Stebbins Cold Canyon - April '25 

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On a Tuesday in early April, ten of us met in Davis & carpooled to a carpark near the Monticello Dam on Lake Berryessa, six miles from Winters, Ca. Suddenly the terrain has steep hills !

There are two main trails here and one of them is immediately & impossibly steep. We took the Homestead trail, which follows Putah Creek gradually uphill into a modest watershed, with a goal of reaching the junction with Annie's Trail, at 2 miles out with 1,000 ft. of gain.    

The hikers today were Maryam, Max, Donna, Cynthia, Marcia, Ellen, Frank, Rick, Jean, and me.   

	starting out		looking uphill to the right		purple nightshade
				< pacific poison oak & California buckeye >
	Putah creek		Cottonwoods w/ bright spring foliage		morning glory
		looking back		pipe stem clematis
	sticky monkey flower

After spending some time on a progressively steep ascent, most of us turned back, short of the junction, while Marcia & Ellen kept going. 

We headed downhill, diverting onto a side trail leading to a shady spot, with an old building foundation, right on the creek, a great place for lunch. There were light breezes in overhead Cottonwoods and many bird calls.

On the way back -

	Cynthia & Jean		some of the group		Arroyo lupine
		woodbalm - this plant was  everywhere		last summer's Toyon berries
	a giant maple tree...		...near the car park		Frank's group photo (at the start of the walk)

Most of us walked about 4 miles round trip, with about 800 ft. of gain, and, we were up & down numerous well-constructed stairways at times, some with big steps.  

There were technical aspects, like having to cross Putah Creek a few times, using boulders & stepping stones and walking sticks. I lost my balance for a few seconds and got a tree branch scrape, but had a first aid kit out quickly.  It was 'a bit of a mess'.

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Postscript - On the return drive, eight of us drove into Winters to have a snack at the Putah Creek Cafe, in the center of town. We shared a meal of one serving of corn pie, plus a roasted veggie/feta pizza, along with sweet potato fries, and beers, well, or coffee & nice-looking bakery pie for M&M. 

Arriving here at 2:30 pm on a Tuesday was ideal for great service & quick delivery; pizzas here take only ten minutes ! 

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