Bluegrass Trailhead

Where can you hike between bluegrass sessions? At Anderson Marsh State Historic Park south of Clearlake in California! This year's Old Time Bluegrass Festival took place there over the last weekend. It was sunny and hot. Bands such as The Mighty Crows had to play under the sun (left picture), but the audience could enjoy the music from under a parachute roof (upper right picture). Workshops for flatpicking guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle were scheduled at the old ranch house. During your self-planned intermission, you could hike on some of the trails of this park, where the Cache Creek meets the lower end of Clear Lake. Trails lead through riparian habitat, hills with blue oaks and grasslands. And during the festival, faint bluegrass sounds passed over the hills and trails.