Eagle Lake!

After spending the last 2 days out in the burn by Antelope Lake contemplating the fleeting nature of beauty and taking many "after" picures to be posted on my web album soon, I took a drive over the hill to Eagle Lake today and explored the lava beds on the south west end. I rode my bike out to Wildcat Point and followed the shoreline as close as I could, going north. Most of the shoreline north of Wildcat Point is closed this time of year because of Osprey habitat. I found some conflicting signs along there, one saying the area is closed and another saying foot and horse traffic is allowed. Needless to say, Osprey's aren't nesting this time of year anyway, but the closure goes till the end of September. I went almost to Pine Creek going north and then turned and came back through the middle of the lava beds. It was pretty cool, and not a strenuous ride at all.

I never saw a soul all day till the afternoon on a really remote road a truck came along. I talked to the 2 guys in it for a minute and then they were on their way. Long ride, since I lost my GPS I haven't replaced it yet and I don't have another odometer. Fun day in a brand new area for me. All these years I had never been out in that country until today. Great place to ride a bike.

Family time

Daughter Tracey came over with the family last week and ever since I have been having family time. Well, she went home last Monday but I have my grand daughter Laura staying with me and my son Bill is over for his 20th reunion. Speaking of reunions, we had an Owings family reunion over at Trinity Lake and even though there were a few that didn't make it, we had a great time.

Adams Peak!

Had a nice hike the other day up to the top of Adams Peak. This place is out near Frenchman Lake on the eastern side of the Plumas National Forest. I have been on many fires in the area over the years, driven virtually all of the roads up there, but have never actually climbed to the summit till then. It was a really cool, blustery day and I was glad I had chosen long sleeves and long pants instead of what Chris was wearing. The hike itself was not all that strenuous, we were able to drive to within a mile of the top. Actually my map program showed me that the distance was less than a mile and an elevation change of about 800 feet. Ya gotta love that. Adams is in a roadless area and I know that some of the old fires up there were staffed by smoke jumpers over the years. We found a container with a register in it left by the Sierra Club on the top, so we both signed it. The final ascent to the summit was a little tough due to the vegetation on the side we came up on, but we found a much easier way down so the route a person takes can make a big difference in the difficulty of this hike. Nice views of the surrounding area and you can see the Highway 395 corridor in one of my pictures.

The 2 scenery pictures are of that 395 corridor out near Hallelujah Junction and the other one is looking north toward Honey Lake Valley and Doyle.

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