May 2, 2012
Pendola Gardens Road
Total distance: 6.5 miles
It was a sunny day as Michelle and I walked along Pendola Gardens Road, an old country road in Mariposa County.
Cows grazed behind rusty barbed wire fences.
Squirrels scurried across the dusty path near Bear Creek. The trickling creek was filled with tiny fish.
A warm breeze blew through the trees bordering the winding road. The birds were out too on this beautiful spring day (no photos of birds). There were acorn woodpeckers and robins in the oak trees. We heard the coo-coo-coo of mourning doves, and watched as quail, wild turkey, and killdeer walked along the path. Hawks, blue jays and warblers flew about.
We walked by an inactive rock quarry. Although late in the season, we were pleasantly surprised to find many wildflowers along the nearly deserted, gently rolling terrain. We saw baby blue eyes, lupine, blue dick, paintbrush, fiddleneck, sunflowers and more.
We sat in a pasture near Cow and Calf Creek, a partially dry creek bed. This area is the long abandoned site of Nicholas Pendola’s gardens (circa 1870) where vegetables were grown then sold in the nearby mining communities. On the return walk we had a good view of Fremont Peak.
Hiking Yosemite and Beyond 
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