The Wonders of Zayante

The beautiful Zayante Creek

I did a little research on Zayante Creek. According to Wikipedia:

"The Zayantes, a local tribe of the Ohlone people, originally inhabited the area. Early history of the area recalls the Zayante people finding shelter and game in the plentiful forests. The area provided them with enough acorns, fish from Lompico and Newell Creek, and small game to live a peaceful, easy life. Temascals (saunas), songs, and games were the rule, while fighting and thievery the exception."

Yes, this is still the peaceful, easy life...

You pretty much know when your day starts with scorpions and snakes, it's a good sign. At least up here on Poppy Mountain it is.

And it was.

Look at that beautiful spiral the snake's tail made.

While the highlight of the day was, of course, the creek and swimming hole (or wait, was it the snake and scorpion?), a few other activities rounded out our afternoon perfectly: cooking, a scavenger hunt, and berry picking. It really was such a sweet day.

Today's snack was a home made breakfast cookie, made with soaked oats, chia, mango, dried fruit, banana and cinnamon (It got mixed reviews). And bacon on the side. Turkey bacon. Yummy. Everything's better with bacon. While the cookies were baking, the children went on a scavenger hunt.

 

There are three big blackberry bushes on the way to Zayante Creek. I would say the picking today was fair. There are still many unripe berries. But we managed to find enough sweet ones to satisfy ourselves.

At last. With our bellies full of breakfast cookies, bacon and berries, we made it to the creek. Exploring, wading, and splashing ensued for the rest of the afternoon.

Success! What a super fun day. It's wonderful to end this session on such a high.