I sure hope I am doing this right. This my first post. I also have been lurking since I got my FWC in 2009. So now that I got that off my chest, here's the trip report.
It was the weekend of April 20th and 21st. I decided to plant a seed of adventure in my buddy's head. He is always up for my seeds of trying something different. In this case, it was about a trip up to Lassen to ski the peak. What was different about this ski was the skis were going to be strapped to our bikes for the ride up the road.
I had to work Saturday, but was able to sneak out at 3:00 pm. I had 89 from Tahoe City to Mineral all to myself. This does not happen very often and it made the 3 hours and 15 minute drive very enjoyable! The plan was to meet my buddy, who we will call Sunlite(after his popup), at the Mineral cafe for dinner. I was able to make cell phone contact in Quincy and had Sunlite order me a pepperjack cheese burger for when I got there. This was done by just guessing the amount to time it would take me to get from Quincy to Mineral. I no longer walked in the door and the burger was coming out of the kitchen. How's that for timing? All I needed was a cold one to wash it down with and they just happen to have those. How about that!
It was getting late so we hit the road to find a spot to pop up the campers. We had thought about the visitor center, but we found a spot on Old Mill Creek road that was perfect. The one thing that can happen with Sunlite, is we have habit of getting over zealous with the cold ones. Who's to blame if this happens. After 27 years of living in the mountains and having a great friend like Sunlite I am very lucky. So I'll take my chances. However, I have found I really have to double check the panniers for the proper gear. We were not only bringing ski gear, but bike gear also. I did not want to be biking up a 7 percent grade in tele boots, or trying to ski in bike shoes.
We got to the visitor center at 6;30 and on our bikes at 6:45 just as we had planned. The bike ride turned out to be a 5 mile ride to where the plow crew had stopped, which is right below Helen Lake. The ride was beautiful and skis did not move or cause any problems. This was good to know for future ideas.
With the ride taking 1 hour and the hike taking 2 hours and 15 minutes we were at the peak at a very decent time even as hot as it was. The thing I love about backcountry skiing is being able to feel the snow conditions going up. We knew by this that it was going to be a very fun ski down (it was). If I can figure out how to do pictures I'll show the bikes and the route we came down. That is a very big IF.
The ride down was very refreshing. It was actually almost to hot so the bike ride help cool us off. We did not tuck on the way down, because of fresh rock fall and blown shear bolts from the auger. Plus, we did forget the bike helmets(oops) and I was nervous about the front panniers. I just got them for this trip and was not sure how well they were adjusted. I did not want to end the trip going over the bars.
All in all it was a very good little trip. It was also very sweet, because this was Sunlite 4th attempted and now he can finally say he skied Lassen. However, I keeped having this one crazy thought about another place on the drive home. Yup, Tioga! this coming weekend or next. I heard they are open to the pass now, but that's OK. We've done this ride before with the road closed and having T.M. to yourself is very special.Plus, Dana was looking very nice last weekend.
I did this post because I love to wander and having a popup has made it so much nicer. I hoped you enjoyed and are inspired. So get out there and wander, because I love reading about trip reports! Wu Wei. I'll post picture if I can figure it out. Thanks.
It was the weekend of April 20th and 21st. I decided to plant a seed of adventure in my buddy's head. He is always up for my seeds of trying something different. In this case, it was about a trip up to Lassen to ski the peak. What was different about this ski was the skis were going to be strapped to our bikes for the ride up the road.
I had to work Saturday, but was able to sneak out at 3:00 pm. I had 89 from Tahoe City to Mineral all to myself. This does not happen very often and it made the 3 hours and 15 minute drive very enjoyable! The plan was to meet my buddy, who we will call Sunlite(after his popup), at the Mineral cafe for dinner. I was able to make cell phone contact in Quincy and had Sunlite order me a pepperjack cheese burger for when I got there. This was done by just guessing the amount to time it would take me to get from Quincy to Mineral. I no longer walked in the door and the burger was coming out of the kitchen. How's that for timing? All I needed was a cold one to wash it down with and they just happen to have those. How about that!
It was getting late so we hit the road to find a spot to pop up the campers. We had thought about the visitor center, but we found a spot on Old Mill Creek road that was perfect. The one thing that can happen with Sunlite, is we have habit of getting over zealous with the cold ones. Who's to blame if this happens. After 27 years of living in the mountains and having a great friend like Sunlite I am very lucky. So I'll take my chances. However, I have found I really have to double check the panniers for the proper gear. We were not only bringing ski gear, but bike gear also. I did not want to be biking up a 7 percent grade in tele boots, or trying to ski in bike shoes.
We got to the visitor center at 6;30 and on our bikes at 6:45 just as we had planned. The bike ride turned out to be a 5 mile ride to where the plow crew had stopped, which is right below Helen Lake. The ride was beautiful and skis did not move or cause any problems. This was good to know for future ideas.
With the ride taking 1 hour and the hike taking 2 hours and 15 minutes we were at the peak at a very decent time even as hot as it was. The thing I love about backcountry skiing is being able to feel the snow conditions going up. We knew by this that it was going to be a very fun ski down (it was). If I can figure out how to do pictures I'll show the bikes and the route we came down. That is a very big IF.
The ride down was very refreshing. It was actually almost to hot so the bike ride help cool us off. We did not tuck on the way down, because of fresh rock fall and blown shear bolts from the auger. Plus, we did forget the bike helmets(oops) and I was nervous about the front panniers. I just got them for this trip and was not sure how well they were adjusted. I did not want to end the trip going over the bars.
All in all it was a very good little trip. It was also very sweet, because this was Sunlite 4th attempted and now he can finally say he skied Lassen. However, I keeped having this one crazy thought about another place on the drive home. Yup, Tioga! this coming weekend or next. I heard they are open to the pass now, but that's OK. We've done this ride before with the road closed and having T.M. to yourself is very special.Plus, Dana was looking very nice last weekend.
I did this post because I love to wander and having a popup has made it so much nicer. I hoped you enjoyed and are inspired. So get out there and wander, because I love reading about trip reports! Wu Wei. I'll post picture if I can figure it out. Thanks.
