7/08-09 Burney Falls and Mount Lassen

As we entered California, we could see very hazy skies in the distance. As we got closer to our destinations, it got smokier and hotter. Our first stop late in the afternoon was at Burney Falls. At 5 pm it was still hovering at 100. The ranger said that the day had actually set a record -- 108 degrees.

The falls were beautiful, but we decided that dry camping in that heat would not be pleasant, so


we headed up to Mount Lassen which was at a higher elevation. It was getting smokier, but it was cooler. We found a nice spot at Manzanita campground. Our goal on the 9th was to drive over the Mount Lassen road and end up at Lake Almanor. We checked with rangers to make sure we would not be driving directly into one of the fires.


We had lunch at Summit Campground. It would have been considerably cooler staying up here. On our journey to the top of the road and the volcano itself, we ran into a couple of 30 minute delays for road repairs. Alexa showed she has a pretty good sense of humor to while the time away.

7/9 - 7/10 We end up at Plumas-Eureka State Park

Lake Almanor was suppose to be our destination for Alexa's birthday celebration -- including a night out at a real restaurant, but the smoke from the Paradise fire was rolling in so bad that it looked like fog coming through the trees. To make matters worse, it was 98 degrees -- not a good combination for dry camping.

So we tried to get farther south on highway 89 to get away from the smoke. Alexa found a state park in one of her books that was highly recommended. We stopped in at a forest service ranger station and they called ahead to see if would be clearer and cooler. The state ranger said yes to both.

As we drove up the highway, the smoke actually got worse. The road to Paradise was closed and it was hot. I was getting worried as we were only a few miles from our destination and it was 96 degrees and very smokey.

The last three miles were almost straight up a mountain side. When we finally got to the campground, it was tucked in an amazing forest setting.


We lucked out again. We had a very enjoyable evening. On 7/11, we decided to outrun the smoke and get to Truckee -- it had to be clearer there --- wrong. At Truckee, the smoke was so thick, ash was falling from the sky. So no nice dinner in Truckee. We decided to just head on over to Sugar Pine State Park at Lake Tahoe. Since Liesl and Clayton couldn't join us anyway, we decided that if the smoke was still bad, we would just stay a night and then keep going south.

7/11-7/12 Sugar Pine Point State Park/ Lake Tahoe

The sky was still filled with smoke and ash -- and we could see very little of the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe, so we ended up at an old mansion, Pine Lodge, which is now part of the state park. It was interesting to see the life of the rich and famous.....

Alexa attempts to savor what it would have been like to be the grand mistress of the mansion.





We did end up with a very nice camp site (#92). On the outside of a loop with the woods behind it (alas only a couple of miles from the mansion).



What did we do when it was too smokey or at night? We were engaged in the World Series of Dominoes! The reigning champ (Alexa is a whiz at this) was taking on the formidable challenger (chaffeur "Charles" from the Pine Lodge Mansion) who did a pretty good job keeping up with her about 40% of the time. It seemed that she was usually blowing him out but at the tally on the last day of the trip, Alexa was only slightly ahead, 14 games to 12.


Alexa putting the wood to Chuck in this hand.

7/12/08 Escaping the smoke

We decided to leave Sugarpine State Park because it continued to be so smokey. We figured we would stay on intriguing highway 89 and get higher and farther south. We thought that the Sierras would eventually create a barrier to the smoke.

It turned out to be quite a day. We got "lost" while checking out a campground. The road was narrow and bumpy, and we heard quite a boom in the back of the rv. Was it a flat tire, did the awning fall off, were we being attacked by a group of angry chipmunks? We think it must have been a large pine cone that fell from quite a distance and made such a loud noise when it hit the roof. On the way to the roof I was able to swing the rv ladder into my forehead -- the blood got some sympathy from Alexa.

We then got out the gps unit to see if we could get to the main highway. It worked, but took us through an area in South Lake Tahoe that had been devastated by fire last year. The amount of rebuilding was staggering. We next hit an ag inspection station and had to give up a bag of cherries from Oregon. Apparently there is an infestation of maggots hiding in the cherries. This is after we had eaten almost half the bag.

We started the climb on hiway 89, but it stayed hot and smokey. When we got to a small town of Markeeville, we found ourselves in a middle of a biking extravaganza that is called the "death ride"-- a tour of the California Alps as these parts are known. There is nothing more thrilling than navigating through a bike race with 2500 riders. They actually close parts of the main highway for two days.

Hiway 89 leads to 395 and we worked our way down the highway past Mono Lake and the several whimpy looking volcanoes that are targeted as the most likely to blow in the country! We ended up circling the June Lake loop looking for a campground. We thought we had found one, but even the magic of the great leveler (Alexa) could not get us level enough to spend the night. We finally found the Oh! Ridge campground that was our last chance -- plenty of spaces. We found out later that the campground had been so smokey the day before that campers could not see the lake at the bottom of the campground. We learned there were fires in the southern Sierras that were sending smoke this way. So much for our escape, but it was cooler.

7/13/08 A quick trip through Yosemite

A view from our campground (Oh! Ridge) at June Lake on the eastern side of the Sierras. The smoke has cleared a little.



We "zip" up Tioga Pass. This is the right direction (east to west) for those who are faint of heart --




Why we didn't stay in Yosemite Valley -- the trail to Bridal Falls was choked with visitors.


Near the Bridal Falls trail, Alexa finds that another "A" thought "C" was ok.

7/14/08 Back Home

Sadie spends a last moment at our campground in Yosemite, among the wild sweet peas. Then on the road --having problems finding Aunt Clara's Fish Camp cabin, a dump site that was almost impossible to find at Bass lake, descending into a very hot Fresno with everyone wanting to drive 10 miles over the speed limit, almost running out of gas, paying 5.29 per gallon, getting trapped on a road going in the wrong direction, and strong winds in SLO county --- kind of made us want to turn around and head back up into the mountains.

Change in Format - From Last to First of Trip

Since we were out of contact with the internet almost the entire trip (Oregon State Parks, USFS campgrounds, and most of the California Campgrounds we were in did not offer wifi), we will change the order of presentation so that it will serve as an archive.