Rambling Day at Grinding Rock and the Black Chasm
Last Friday, before this most recent rainstorm, we all took off on a little day trip to Amador county to see what we could see. We were finally all feeling mostly healthy after our sequential colds (which I didn’t dwell on much this week because we were all home together and taking life pretty easy anyway). The day was gorgeous and we had so much fun.
We started out at one of our favorite local spots: Chaw’se Indian Grinding Rock, near Volcano and Pine Grove, California just 8 miles east of Jackson. It’s a lovely, well-maintained state historic park with an educational center and the largest bedrock grinding stone in North America. This is where Miwok people ground their acorns for centuries. The wildflowers were dressed to impress and I enjoyed them very much.
I didn’t know manzanita trees flowered like this:
We had a yummy picnic and then hiked the short loop trail through the woods. Asher is such a trooper when we’re hiking small trails like this. He really likes it when we all stay together, though! Of course, Lucas likes to rush ahead.
Then we ventured on to the Black Chasm, which was only another 10 minutes’ drive up the road. We paid for the tour into the cavern, which is pretty damned spectacular. I had to carry Asher in our Ergo on my front and feel my way down the slippery, wet staircase into the cavern. It was exciting and a bit scary, but we all did it! Lucas was very brave. Because of carrying Asher, I didn’t bring my camera into the cave—it would have been just too much to manage. I’m sad not to have any pictures, but I can tell you that it was so beautiful and very well lighted. This cave has a great display of helictites, which are very rare and weird and formed from hydrostatic pressure. (If you go to the website, you can see pictures and even a short video.)
Above ground, they had a flume and we hunted for crystals in the sands. Asher made friends with a little boy who lives there named Kit.
We stopped at a lovely winery after our exertions, where the kids ran around in a safe picnic/game area. The wines were pretty nice and we came away with three bottles. Mmm.
Our adventure culminated with a walk through Sutter Creek and dinner. Asher was asleep as soon as we climbed into the car. Such a great day!
