Feather River Autumn

Thursday Marcia and I did another one of our long Day Trips.  When we were at Quincy earlier this summer we came down highway 70 to Oroville, then to Loomis where we were staying before we were able to get into my sister’s backyard due to a remodel project they were doing.  At the time I noted that it would be a wonderful drive during Autumn, and well, Thursday was the day for it.  So we drove from Citrus Heights, to Quincy, then came back through Nevada City along highway 49, so it was a giant 300 mile loop, and I took over 100 pictures.

The goal, of course, was to find and photograph the Autumn colors.  As we got on highway 70 and got past Oroville, we started to gain some elevation.  Around the 2000 foot level is where we really started to see a lot of colors.  Yes, there was signs of Autumn before this, but much more at the 2000 foot level.

Soon we meet up with the north fork of the Feather River.  Highway 70 is known as the Feather River Scenic Byway.  Our first view of it today was from a distance, but you can get fairly close to the river right from the seat of your car as you take the drive.

During the spring the Feather River is a fast moving river, until you come upon one of the power dams which hold the water back.  During Autumn, the river has many calm areas, which offer great reflective views.

Not only does the highway run alongside the river, but also the old Western Pacific Railroad Feather River Route, built in the early 1900's to connect Oakland and Salt Lake City.  It is now owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad.  In some of the pictures you can see the railroad on the other side of the river.

  

Most of the time the river was to our right, but at this time it is to our left.  Along the right under the trees were these bright iridescent green undergrowth.  The pictures don’t do the “greens” justice for how they really looked.

This part of the route has dropped to the 1600 foot mark.  After the initial climb just after Oroville, it drops and slowly climbs back above the 2000 foot mark, and eventually to the 3400 foot mark in Quincy. 

There is some road construction going on right now, but it only delays you up to 15 minutes or so….more if you decide to pull over for a photo while being escorted between two shut-down spots…Yes, I was a bit red-faced when the guy pulls up in the truck wondering what the heck we were doing.

   

With these type of views, it is easy to forget that you are in a construction zone…I told him I would wait for the next escort opportunity and let us be with a “just don’t stop for any more pictures please” reminder.  I doubt I will ever forget that when you are suppose to follow the leader, you can’t pull over even if the view is out-of-this world.

At this point we are at the 2200 foot elevation level.

 

The higher we went up in elevation, the more colors in the scenery. 

   

Eventually we made it to Quincy, and we then started on the second half of the loop heading home.  Quincy was full of Autumn colors, but the route over to highway 49 was full of color too.

Once we got on highway 49, we were now driving along the North Yuba River…but we were starting to lose our light, and we were 100 miles from Citrus Heights still.

And with every stop….we were not getting anywhere fast…but it is so hard to pass by reflections.

And we did not see much “red” today, so I had to include this shot as we got close to Nevada City.  From there it was a quick trip to Auburn, and as the sun was going down to the west ….

The moon was rising in the east over the giant pumpkin.

Hope you enjoy your Autumn days….where ever you are…winter will be here before we know it.

Memories….

Sister and Brother-in-Law are back from Hawaii, and while gone, I was watching their turtles for them.  They have around 20 turtles, 6 infants, 5 two year olds, and the rest are adults.  This past Thursday, the day before they came home, I found these two going at it.  Kind of late in the season, but tell that to them, not to me.  But it brought back memories of a fishing trip I had with my cousin Bill when we were 16 years old.  We went fishing along Deer Creek or a tributary of it in East Sacramento County.  The creek went right through pasture land.  It was early spring…probably March.  The cows were at it all day long as we fished.  I can’t remember if we caught any catfish or not…surly we did because Bill was a good hunter and fisherman….but I definitely remember the cows going at it.

Earlier this week while we were up at Apple Hill, we saw some Christmas Tree Farms, which will be open in mid-November or so.  It is in this area around Pollock Pines that we often went as a family to get our Christmas Tree….walking in snow some years until we found the right tree, then cut it down and hauled it to the booth to pay, then strapped it on top of the station wagon or VW Bus and headed home to set it up.

As I have been watching the Doves in the backyard, it brought back memories of my next door neighbor, also named David, whose family raised Pigeons for food…fairly common for Chinese families to do back in the mid-60’s.  We loved to play football out in the street and one day during a game I saw David’s grandmother out in their garage with a large pot and lid, a large towel, and a large cleaver….along with a bin of pigeons.  After she executed the first poor pigeon, we all ran over there to get a closer view of the next.  Now “Grandma H” did not speak a lick of English, and up until this day, many thought she was just a mean old person because when she talked, it sounded like she was yelling.  After this incident, when she became the “big show”, we all seemed to have a different feeling about her, and she “loved” being the head of the show.  Well, the Pigeons did not fair as well as these Doves do (unless a Hawk comes flying through, which happens now and then.)

Mom had “Hen and Chicks” Sempervivums (above) in the front garden when I was young, as my sister does now.  Brings back many memories of those days….

   

…as do the Hummingbirds in my sister’s backyard.  Between the Hummingbirds and the red Hibiscus out front, it reminds me of the Hummingbirds and Red Bottle Brush plants that were in the front yard of my boyhood house when I lived next door to David.  (The Hummingbird/Bottle Brush picture above is one I found in Google Images)  Hummingbirds have always mesmerized me, as have Woodpeckers. 

While living in Arkansas they thought they had found a living Ivory-billed Woodpecker…so much furor over it, they even made a license plate for it.  Above is my Ivory-billed Woodpecker license plate that was on my Ford F-250.  Should have kept the plate, it might have been worth something some day….not!  But it shows how much I admired Woodpeckers.

   

Over the past week I have been observing the change of the season, which is still in its infant stage in Sacramento.  Each day more and more color.  Something about the end of a season which brings many thoughts…

Above is Mom and Dad’s house which, as many of you know, is just two doors from my Sister’s house.  In a few weeks the greens will be yellows, orange and reds…except for the two evergreen trees in the distance.  In a few months it will look bare, with empty branches, brown grasses.  Life in the garden will not be the same until Spring brings on new life, a fresh new beginning.

But something hit me today.  I remember contemplating once why older people love to sit out on a rocker on their front porch.  We all have seen older men sitting in front of a store front, or people sitting outside of their RV’s just letting time pass by.   What hit me today is that people do this not only because they want to see what is going on now…watching the birds, the changing of the season, feeling the wind blowing, feeling the warmth of the sun, enjoying the company of those around you.  It is much more than that….goes way beyond the current day.  This activity also brings back memories of an earlier day.  Memories of being with friends and family.  Memories which are hopefully happy, but also some which are sad, sad especially when they bring back memories of others who are no longer here but who still live within the memories of our soul.  Two turtles bring memories of a fishing trip with a bunch of, how can I say this right, overly active cows….and a walk back to the old white pickup truck which my cousin borrowed from his dad…this same truck which one of us drives into a ditch….and Uncle “Red” has to come and help us get it out with the help of a farmer (who did what farmers do, hook it up and pulls it out with little help from others.)  Fond memories of an Uncle who has long passed…except he lives on in the many loving memories which abound with the hearts of the many whom he touched, and he was a man of strong faith and belief so surely lives on in a better place than this.  His “New Spring” has surly arrived….and as we get closer to, and further into our own Autumn, we tend to contemplate our “year”, and with faith, we look toward our own “New Spring”.