Cone Lake?

Cone lake, huh? Well, if you call a low spot a lake then this might qualify. It's funny, years ago my ex and I were wanting to get out and go for a drive. So we had seen signs for Cone Lake before and decided to go on out there and see what it looked like. On the way in there off of Highway 44 there are many signs leading the way to this natural wonder. We kept seeing signs all the way in, Cone Lake 4 miles... Cone Lake 3 miles... etc. all the way there. I have to give it to the sign people, they have it well signed. Well, if you are expecting to see a lake when you get there, like we did, you will be a bit disappointed. The first picture is Cone Lake and as you can see it is nothing more than a low spot that water must accumulate in when there is water to accumulate. Since I had been there before it wasn't a surprise to me this time to see it again.

The road in there is a nice ride albeit a little wash boardy. It's still nice and green and the volcanic rocks and lava flows are quite interesting, at least I thought so. I went there to ride the trail that leads into the wilderness that starts at the Cone Lake trail head. There were a couple of vehicles there when I got there but I didn't see any people. I would guess it's a mile or so from the parking area to the wilderness boundary. Most of it was nice enough for a mountain bike but there were a few rocky spots I walked through. Bikes are prohibited in the wilderness so I didn't go past the signs. On my way back out I passed a group of 4, riding horses in and also a small group of hikers. They were all heading in and I was leaving... good timing for me. My ride today was only 7 miles round trip, I had parked a couple of miles from the trail head. It was a nice change, yesterday I rode from town up to Westwood Junction and back down the Bizz for a total of 37 miles, so today it was a leisurely trip. Fun stuff..

The lighter side of life.

After watching the smoke from the fire up at Antelope Lake this week and knowing what the fire was doing to the forest where I do most of my recreating, it was nice to get out and see some wildlife. This doe and her babies were fairly unconcerned as I rode my bike down the Bizz Johnson trail. I just had to stop and get a picture of them. Mama did keep a close eye on me while I was snapping this picture but they didn't run off. The hot weather has made it nice for me to ride up to my favorite swimming hole each day and I've seen these deer a couple of times. Last night we had a pretty good light show from the lightning so I went up to skyline park and sat on the bench and took the other pictures. I should've taken my tripod. There is more lightning predicted for today so maybe I can try again. As far as the Antelope fire goes, the latest maps show that the fire has burned up most of the area out in Dry Flat where I used to ride my bike. If it goes the way it did last year the Forest Service will keep the area closed most of the summer so who knows when I'll get back up there. Oh well.

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!!

Funny find

OK, so I'm having a really cool bike ride up in the Frazier Cabin area near Antelope Lake and out in the middle of nowhere I see this blue thing on the ground. I stopped and checked it out and I couldn't believe it was a blue rapala fishing lure. The bite marks on it make me wonder about the story of how it got there. Almost as if some animal was pulling it off it's fur or something. Anyway, I'll never know for sure but it was a weird thing to find in the place I found it.


This picture of my bike is the spot I found that lure... see any water anywhere?

As I was riding down this road I kept remembering all the times I had driven a fire engine out there in that area over the years. I rode by one fire that I found a stuffed parrot on. Somebody had sent a stuffed parrot sitting on a perch into the air with balloons and it had landed right near a spot that got hit by lightning.

The lightning had started a small fire and as I was walking up the hill to it with my crew, I found this parrot laying on the ground. That thing ended up in my office after a patrolman brought it in and gave it to me and I had it for years. It was still there recently in my old office according to my friend Rene' who works there still. Anyway, I rode right past that fire on this ride and couldn't help thinking about it. This cabin is called Frazier cabin and it isn't habitable now. Must have been a line shack or something for coyboys.