My husband and I were supposed to be hiking in the Trinity Alps this past week, but we canceled due to temperatures soaring into the nineties. We are not averse to hitting the trailheads super early to beat the heat, but when night time lows never make it below 60 degrees, even in the mountains, by definition the heat has already beat us.

So instead we took a serendipitous mini-vacation to the Lakes Basin on a couple of much cooler days. The Lakes Basin is northeast of Sacramento, and is the apex of a rough triangle along with Nevada City and Truckee. As you might gather, it’s flush with lakes, one more beautiful than the next. Although not far from Lake Tahoe, the little-known Lakes Basin is a million miles away from the crowds and hassle of its famous counterpart. We stayed in the small gold rush town of Sierra City, where we were charmed more than 25 years ago by the banks of wild sweet peas lining the roads when we visited with our young daughters. The sweet peas are still there, and the town looks exactly the same, charming us once again.

It was a great respite. especially since it was the peak of wildflower season. We could all use a respite from this sorry old world, so please enjoy vicariously a couple of hikes we took!

Long Lake-Bear Lake Loop

Sierra Buttes Lookout Trail