We are in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. All the creeks are flowing as the high elevation snow begins to melt. This time of year is looks much like rugged areas of the Appalachians. We hiked up the canyon of the Marble fork of the Kaweah River. It was beautiful! The falls thunder across huge boulders of white marble. Along the hike, whenever the sun broke through the thick tree canopy, there were wide beds of wildflowers. The redbud trees are in full bloom too so there was a lot of color to accent the thick green trees and undergrowth. They have had heavy snow. There is still 6 feet on the ground at the higher elevations in this park. We plan to check out what we can get to starting tomorrow.