Back Roads

The last time I was on this road was back in 1980 on the Elephant Fire. I drove a fire engine down it, but it was green and lush back then... and was until last year, I might add. As I was riding along I was wishing I had tried riding this road before the fire screwed it up beyond recognition. Too late for that now, but it still made a really nice ride.

Coming down along Last Chance creek the scenery always beckons me to take pictures.



I had to ford Last Chance Creek in one spot so I took off my shoes and waded across. I was surprised at how warm the water is. It's no wonder that certain kinds of trout don't make it here. Still, I have waded this creek many times and it seemed warmer than usual to me... There wasn't much flow anyway.


The wind shifted today and for a change, this wind shift you could watch happening... thanks to all the smoke from the fires still going. Just visible in the smoke in this last picture is Babcock Peak, where I had just come down from. The smoke moved across and as I type this the whole Honey Lake Valley is full of smoke. Tomorrow I'm heading back up to the top of Janesville Grade to explore all the roads... Life is good!!

Fishin' in the smoke!

Wow.... smoky??? Ya think??? Other than the fact that the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife, it was a nice day. There was sun up there somewhere and I could feel some warmth from it but the smoke really cut down the heat a little. It wasn't quite warm enough for swimming as far as I was concerned, but I saw other people swimming and water skiing.

Looks like a little less smoke this morning so I'm hoping for a little more clear air up there today... tomorrow bike riding!!

Oh, I only caught 37 fish... a little slow!

Smoky...

The air, not the bear. But then good ol' Smokey spells his name a little differently... with an "e."

Went up toward Cheney Creek today and got on some roads I had never been on before, and didn't even know they existed. Had some nice views of the Susan River Canyon... well, they could have been really nice if the air had been clearer. There was a yellow tinge to the sunlight from the smoke, and that is a sight I am quite used to seeing. I'd rather it wasn't smoky, but you have to take what you get, weather-wise, so it was all good.

Other than the smoke, the sky was clear.

There was very little good information on the fire over by Sloat, that one is called Cold. They said there were 1200 acres on fire, but I think that is in the complex, so I'm not sure how much of that is the Cold fire. Most of the smoke we are getting is coming from over by Chester, I think, more fires over there. The smell reminds me of fire camp. Ya gotta love those great memories!

Fire... again!

Well, a little thunderstorm episode the other day and now the air is filled with smoke again. Information this morning is sketchy but I know of one big fire over by Sloat, where my friend Chris lives. His crew was coming back from Nevada yesterday, he called and left a message on my voice mail when I was out bike riding. The fire near his place might cross highway 70, or so the speculation goes. Quite the lack of information right now, but by this afternoon I should be able to find out a little more about what is happening.

My ride yesterday was up above Lake Forest and down Piute Canyon. My map said there was a road in the bottom of Piute Canyon, and indeed, I did find a really good trail there. No vehicle tracks and a really good bike riding trail. I will be returning to explore this area again in a few days.

Today I have a few errands to run this morning, then I'm heading up toward Cheney Creek. There is a hazy smoky filter on the sunlight here in the valley this morning, but I'm hoping the smoke will blow into Nevada and clear up a little... ahhhh, the smell of the forest on fire... memories!

Busy Guy...

The last couple of days I have been doing stuff other than bike riding or fishing... shock!! Well, I helped my ex-wife's brother a bit, he's doing a bathroom remodeling job for his sister and doing a really nice job too, I might add. He showed me how to get a bathtub out, something I had no clue about and have never done even with all the remodeling jobs I have done at work over the years. She will finally have some nice bathrooms to use... a project I always put on the back burner all the years we were married.

Oh, this picture I took just before getting to the boat ramp at Antelope Lake on Monday. My son Bill asked me to take a couple of pictures up there and I took this one while driving along... you can see my boat in the mirror.

Today I had to work, we had a Farmers Market. It's all free stuff, so I'm not sure why it's called a market, but one thing is for sure, you can't beat the prices. Tomorrow it's off to the woods for another bike ride... I have a plan...

Interesting plants

Rode up to Susanville Peak today and along the way I found this interesting plant. I've seen this thing before, but the pods were never full before. Usually the pods are flat and kind of resemble pea pods... These things are full of air and I popped some when I ran over them, that's what alerted me to their interesting weirdness. There were droplets of water inside so my guess is that the water vapor has something to do with the swelling. They were sealed pretty good and don't deflate easily, you have to squeeze them pretty hard to pop them.

I just love to see new things when I'm out riding and they are all there for your viewing pleasure, if you just stop and look.

Doubtless I have missed these things many times by not paying close attention to the vegetation on my travels. Now I need to find a good flower book so I can identify this thing. There was a lot of smoke from the fire down near Paradise blocking the nice views I got from the top of the hill but looking north you could still see Round Valley Lake and Eagle Lake off in the distance.

Sauntering..

In green meadows full of flowers.. barefoot even.. Ya gotta love that! My wanderings today brought me by quite a few beautiful meadows as yet not trampled by cows. It was a gorgeous day, warm with light breezes and not a cloud to block the sun. Needless to say I was making vitamin D for several hours.

One of the things about the east side of the Plumas that always bothers me is that the creeks don't run clear like their counterparts on the west side. Most of the creeks you find have a sort of coffee color to them. I always attributed that to cattle when I was working for the Forest Service, but now I'm not too sure that's the only cause for it. Never-the-less, I wouldn't want to have to drink any of this stuff, even using my water filter.

My ride today was up near Wemple Cabin and even though I did see some people, they were few and far between. I guess I would have preferred not to see anyone, but that's the way it goes...

Still... it was all good...