Man!

Well, I'm afraid of going back up to Antelope Lake after seeing the smoke column today. I won't legally be able to do that for a while, the Plumas has closed a huge area up there. If you ask me they went into massive overkill with the closure area, but then I don't think I want to go up there bike riding right now anyway, a little bit too smoky for me.

I really thought that the fire would slow down a little when it came down off the mountain it started on. By looking at the smoke in these pictures I'd say that the suppression action is not working. In fact I heard they might have pulled everyone off of the fire for safety reasons for a time. When you see a smoke column like this one, you have to expect rapid rates of spread, long range spotting, and certainly not the kind of fire you could put people out in front of. I happen to know that country very well and it's moving toward an area that is relatively flat and has good road access. All they need is for the wind to stop. I'm hoping it will tomorrow. As I said before, I am really afraid to see what this country looks like after this.

Guess I won't be going fishing or swimming up at the lake for a while.

Fire!

Wow, much has changed since yesterday. My cloud picture was the beginning of a batch of dry lightning that must have happened after I left the lake. I never heard any thunder while I was there but I was watching the Reno news this morning and they said there was a big fire near Antelope Lake. Being the old fire dude I had to go check it out.

So off I go to the bottom of Janesville Grade and starting up I see a flashing sign saying that because of the fire the road is closed. OK, now I can see it if there is a public safety issue here or something, but that fire is a good 20 miles in and in a fairly remote area. So I drive up the grade to crash this party and soon I come to the closure and there is a CHP there. I pull up and ask her just where is this fire? She says south west of Antelope Lake. I tell her that it's a long way from here and I was going up to ride my bike. "Oh well," she says. So I ask her if Milford Grade is open and she says she thinks it is, so back down and out to Milford.

The ride out to Milford, up the Milford Grade and out to Dry Flat was another trip down memory lane for me. I can't tell you how many times I have made that drive... MANY!!

I ended up parking my truck on Babcock road and riding the Babcock loop that I rode a while back. I wanted to get to where I could see the fires to see where they were. I rode up to the top and around the mountain to above the Indian Creek drainage. The biggest fire was still off in the distance from me but as I came around I came across an unstaffed fire. I walked out and looked at it, I couldn't tell how big it was but multiple acres for sure, I just couldn't venture a guess. It was backing across the hill and torching trees every so often, I took some pictures but they didn't come out like I wanted them to. I started down the road kind of expecting to meet a fire crew on the way to this but I never saw anyone all day.

The top picture was taken in the afternoon after the fire really started getting active. The middle one is one I took of the fire I went to, with lots of fresh retardent on the rocks. And the bottom one is from Dry Flat. That's one of my bike riding areas that is on fire! More pictures on my Web Album

More fires!

So, we are in a heat wave out here. Actually I'm quite loving this heat and yesterday I went up to Antelope Lake and rode my bike around the lake, stopping for a swim at the swimming rocks along the way.

After my ride I walked down to an out-of-the way spot I like to go swimming at and stayed there the rest of the day. While I was there I started seeing a few whispy clouds form above me and some of them started coming together. I was hoping that they would either not build to thunder storms, or would bring some rain with them. I'm not sure if it rained or not after I left, but I didn't hear any thunder either. Unfortunately I heard this morning on the news that lightning started a series of fires south of the lake, they said something about 1000 acres and that the campgrounds at the lake had been evacuated last night. Major bummer! Most of my lake has been burned up and I only hope that the rest of it doesn't get burned. Needless to say I'm heading up there today to do some more bike riding and I'll check it out for myself. I have my fingers crossed that the fires stay south of the lake. We'll see!

Outside always

Riding in the hills around Susanville continues to be my favorite thing to do. North of town is mostly private property, the majority seems to belong to Sierra Pacific Lumber Co. They have gates across the roads in places and that keeps most motor vehicles out so I hardly ever see anyone. I did see an atv the other day but he didn't see me. This picture was taken from near the top of the ridge in the old Eagle Lake burn looking back toward Susanville.


Another cabin? Yes, this one is called Wemple Cabin. Rode up there today on a 21 mile loop which is about as flat as any of my rides ever get. It's really not flat at all but the ups and downs are spaced out far enough that the slopes don't work me very hard. I went up to Thompson Peak first thing today so this ride was a nice way to finish the day. Tomorrow... swimming at the lake!!