Ouch..that sounds tooo pretty. 

My love is still the true blue Canadian North, the land where, as Bruce Cockburn so rightly put it, "the weather keeps you REAL", but..I have never been anywhere as peaceful,and with such stark beauty.   I have some slides I took on a canoe trip to the Mountain River in the Northwest Territories, that (if I can find), I could post in the Gallery.  This is a remote area of rivers on the border between Yukon and NWT that flow into the Arctic Ocean.  The area is very mountainous, and there are still some trees; though the landscape is stark and moonlike. From any hilltop, you can see literally a hundred miles, and...NO people, of course.  The rivers are fast flowing, very voluminous, and turquoise coloured water; ideal for kayak.  We used spray covers on the canoes, and still got drenched.  The Mountain is not a well traveled river; the year we took it only 25 other parties went down.  In contrast, the Nahanni (same region) is soo popular, that reservations must be made, and thousands of parties descend it's waters each year. 

The lakes and rivers of the Canadian shield region in Quebec and Ontario are another favorite for me.

But the Sierras..aaah..might pay you a visit.  My Brother lives in Sac..and sadly, never or rarely ever visits the beautiful areas so nearby.  I try to talk some sense into him, but sometimes he can hardly see past his nose.

Gene

P.S. We should have a DBIS canoe trip sometime..it'd be a hoot!