Last Chance

Road closed? Do you see a road anywhere? Actually this used to be a railroad grade, believe it or not. There were some places where I could actually ride my bike but much of it was totally washed out. I found tons of artifacts from the tracks that used to be here. Lots of spikes and pieces of angle iron and many almost completely rotted ties. It sure was a nice day, my ride covered only 17 miles and I just love that area anyway. When I started working for the Forest Service this area had not yet burned. I still remember how beautiful and remote it felt to drive out here. I know that the burn is not visable in these pictures but I rode through 2 big burns to get here. The Elephant fire was in 1980, as I recall, and the Babcock was in 1976. I was on both of them and I hated to see the result of these fires.


This bottom picture is along Last Chance Creek, where that rail road grade runs. Didn't see any people the whole day.... not one person... ya gotta love that!!

June? Or January?

Global warming huh? Well today was kind of interesting driving around town seeing everyone wearing jackets and sweatshirts. When I looked up on Diamond Mountain I noticed the snow level was almost halfway down the mountain. Yes, I said snow level. The calendar says it's June but the weather feels more like January. My thermometer says 53°which is about 30° less than it was a few days ago. I thought it was cold when I was camping over at Fort Bragg but that was still warmer than it is today. When I got up this morning I was thinking about going bike riding but once I stepped out the back door I changed that whole plan.

Oh well, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining but I'll certainly be happy when it warms back up to normal. Only one way to look at it, you Gotta love it!