OP
OP
It was raining when I fell asleep, but the temperature dropped overnight enough that the rain turned to snow -- even at this relatively moderate 1100 foot elevation of Happy Camp. But just barely cold enough for snow and it had turned back to rain when I poked my head outside in the morning.
Here's the place as I was leaving:
The final leg of my route:
My original plan, or at least a likely alternate plan, was to take the Indian Creek Road north and west from Happy Camp to join up with US 199...and then follow that to the California coast or head the other way up into Oregon. But I saw a sign that indicated that that road gets closed by snow, not plowed. And when I stopped at the Klamath N.F. office in Happy Camp to buy a Klamath N.F. rec map I was told that the road was indeed closed and that it's only open a few months of the year.
So...that meant I would continue on CA 96 towards Yreka/I-5.
At the edge of town I stopped to get a photo of the Klamath River, which I hadn't yet. This photo turned out so nearly colorless that I decided to turn it into full-on B&W:
Full-size version: Pano-11
Onward, over a little summit then back down along the Klamath:
...following the Klamath upstream a few miles past Hamburg...
Though I was headed toward Yreka...I decided that I didn't need to follow the highway to that obvious conclusion -- not without first taking a pointless "long-cut" following the Scott River from its confluence with the Klamath up towards its upper section at Fort Jones (remember, that I'd already encountered the Scott's very-upper reaches at Callahan the day before...at the start of my near-circumnavigation of the Marble Mountains.) So I headed up (south-ish) the Scott River Road.
The Scott River Road is very similar to the Cecilville Road -- paved but less than 2-lanes wide -- but there are a lot more homes along the way. Still scenic, but without quite as much of a middle-of-nowhere feeling, due to the human habitation.
But still empty enough to allow wildlife to flourish:
I usually don't like to have people in my photos, but this fellow isn't quite a person, so I included this shot anyway. It's amazing that even in an otherwise sharp photo a sasquatch (the native word for Bigfoot) comes out blurry.
Maybe they exist in a slightly different dimension than ours...could explain a lot, I think.
Full-size version: Pano-12
Eventually the Scott River canyon opened up a bit:
Full-size version: Pano-13
At this point, just upstream of the photo above, I walked out on a bridge to shoot a 360° panorama...just for sumpin to do:
Pano-14
Here's one segment of that 360° pano:
And finally the upper Scott River Valley broadens out as it nears Ft. Jones, where the Scott River Rd joins CA highway 3:
Full-size version: Pano-15
-----------------------------------------
This was a fun jaunt on roads that I've mostly never traveled...nor do many others. Even though it was raining most of the time, it was beautiful.
As a native of California (central and northern
) and a naturalized citizen of Oregon I think I can speak from both perspectives. California has some very empty / super-rural areas -- more than most people realize...and you don't have to be in the middle of the Mojave to experience them.
My route circled a couple of well-known backpacking/wilderness destinations -- Trinity Alps and Marble Mt Wilderness -- but without even leaving the pavement I had a middle-of-nowhere experience.
Very nice....imagine what it would have been like with a little more sun!
THE END.
Here's the place as I was leaving:
The final leg of my route:
My original plan, or at least a likely alternate plan, was to take the Indian Creek Road north and west from Happy Camp to join up with US 199...and then follow that to the California coast or head the other way up into Oregon. But I saw a sign that indicated that that road gets closed by snow, not plowed. And when I stopped at the Klamath N.F. office in Happy Camp to buy a Klamath N.F. rec map I was told that the road was indeed closed and that it's only open a few months of the year.
So...that meant I would continue on CA 96 towards Yreka/I-5.
At the edge of town I stopped to get a photo of the Klamath River, which I hadn't yet. This photo turned out so nearly colorless that I decided to turn it into full-on B&W:
Full-size version: Pano-11
Onward, over a little summit then back down along the Klamath:
...following the Klamath upstream a few miles past Hamburg...
Though I was headed toward Yreka...I decided that I didn't need to follow the highway to that obvious conclusion -- not without first taking a pointless "long-cut" following the Scott River from its confluence with the Klamath up towards its upper section at Fort Jones (remember, that I'd already encountered the Scott's very-upper reaches at Callahan the day before...at the start of my near-circumnavigation of the Marble Mountains.) So I headed up (south-ish) the Scott River Road.
The Scott River Road is very similar to the Cecilville Road -- paved but less than 2-lanes wide -- but there are a lot more homes along the way. Still scenic, but without quite as much of a middle-of-nowhere feeling, due to the human habitation.
But still empty enough to allow wildlife to flourish:
I usually don't like to have people in my photos, but this fellow isn't quite a person, so I included this shot anyway. It's amazing that even in an otherwise sharp photo a sasquatch (the native word for Bigfoot) comes out blurry.
Full-size version: Pano-12
Eventually the Scott River canyon opened up a bit:
Full-size version: Pano-13
At this point, just upstream of the photo above, I walked out on a bridge to shoot a 360° panorama...just for sumpin to do:
Pano-14
Here's one segment of that 360° pano:
And finally the upper Scott River Valley broadens out as it nears Ft. Jones, where the Scott River Rd joins CA highway 3:
Full-size version: Pano-15
-----------------------------------------
This was a fun jaunt on roads that I've mostly never traveled...nor do many others. Even though it was raining most of the time, it was beautiful.
As a native of California (central and northern
My route circled a couple of well-known backpacking/wilderness destinations -- Trinity Alps and Marble Mt Wilderness -- but without even leaving the pavement I had a middle-of-nowhere experience.
Very nice....imagine what it would have been like with a little more sun!
THE END.
