Swimming weather!

Threw my bike in the back of my truck and drove up to Antelope Lake yesterday for a little swimming and bike riding. I went swimming for a couple of hours then took off around the lake. I ended up stopping 2 more times to go swimming again since it was a nice hot day... just the way I like it. It's about 13 miles around the lake and a pretty easy ride. There weren't many people driving around so the traffic wasn't anything to be concerned about and the water was soooo nice!

I took this picture of Long Point from near where I had parked my truck. It was late in the day and the lighting was different than I am used to seeing, which gives this picture a little bit of relief. Still a little green left now that almost the whole area around the lake has been burned off. Today I might end up back here, depends on whether I end up near the lake or not... yep, bike riding again!

Mannn...

I have been a busy guy lately. Not doing anything very important, mind you, just busy all the time it seems.I've been doing the usual climbing, riding, hiking, yada, yada yada. I had a partner the other day, Chris got a day off so I took him out and tortured him. It wasn't all that hard to go where we went but there was a little chugging uphill to do, as there always is.

We went up to Tom's Thumb and tried to climb it. It's climbable I'm sure, but neither one of us felt confident enough to try to get all the way to the top. Chris made it to a ledge about 2/3rds of the way up and I stayed a little below him. Falling from there would have been very bad and we didn't have that much to prove by climbing all the way anyway so we decided not to push it. We walked all the way around and tried another spot on the back side, which might also be doable, but we didn't go too far up.

That second picture is the place I'm talking about. The perspective in this picture actually makes it look a little steeper than it was, I think. That's as high as Chris tried to go, by the way.

It was good for me to have somebody to go with since climbing on this rock alone is not a good thing and lately my mind has been on an old friend of mine most of the time so having someone along gave me a diversion from my normal thought patterns.

I spent most of the day today working in the warehouse, putting my pallets together for next month, but now I'm feeling kinda lazy this afternoon for some reason. I have nothing important planned this coming week so I guess I'll be out and about as usual... Life is good!

Bike riding and thinking..

Went up on the Lassen National Forest today up by Silver Lake to ride a trail I had tried to ride a couple of years ago. I didn't get very far last time since the trail was a little too rough for me then, but today I went all the way to Echo Lake. (9.6 miles round trip)

I had a lot on my mind since an old friend of mine had recently contacted me (You know who you are if you're reading this) and I was lost in thought most of the ride. It was totally enjoyable and even though I had lots to think about I didn't miss out on any of the great scenery. The trail is pretty good for the most part but there were some spots where I was walking my bike because of the rocks or loose soil. That first picture is one of the nice flat areas.

There were quite a few blow downs and I had to go around many of them since some were too big to go over. The smaller ones I could just step over or move. I'd guess that 2 guys with a chainsaw could clear it in less than a day but maybe the Lassen's trail crew budget has other priorities.

One of the pretty lakes up there is Trail Lake. That second picture is Trail Lake and the trail goes right along the shore. On my way back I sat on a rock on the edge for quite a while... thinking ... and it was a really nice place to do that.

The last picture is at Echo Lake which was my goal for the day. There is a nice little campground there and it was full today. People had boats in the water and they were fishing but I couldn't identify the minnows I was seeing in the shallows so I'm not sure of the species in the lake but I'd guess for sure trout.

Had a great day, what more could you ask for?

Stressed?

Try this..

Campin', ridin' and climbin'..

Since last Tuesday I have been up in the woods revisiting my old haunts. Well, some of them anyway, and a lot of new ones to boot. Went camping up at Conklin Park, a place where I used to go all the time to clean fire pits, paint tables, rake and do other maintenance tasks. I never camped there before, so it was a new experience for me. I never could see why people would want to camp there, but I guess perspective changes everything. Considering it's location, Conklin makes a great place for a bike rider to base from, you can go in all directions from there in big looping rides, which is what I like to do... and did for the last several days.


I climbed Squaw Valley Peak for the first time... well, didn't get up to the highest point, but got real close. The first 2 pictures were from up there.

I rode my bike up to the top of Ross Canyon one day, and another day went to the top of Black Mountain. I have been up to Black Mountain many times, but never to the top of Ross.

My last riding day I went up on Johnson Hill, hiked to the top and tried to take the road system out of there. Much to my dismay I found that the Forest Service has not only closed, but also ripped some of the main roads up into that area, which made access very difficult. I just don't see what they would totally destroy a road that has been there for 50 years or more. The result of what they did was way worse than just leaving it alone. A total waste of money for absolutely no good reason. Serving the public does not seem to be a consideration anymore, and that's sad. Certainly the public would be better served to use that money doing good things instead of destructive ones. Needless to say I need to write a letter to the Forest Supervisor and maybe my congressman to complain about this.

I took these last 2 pictures from up on Johnson Hill. Sure is pretty up there once you get out of the destruction zone.

I posted a ton of pictures on my web album... check 'em out!

Feeling ambitious...

So this morning I decided to hike to the top of Clarks Peak a different way than I did it last time. My plan was to ride up to the top of the ridge, then follow the ridge out to where it ends at Clarks Peak.

Well, the road I took to the top of the ridge was really nice, not too steep and since it was a dead end I didn't have any other traffic, which I always like. Unfortunately I ended up a lot farther away from the peak than I wanted to be and there is another road that gets me much closer that I should have taken, so I stopped short of my goal, got some sun while I ate my lunch and just enjoyed the solitude. It wasn't all that smoky so I took a few... ok, lots of pictures. (but only posting 2)

The first picture is of the way I went along the ridge and way off in the trees you can see Clarks Peak. I took the other picture above the other road that I will take next time I do this. The saddle between the peak and where I was standing has a pretty ridable road in it and makes the walk a lot shorter. Not that it was all that far today, but I will get to the top this way next time I try this.

It's all good and my ride/walk today came out a little over 15 miles. Saw only one truck all day just as I was heading back to my truck.

Tom's Thumb

Not my friend Tom, but I'm really not sure where the name came from. Yesterday I took my bike up to the top of Janesville Grade and headed up toward Thompson Peak.

I decided to ride up a road I hadn't been up for many years and ended up on the escarpment at Tom's Thumb, a huge granite rock that local rock climbers must have named. There are quite a few pitons embedded on the almost sheer rock face. I tried to climb up the only side that looked like it was climbable without ropes but chickened out after getting over half way up since I was alone and if I fell it could be a long time before anyone found me. The right side of the rock in the bottom picture is the one I tried climbing. It really didn't look too tough and next time I get a buddy to go with me I might try getting to the top.

I went all the way around this thing and checked it from all angles. The downhill side was really impressive in it's formidable appearance and I took the bottom picture looking up at it from near the bottom but you can't get the full perspective. It's a little too steep to climb from this side but you really can't tell from this view.