Thornburg Canyon

As you grow up with your Dad, Rai, you'll learn that I'm a lover of maps. I can't get enough of them. And, the more detailed and accurate they are, the better. While traveling, I was never satisfied with the travel guide maps (who is?) but never invested in more detailed local maps for fear that I wouldn't be able to understand the foreign names anyway. It's always been a dream of mine to disappear somewhere in the Himalaya or the Andes with nothing but a great topographical map and all local trails and communities marked.
So, a small dream of mine was realized recently when we bought a detailed, topo map of the Mokelumne Wilderness. This is the huge expanse of forests, mountains and lakes that are caught between the three main highways in this area. On this map are shown all roads and trails and I have made it my mission to travel each and every one. It'll take a while.
Today, we tried out Sawmill Creek Road, a road that takes off from the Pleasant Valley community and quickly turns into a bumpy and rocky road with several creek crossings (our Nissan made it!). A few miles down the road, we reached a creek that looked unpassable so we parked the car, got our gear on and headed out. Our goal was Thornburg Canyon, a canyon above the beautiful Pleasant Valley with Raymond Peak as our guide on our right side for most of the way. The incredible beauty made up for the fear that was put in us by the severe mountain lion warning posted at the trailhead.