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One Year of Adventures with Candace!

I can’t believe that it has been one year since I started writing “Adventures with Candace” on Sierra News Online. 40 Blog Chapters are now under my belt and I want to thank the readers of the blog for their interest and support. Did you realize that over 31,000 visited all of these Blog Chapters? I also received many ideas, suggestions and corrections to improve this Blog from you and I thank you so much for these.

The first Blog Chapter was published on September 21 and was titled “Dana Plateau Hike.” When I look back to that first one, I realize how much I owe some specific thank you’s to many people.

Sierra News Online’s Publisher Gina Clugston and Webmaster Andy DeMasters have helped improve the photo quality by finding a way to display the largest size photos. Some of these Blog Chapter files are pretty large, 40-50 MB, and it took us a little bit to find a way for me to format and be able to send such large files. We did work through this and as a result, were able to greatly increase the quality of the photographic displays.

One Year 2

Chad asked which topographic maps that I used and I was unprepared to answer that at the time he posed the question but it got me thinking about how I can make each hike’s information better for the reader, modifying the hike format to include the names of the topographic maps to help the reader.

I had a couple of comments asking about the difficulty of the hike, so added that information.

Meredith asked about finding hiking groups to go with and since I also had a couple of additional comments related to that subject, it became a Chapter in my Blog.

Don talked about how he enjoyed the brief history of the hiking area, so I try to add some fun facts and a little history when it fits. Sometimes I get pretty excited about the mining history and it is hard for me to hold back in this area but I am working on that.

One Year 3

I was lucky to be able to utilize some experts their fields that just happen to live nearby.

Beth Pratt, California Director for the National Wildlife Association, has helped in identifying the correct frog species and to better understand other wildlife issues.

One Year 4

One of the areas that I have struggled with is the proper identification of wildflowers. I have erred so many times that Joanna Clines, Forest Botanist for the Sierra National Forest, offered to help me identify the flowers. So, when I was stumped, I contacted her with pictures and conversation in order to better identify them. Thank you Joanna!!

One Year 5

Sometimes I got the details wrong on an item such as how many horse camp sites were in a specific campground and Patricia helped by providing the correct information.

One Year 6

I had a couple of people ask me where I located the historical information on the mining operations. I have many mining books in my library but also have located some wonderful websites, so I have started referencing of my sources on that Blog Chapter to make it easy for others to read more. Great suggestion!

Once I included the wrong profile and distance for a hike and Keith quickly caught that one and Andy fixed it for me.

I am so very grateful for the opportunities that I have to go on such great hikes in the beautiful country that is nearby and the critters that make their appearance every once in a while.

One Year 7

One Year 8

Hiking buddies certainly add to all of the trips, coming up with wonderful ideas for adventures and giving us the opportunity to share our common love of the outdoors together.

One Year 9

One Year 10

And of course, hiking with Sally always shakes things up! Photo by Keith Sauer.

One Year 11

Thank so much for checking in on the Blog and I look forward to sharing many more adventures with you. Please keep those comments coming!!

2 comments

  1. Love that you are doing this Candace…..and what a great job you do! Such great photos & history to complement each hiking adventure. Keep ’em coming !

  2. Looks like you are “Living the Dream!” Great to hear what you are up to.

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