screamed and cried at the top of her lungs about half of the time. I think that there were a few couples on that flight who changed their minds about having kids. Once we landed in D.C., we tracked down the gate of our connecting flight to Buffalo, NY. After we located the gate, we had a really over-due diaper change to do. The layover was about an hour and a half. On the first half of the flight to Buffalo, Maya was great. She was happy and smiling at everyone. The second half of the flight was a different story though, she turned into a monster once again. We were really relieved to land in Buffalo and put flying behind us for five days. After gathering our luggage, we made our way to the Alamo car rental company and picked up a compact car even though I reserved a mid-size. After about a 30 minute drive, we ended up lost in Canada. Our hotel was on the American side! The Canadian border agent was really nice (a whole lot nicer than the American ones!) and directed us to the right location. Finally, after 12 hours of traveling, we were at our hotel. What a dump! Travelocity really needs to update the photo that they had on their website.

Day 2, Saturday. We were excited about seeing the falls which was supposed to be two blocks away, not true, more like four to five. We also experienced the cold weather. The type of cold on the east coast is different than here in California. It is so much colder over their. It's a whole new level of coldness. I will never again think that it is cold in California. I carried Maya as we walked to the American falls and to the visitor center. The falls were impressive but the cold was so over-powering that it was hard to really enjoy the view for very long. Later in the day, we drove to Canada to view horseshoe falls. The Canadian falls are much better and it really was breath taking.

Day 3, Sunday. On this day, we decided to take the drive to Toronto. After crossing over into Canada, I spotted a highway sign that said "Toronto 140" I knew that Canada used Kilometers instead of miles but I didnt tell Raquel that. It was funny because she thought that we had to go 140 miles, she was happy when I told her that it was really about 80 miles. I was really surprised at how big Toronto is, it's a really big city. Across from Lake Ontario, you can see the city for 40-50 miles. Many huge skyscrapers all over the downtown area. We found a public parking garage and decided to walk to the CN tower which is a huge tower of a building, kind of like the Stratusphere in Las Vegas, only much bigger. The tower was great, we had lunch up top and walked on a glass floor with Maya 1100 feet above the ground.

Day 4, Monday. On this day, we spent the whole time on the Canadian side which is so much nicer. If any of you plan on visiting the falls in the future, stay on the Canadian side. There is so much more to do on the Canadian side and it is nice everywhere, at least all of the places that I saw. On the New York side, it's really run down and there is a lot of ghetto. We spent the day walking down Clifton hill (the major tourist area), walking to the falls and going up another tower building. The tower at Niagara falls is much smaller than the one in Toronto but the view is amazing. We had lunch up top in a restaurant the rotated once an hour. By far, this was the best view of the falls. We also spent much of the day walking to the falls from all of the attractions on Clifton hill.

Day 5, Tuesday. We spent our last day in Niagara falls by casually visiting the American falls once again, and then the Canadian falls. The three of us took a ride on a gondola ride overlooking the falls. After that, we parked the car on a look-out over the falls and enjoyed our last view of the Niagara falls.

Day 6, Wednesday. We woke up at 4:00 AM to begin our 12 hour journey back home. Neither Raquel or myself were looking forward to the plane rides back with Maya. Amazingly however, Maya did great the whole time. She did'nt shed even one tear the whole time. When we landed back in Sacramento, it really felt like we were coming home to paradise because the weather is so much nicer here.

Thanks to Malcolm for taking us out to the airport and for picking us up!

Malcolm dropping us off at the Sacramento airport early friday morning.

Next to Horseshoe falls on the Canadian side on Saturday.

The CN tower in Toronto, Canada.

The glass floor 1100 feet above the ground. Maya was'nt afraid at all.

Maya and Mommy enjoying lunch at the CN tower.

View from atop the tower at the Niagara tower restaurant.

Maya fell asleep from all the walking around Clifton Hill.