The Traveling Widower

Tag: nature

  • Trip Planning for 2026



    After the last burst of caves and tunnels, I pretty much ran out of ideas and energy for any more of these mini-trips. It’s not that there aren’t any places of interest to visit in the area (well, maybe there aren’t….this is the Sacramento Valley), I’m just kind of burned out on long drives by myself. It was nice having friends along on two of the trips but most of the remaining places on my list require an overnight or two.

    And there is one other problem – August 17th is fast approaching and that would have been our 50th anniversary. Last year I was still in shock, and I do not recall what I did on what would have been our 49th anniversary.  Jan so wanted to make it to our 50th, and we had planned a trip starting in Portugal, traveling to Spain, and then across to Morocco – this anniversary is hitting me harder than I was expecting. My solution will be the same as what I did for the one year anniversary of her passing – head to the coast, and do some of the fun things we did together. Definitely a whale tour, and possibly kayaking in the Elkhorn Slough with the sea otters. That will keep me from going down the rabbit hole of grief. A martini or two on that evening will help.  

    Kayaking in Elkhorn Slough

    What I have been doing the past few weeks is scheduling trips for 2026, and considering some adventures for 2027. My experience with having a potential diagnosis of a life threatening cancer, which fortunately was a lab mistake, made me reconsider my priorities for the next few years. Once you hit your 70’s, you have to start considering that mortality thing. And also realize that your physical condition can change very fast. I’m doing OK for an old fart, still have all my original body parts and a mostly functional brain. But all that can change in a flash. So I’m planning to schedule the more adventurous trips on my bucket list in the next 2 or 3 years – that would include an African safari, and anything that requires more serious hiking, kayaking and snorkeling. If I remain healthy as I get further along in years, that’s great. If not, I can switch to more cruise oriented trips, and have lots of good memories without the could-woulda-shoudas about the trips I never was able to do.  

    My itinerary, so far, through 2026 is:

    • Alaska Inner Passages (September 25)
    • Colorado – Manitou Incline (September/October 25)
    • Antarctica (November 25)
    • Glamping with Gray Whales in Baja (February 26)
    • National Geographic Iceland “Expedition” (July 26)
    • Photographing Grizzly Bears/Kodiak Island (August 26)
    • National Geographic Patagonia “Expedition” (November 26)

    I’m also considering an adventurous photography trip to Costa Rica for 2026/2027 – plenty of room on the calendar to fit that in. 

    I’ll be filling the in-between months with more domestic trips such as another attempt at “The Wave” and other hikes in Utah/Arizona, snorkeling/kayaking trips to Florida – I’ve got my stack of catalogs and a long bucket list of domestic things to see, that will keep me busy traveling, expanding my photo libraries, and writing new blog posts for a while.

    I’m just not ready for those Viking river cruises yet. 

  • Return to Donner Tunnels: 6 miles and lots of street art

    Photo from the Donner Pass railroad tunnels

    Friday’s seem to be my peak boredom day for some reason – once again, I wanted to get out of the house. I was considering heading back to the Donner Tunnels to complete the full hike next week, but it was supposed to be a beautiful day, so Donner Pass beckoned once again.

    Other than completing the full six mile round-trip hike, my goal was to focus on photographing the street art. And whatever else seemed interesting. I had lured a friend interested in photography to come along, so off we went in the morning, with camera gear and lots of flashlights (some with new batteries this time). I did forget one important thing – the 250G SD card for my Sony A7. Fortunately, the camera has two cards, and the second was still in the camera. Near disaster for sure.

    The Donner Tunnels are not just the rock tunnels blasted out by the Chinese immigrants hired to build this segment of the Transcontinental Railroad, the trail also includes long segments of very large, concrete snow sheds. Many of these connect directly to the rock tunnels. So when you are hiking this trail, you spend a great deal of time either in very dark, cave-like rock tunnels, or in the dimly lit snow sheds. Flashlites are a must since the trail is covered with large gravel, with occasional larger chunks of rock scattered about. I would not recommend falling on this trail.

    On my first hike, I covered tunnels 6-8, which included the long, dark tunnel at the head of the trail, and one very long snow shed. The remainder of the trail covers tunnels 9-11, which includes another long section of snow shed, and 2 moderate sized rock tunnels attached to snow sheds. All told, it’s about 3 miles from the parking lot to the end of the last tunnel. Nice, easy walking on rough gravel, with pools of water, and dimly lit trip rocks.

    Since this was a photo-hike, I’ll dispense with my usual endless chatter, and just show a bunch of photos (with captions), starting with some of the exterior photos.

    Tunnel Photo’s

    Wet end to #11
    Big gap between 8 & 9
    Donner Lake, from the end
    The long shed
    Wet tunnel…walk to the light

    And now for the street art. There are some amazing murals throughout the tunnels, almost all painted in the snow sheds. There is a lot of graffiti in the tunnels, but most are just scrawls on the dimly lit, rough rock walls. I was amazed at how high up some of the art and graffiti was upon the concrete walls – a very large ladder would have been necessary to reach that high. Some of the murals must have taken a day or two complete – some had a base color painted across large sections of the walls. The artists clearly had a plan, and must have brought a lot of paint and equipment along, not just a few cans of spray paint. It’s a shame that so much of this work has been covered over with graffiti. You can see that on most of the photos below.

    Street Art Photo’s

    Some simple graffiti
    Example of over-painting

    Most hikers turn back after emerging from the last snow shed – after 3 miles of walking on that rough gravel trail. staring at the ground in front of your feet in the dark to avoid tripping on rocks, and going blind going in and out of dark tunnels to bright sunlight, I had little enthusiasm for wandering down a dusty trail or hiking up higher. I was hoping there would be a couple of big rocks to sit on while taking in the view of Donner Lake, but there was not place to rest other than going back into the tunnel entrance. You’d think someone would have built a few benches! At least there was a path heading into some trees if you needed a bio break. 

    Walking back 3 miles through all the tunnels and sheds was not quite as exciting as exploring them on the way out. I had ditched the GoPro (into my pack) and did not make too many photo stops. I began to fantasize on finding a Dairy Queen close by to where we were parked. I had to settle for an It’s-it from a peculiar grocery store in Soda Springs on the way back to I-80. That hit the spot. 

    Hiking Past Tunnel 11

    FYI – The old railroad grade does continue on for miles, and eventually joins up with the active railroad line which runs through some of the old snow sheds and remaining tunnels (12-15). If you look on Google Maps/Earth, you can find tunnels 1-5 on the active rail line. I would not recommend walking through any of those. Aside from the fact that it is probably illegal, it’s scaring as hell if you are inside and the train goes by. I’ve had the experience in my rock climbing days in Colorado….trust me. Don’t do it.

    One other interesting point about this trail, noted by my friend, was the almost complete lack of trash along the entire three miles. I think I saw maybe two bottles the entire way. Either some group is coming by every now and then to pick up trash, or this hike seems to attract eco-friendly visitors. I even witnessed someone picking up and bagging their dogs poop. Amazing.

    References

    There are lots of YouTube videos and Web sites with information about the hike, including AllTrails. This is a good starting point https://tahoetrailguide.com/hiking-the-historic-donner-pass-train-tunnels-in-truckee-ca/