It's always hard to pick the perfect destination for a spring hike---especially considering the weather we've been having over the past couple of months. So when we got a free day or two, we headed up to Sonora to visit an old friend...and take a look at a couple of hikes we've always wanted to take.

Saturday we started at Cherry Lake Dam and hiked over to Lake Eleanor. During the summer, this is a very short hike, because the road across the dam is open, and you can drive to within about a mile of Lake Eleanor. But the road was not open, and so the hike was closer to six or seven miles, round trip.

And while we knew a storm was brewing, we managed to miss any rain or snow on Saturday--just the way we planned it. Lake Eleanor is a great destination this time of year---because there AREN"T that many people willing to make the hike. Once the road over the dam opens, I imagine it gets pretty crowded. You can see our photos from the weekend here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/balzaccom/LakeEleanorAndPinecrest2011#

And that night it snowed down to about 3,000 feet. So we woke up to three inches of snow on the ground at our friend's house...and a good excuse to explore her lovely area on foot. By the afternoon, the snow was pretty much gone from the lower elevations, so we drove up to Pinecrest Lake, where it was still snowing, and there was plenty of snow on the ground. That made for a beautiful hike...and we still had warm showers that night before bed!

Best of all. we've got a few more places to add to the list of things to explore the next time we head up into this area....which always seems to happen!

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