Over the Sierras
/Day 6- Over the Sierras
We woke to 38F and light rain at Washoe Lake. We’re quickly falling into a routine. The diesel heater gets fired up first and the coffee is brewing within minutes of waking. By the time we were ready for our morning walk, the rain had stopped and the temperature had soared to a sizzling 42F. The wind, for the most part, had abated which was a welcome change. We’re so very glad we brought our winter jackets and gear. We originally thought we’d need them for the north country not in Nevada, but we’re certainly making good use of them already.
We were off without much ado heading over the Sierras. California welcomed us with cloud-shrouded mountains, rain, and regular gas at $5/gallon.
We stopped in Susanville for a few groceries and our daily internet hit at McDonalds. We spied a Paul Bunyan statue and thought ‘nah… it couldn’t be Paul way out here in California. It’s probably just lumberjack country’, but it appears it was Paul and he’d been as busy here as well all the places we’d spotted him back East.
Our thoughts were later confirmed when we passed by the Westwood, California entrance sign which boasted ‘the town that Paul built’. It seems that Paul Bunyan and Babe were the subjects of short stories that an ad man, William Laughead, wrote to promote the Red River Lumber Company lumber camp's operations and Westwood was one of the lumber camp’s centers of operation.
We followed scenic US-36 over Fredonyer Pass (5,746’). Evidence of the Lassen National Forest wildfire was devastating, with charred and burned trees all along the roadside. Intermittent rain showers alternated with bright sunshine. The weather couldn’t decide what it wanted to do.
As we neared Lassen Volcanic National Park, the temperature plummeted to 34F. The entrance road to the park was closed due to snow which was piled high on the roadside.
We were over Morgan Summit (5,750’) and still snaking along the 2-lane US-36 through evergreen forests of tall, straight fir and pine, towering above us at 150+’. Wisps of fog curled over the roadway sometimes thick enough to occlude our view.
We descended and descended and finally we arrived in Red Bluff, altitude ~300’. What a change! We found our way to Sycamore Grove Campground in Mendocino National Forest. It was really more of an urban park campground close to I-5, than a forest, but it was pleasant with well-spaced sites, flush toilets (yea!) and showers. We parked, got situated, took a walk to check out the facilities and heated the left over chili for dinner.
We’re currently listening to a new podcast recommended by Gentry ‘The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling’. We’re finding it quite entertaining as well as informative and we recommend it.
Day 7 - Sycamore Grove Campground - Red Bluff, California
The night was much warmer and the partly sunny morning held promise for a lovely day ahead. David surprised me with a new insulated Yeti coffee tumbler for Mother’s Day. We had a special breakfast and I sent a Mother’s Day greeting to Lin. Her response? “Thanks, but that’s next Sunday! Gone from society for less than a week and BAM!” Hmmm… Guess we’ll celebrate the holiday twice. Wonder what David will get me for Mother’s Day?
We found the nearby paved trail along the lovely Sacramento River which connected to the Shasta View Loop Trail, a mile-long, pleasant trail that meandered through grassy fields and a grove of valley oaks endemic to California. Growing on many of the oak branches we saw what appeared to be some sort of apple-like fruit. When we photographed them with Seek, our iNaturalist species app, it identified them as gall wasps. We immediately thought no way, but later learned that’s exactly what these growths were… California gall wasp ‘incubators’ of sorts, in which the wasp larvae feed and grow.
The trail took us past a closed Visitor Center with an interpretive walk through a native plant garden. Lots of flowers were in bloom including one of my favorites… columbine. Most impressive, however, were the California poppies that were not only in the garden, but in the fields and on the roadside. We’d be seeing them most everywhere we went.
The Red Bluff Diversion Dam was next to the campground and hard to miss. It provided fish ladders for the salmon among its other duties. No salmon were swimming upstream at the moment and we had the feeling they hadn’t been used in quite some time.
Early in the day, I made Lemay Special, a family stew recipe, and left it on the stove ready for dinner. As the evening descended and it started to get cool, the hot stew was welcome. Here’s a link to the family recipe, if you’re interested.
After so many hectic weeks of household chores and Blanche upgrade projects, we were finally winding down and feeling delightfully relaxed. Reading, writing, chatting, planning, walking, listening, and just being. Life is good!
Day 8 - Shasta Dam
A rainy, raw day! Thankfully, we packed up last night and our getaway was pretty easy and dry. Since the rain was really coming down and the morning was a loss hiking-wise, we figured we’d do a chore we disliked… laundry. After a week on the road, it was starting to pile up. Spending 1-1/2 hours at the local laundromat wasn’t all that bad and during that time, the weather cleared, the clothes got clean and David found us a good campground for the night.
Just north of Redding near the little town of Shasta Lake and just downstream on the Sacramento River in the shadow of the 602’ Shasta Dam is a BLM campground. The entrance to the campground required us to cross the top of the dam. A friendly, uniformed officer checked David’s ID and did a cursory inspection of the van and let us through the gate.
A 2-mile, serpentine paved route lined with bright yellow Scotch broom and patches of purple ceanothus, descended to the campground. The area is known for ATV trails, but arriving on a weekday, we were spared the throngs of ATV enthusiasts. The few campers with ATVs that were there were courteous and quiet.
At $10/night ($5/night with our NPS senior pass), the campground was quite a bargain. Amenities included 27 campsites with picnic tables and fire rings, fresh water, immaculately clean vault toilets, trash bins… everything but cell service.
The sun finally decided to shine a bit and though cool, it turned into a lovely day. We walked towards the dam for a photo opp.
On the other end of the day use area, we found the Sacramento River Rail-Trail, perfect for a late afternoon walk. The area was the previous site of the town of Coram and the home of the Balaklala Copper Mining Company. Established in 1906 as a copper smelting town, Coram boasted a population of 1000 people, 23 saloons, a post office, several grocery stores, a hospital, hotels and boarding houses and not a single church. A 16,500’ tramway transported ore from the mines to the smelter in town. For every ton of ore that was processed, a ton of sulfuric acid was released into the air, killing the vegetation for 200 square miles. Law suits ensued and the company closed down in 1911. The town was gone by 1924, but the damage to the vegetation has only recently recovered.
There were lots of wildflowers in bloom along our path. Some were flowers with which we were already familiar like woolly sunflowers and daisies, but others were new species like round tooth ookow and California yerba santa.
We also observed tufted poppies, their tightly wound blooms closely resembling miniature yellow rose buds without the thorns.
Mediterranean rice salad was served up for dinner with plenty of leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Reading, writing, a game of cards, a podcast and the evening waned and so did we.
Next up… a scenic byway through the hills and valleys of the Klamath Mountains and on to the Pacific Coast Scenic Highway.