Sacto MoFo

Being a big fan of Eat Street on the Cooking Channel which features food trucks, I organized an informal bike ride around a really cool event called the Sacto MoFo. This one day event was held under the freeway near Southside Park. However, untimely blustery winter winds made the ride unappealing so we opted to go for a long walk instead.

Sacto Mo Fo (Sacramento Mobile Food Organization) is a group advocating for more food options in Sacramento. The group is focused on changing the current 30-minute city ordinance for mobile food trucks and raising awareness through organized events.

Today, they sponsored a big eating extravaganza with over 20 food trucks gathered under the I-80 freeway. Many trucks came from the bay area joining some of the best local mobile eateries.

Under bright blue skies, we started the walk from my house and completed a 5+mile walk around the downtown area

Taking the scenic route through the Broadway Cemetary - Mike D, Jim, Rich, Dennis, Herb, Kay and Mike B

We arrived at 11 a.m. when the event opened but there were already long lines at the popular trucks

A big part of the attraction of the food truck phenomena besides good-value grub are the cool graphics and colors of the trucks . . .

. . . and clever play on words

Corn bread

Always event t-shirts on sale

One of my favorites . . . cool conversion of VW van

The food was great - strawberry waffles and waffles with slab of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup

One of the most popular food trucks

A long line even before the event opened up

Herb and Kay stood in line for 1 hr for the pork belly bao sandwiches

Fans said it was worth the wait

I couldn't wait so I ordered a great hot dog from Drewski's

It was very gooood!!

Rich sizing up the menu at An the Go

Time for a good joe - Jim, Mike D, Dennis and Lizzy

JapaCurry, another real popular eatery

It's menu

This guy said the tonkatsu (pork) curry was pretty good

One of about 6 trucks from the Bay Area

Jim wolfing down a hefty gyro

Young foodies enjoying the day

Vegetarian food is hard to find but she found a couple deep fried potato dishes

Peter swung by on his Moulton

It was breezy and cool so we dragged the table into the sun

Dennis and Lizzy

Mike wolfing down 2 mini-burgers

It was really worth the wait at Chairman Bao's. . . Kay and pork belly burgers and two kinds of bao. The one closest is mine. Quite yummy!!

Through Capitol Towers

After the big eats, it was time to walk off the calories so we swing through the downtown area to complete our 5 mile walk

We didn't bike today but got some inspiration from a new piece of artwork

A brief stop on the K Mall

Couldn't end the day without some dessert . . . hitting the latest and greatest downtown hot-spot - Devine Gelateria

End of a great day!

Valley Vista Hike

The current issue of Sactown Magazine featured an article about 10 great fall hikes near Sacramento. One of the featured hikes was the Valley Vista hike in picturesque Capay Valley.

Frank and I took advantage of another exceptional fall weather day and drove to Rumsey in Cache Creek Canyon to tackle this hike.

This is a double hind-kicker hike from the the very beginning. The trail switchbacks very steeply for 2 miles, ascending approximately 1800' to Rumsey Knob. The trail from the trailhead to the Knob is very well developed and marked.

We elected to continue another couple miles to Lookout Point Summit which added another 1000' of elevation gain. The trail from Rumsey Knob to the Summit was over-grown with chaparral and sketchy but there was enough trail to find our way to the top. The elevation at the summit is about 2266'.

The views of the surrounding ridges and valleys were quite spectacular from the ridge trail and high points.

The trailhead is located on Hwy 16 across the road from Camp Haswell on Cache Creek. There is plenty of parking space at the trailhead.

As the switchback trail ascends, Cache Creek comes into view. Camp Haswell is located across Hwy 16 next to Cache Creek.

It's a grunt for 1.7 miles to Rumsey Knob

A great view of Cache Creek and Capay Valley. This why this trail is appropriately named Valley Vista.

A birds-eye view of Rumsey Canyon from the Knob - Cache Creek and Hwy 16 below

The view of farms along Cache Creek

Beautiful oak woodland and riparian habitat along Cache Creek (above and below)

On the top of Rumsey Knob is a "hitching post" for giraffes. We couldn't figure out what this was for.

Man vs. Apple . . . taking a break at Rumsey Knob

The view north of ridge across Cache Creek

From Rumsey Knob, we continue another 2 miles to the top of Lookout Summit where I'm pointing. The trail from this point onward was overgrown and sketchy which required some bush-whacking through thick chaparral.

The trail follows the tops of ridge

Frank approaching the top on very steep pitch

The view east

Most of the terrain was chaparral with the exception of this bare spot with a stand of oaks

The view of Capay Valley from the top of Summit Point at about 2266'

At the summit is a cairn where we discovered a register under the rocks

The view (south) of Blue Ridge Mountains

Dead-man eating!

A laid-back lunch at the top of summit

Two at the top

Frank signing our names in the register. The last hikers listed on the register were here back in April indicating not too many people get this far.

Descending on steep trail to our car parked near Cache Creek . . . our legs took a pounding

A cruel joke!

A sign at base of mountain.

It was a tough hike and we were all smiles when it was over.