Out in the Boonies

Man, what a great day! Irrespective of the huge fire burning nearby, I had a fabulous day exploring an area I have never been to and had no idea a road existed in. I was out near Dodge Mine and I was planning on hiking into this little valley I found on my maps and in Google Earth but as it seems, people riding ATV's have opened up an old road back into it. There is a nice camping spot at the end of the road right by Last Chance Creek. This is one of the most pristine spots on the east side of the Plumas and it hasn't had fire in it for a long time, so I hope the monster that is lurking to the west doesn't come this way.

About that, I read this morning that the wind shift had allowed the firefighters to gain some ground, but looking at the column in these pictures I can say for sure that it blew out big time today. Driving down Highway 395 it was so smoky that you had to have headlights on as you can see in the picture. This fire has gotten so large that it has the potential to burn all the way to Honey Lake Valley, taking out some beautiful country with it. I would really hate to see that happen but it's up to the whim of the weather now.

Moonlight Fire

I had a few things to do today and I didn't get out of town... but then that was a good thing. The fire near Moonlight pass really started to pick up late in the day due to the strong winds. I rode up to Skyline Park and sat on the bench for a while and just watched the smoke column increase. I read that this fire was 1100 acres this morning and whether that was accurate or not, it's grown considerably today.

Out Riding

For the last several days I've been out in the woods riding my bike in places I haven't been to in years. In fact, yesterday I took a road that I've never been up before and the road ended up petering out before it got to the top of ridge. Needless to say it was a case of forging ahead cross country or going back the way I came. It was a grand adventure and since I knew the country so well I knew exactly where I was and came out right where I wanted to. Along the way I came across these two lightning struck trees that were blasted to pieces. It's a good thing this lightning strike didn't start a fire because of the heavy fuels and the remoteness of this spot.


After I got back to my truck I had a beer and while I was drinking it I noticed the aircraft flying overhead. It seemed a little odd to me so I thought there must be something going on. I drove up the road a little way and looked back to see this smoke coming from well inside the Wheeler fire. I've been up on that road and happen to know that there isn't much left up there to burn. In fact the area this smoke is coming from is surrounded by nuked zones.

Today I went out Gold Run and up on Diamond Mountain for one my favorite bike rides. After lunch I was riding along and I noticed a smoke down the valley. This fire looks like it's right along the road that I rode up this morning. It didn't get much bigger, they got on it right away.


Funny thing was that yet another fire started back up behind Gold Run later in the day and I saw it on my way back to Susanville. In fact, at this very minute it's putting up enough smoke so that I can smell it and its filtering out some of the sunlight. This one is well up in the Plumas, let's hope it doesn't get as big as the last fire they had.

Fitch Canyon

Fantastic day! I can't say I can describe today any other way. I went up to the Fitch/ Cottonwood canyon areas to do a little bike riding and follow a road that has been closed for about 18 or 19 years. I had a couple of lightning fires along this road years ago so I was doing my usual trip down memory lane thing. As you can see from the first picture, the road has grown over a bit and had been ripped so it was a little soft for going up hill. I had to walk my bike most of the way up the canyon but it was a nice walk and once I got up on top I tied into the road system that is still open.

The road hasn't been used much and there were no other tracks than mine on it, as you can see from this other picture. I ended up going down past Doyle Reservoir into Fitch Canyon and back down Cottonwood creek where my truck was parked. I got there just as a real active lightning cell passed overhead, it started pouring and some of the lightning was pretty close. This was a very cool part of the day. The storm was a short duration intense thing and I had to move out from under the big trees I was parked under after a lightning bolt hit very close. It's generally a good thing to do to stay away from the biggest trees around in an area when avoiding lightning.

I'll be heading back up in that area tomorrow and I'll be looking for smoke as I ride long. I'd sure hate to see another big fire around here. Anyway, it was a fabulous day.

Snake Tree

Went bike riding today up at Squaw Valley with Chris. We rode almost all the way around Coyote Hills. The hill climbing was minimal and there were lots of almost level road. Well, we were on a road some of the time.

As we came around on our way back to the trucks we went past the Snake Tree. This tree is a very interesting and unique feature in this area. I have been showing it to people and visiting it for 30 years and I was telling Chris, it is virtually unchanged since the first time I saw it, so it's a slow grower. It's not a large tree, or very tall.



The clouds were building so when we got back to the trucks we found a spot where we could watch for lightning and had a couple of beers. Although there was a little thunder, way off in the distance, we didn't see any lightning or get rained on. I went through a few rain showers on the way home but they weren't wide spread. Our ride was only 14 miles but it was all good.

Cinder Cone

Life is good... what else can I say? Today I took a short drive up to Lassen Park, or the back door to Lassen Park anyway, Butte Lake Road. Butte Lake is a pretty place. There is a parking area, a rather small primitive boat ramp, a campground and a "Ranger Station." I rode my bike up there after parking down below the first campground. As I found out, you can't ride a bike on any of the trails up there so I had to hide my bike so I could hike out to Cinder Cone.

The hike to the top was not bad at all, a little soft but the cone is not that high. The views were really nice and after seeing some of the weird patterns on Google Earth it was cool to see them in real time. There is a well defined crater at the top and a trail to the very bottom. I thought about walking down there but couldn't see the sense in it.

I ran into quite a few people both on the trail and at the top. This is a really easy hike as long as a person is in reasonably good condition and you go slow and enjoy the views along the way. I chugged to the top without stopping so all my bike riding paid off well, I was never out of breath.

Poison... again

Poison Creek, that is. This picture isn't of Poison Creek but it is up in that area, where I was today when I went bike riding. Actually I tried to ride up a road where I planted trees back in the 70's. I ended up walking most of the time but it was kind of cool to go back up there after all these years. The trees are doing pretty good too, by the way. I went cross country and dropped down into the Poison Creek drainage which was an interesting adventure considering the amount of brush that has grown up between the plantation trees. I had to carry my bike down some steep brush covered hills. Tons of fun... I mean it, really! Maybe if I had been wearing boots and long pants I wouldn't have gotten so scratched up. I just love those kinds of rides.