Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
We've been exploring our backyard. We get a lot of bang for the buck by leaving after work on Friday evening and returning on Sunday. We are lucky to have access to the Grouse Ridge area, a glaciated range of metamorphic and granitic formations between 7,000 and 8,000' with wooded basins and numerous lakes. Gold mining was the driving development of the water networks and roads in the 1850's and later. Now, it's a camping/hiking mecca, as nice as Tahoe, but with much less people. The central section was declared a roadless area, some time ago and now has a network of hiking trails and dirt road access to backcountry lakes. The OHV gang is well represented.
From the Grouse Ridge Lookout you can see Mt. Lassen to the north and the Crystal Range to the south. We usually approach from Hwy 20, just east of Nevada City. This time we decided to approach from Truckee to get to the east side of the range, which includes the Black Buttes. Travelers along Hwy 80 from Sacramento will see many of the prominent features of this area, looking to the north before Cisco Grove.
Our route was round-about. We first went to Truckee, then north on 89 to the Jackson Meadows turnoff on old Henness Pass. Henness Pass was the original route from Marysville, where steamers coming from SF up the delta could unload freight, to be trucked across the Sierra to Reno. The wagon trains were legendary. This was the supply chain for the Comstock Lode.
Our travels were much easier, still on pavement for 11 miles, then south on Meadow Lake Road, a graded dirt road for another 9 miles. Unbelievable, that in 25 years of living here I haven't gone down this particular stretch, 'tho I did mtn bike a portion once. Meadow Lake was the site of Summit City, a brief townsite that had a pop. of 5,000 in the 1860's. Wonder if DD has any info?
We almost took one of the lakeside PG&E camp spots along the road, but pressed on as the sun set in the west. I had done my google map homework earlier that day and had a good idea we could find a spot in a meadow above the lake and away from other people. We noticed a number of sites with quads and other 4x4 toys, although the last three miles discourage larger trailers or RV types.
Our site was perfect, except for the large mosquito population. SR gave me an anxious stare as I backed into a turn out in the mule ear meadow and twenty plus hungry mosquos were hovering at her window.
"We're not going to camp here, are we???" I suggested there were going to be the buggers no matter where we camped. Since our only other choice was the lakeside spot ($15/night), we decided to stay. We were positioned at the trail head to approach French Lake.
This was our morning coffee view, from just above camp.
This trip is the completion of a desire I hatched five years ago while summiting a nearby mountain (English Mtn), where I saw this jewel of a lake. There are no trails that go there. The only road is gated, by the irrigation district. My research put us on a over-grown jeep track filled with ten year old pines, growing densely and plenty of deadfalls. It was two miles and 700'descent of bushwacking.
But, at last, I had found French Lake.
The day was young, and we had many more miles still to go.
to
be
continued
From the Grouse Ridge Lookout you can see Mt. Lassen to the north and the Crystal Range to the south. We usually approach from Hwy 20, just east of Nevada City. This time we decided to approach from Truckee to get to the east side of the range, which includes the Black Buttes. Travelers along Hwy 80 from Sacramento will see many of the prominent features of this area, looking to the north before Cisco Grove.
Our route was round-about. We first went to Truckee, then north on 89 to the Jackson Meadows turnoff on old Henness Pass. Henness Pass was the original route from Marysville, where steamers coming from SF up the delta could unload freight, to be trucked across the Sierra to Reno. The wagon trains were legendary. This was the supply chain for the Comstock Lode.
Our travels were much easier, still on pavement for 11 miles, then south on Meadow Lake Road, a graded dirt road for another 9 miles. Unbelievable, that in 25 years of living here I haven't gone down this particular stretch, 'tho I did mtn bike a portion once. Meadow Lake was the site of Summit City, a brief townsite that had a pop. of 5,000 in the 1860's. Wonder if DD has any info?
We almost took one of the lakeside PG&E camp spots along the road, but pressed on as the sun set in the west. I had done my google map homework earlier that day and had a good idea we could find a spot in a meadow above the lake and away from other people. We noticed a number of sites with quads and other 4x4 toys, although the last three miles discourage larger trailers or RV types.
Our site was perfect, except for the large mosquito population. SR gave me an anxious stare as I backed into a turn out in the mule ear meadow and twenty plus hungry mosquos were hovering at her window.
"We're not going to camp here, are we???" I suggested there were going to be the buggers no matter where we camped. Since our only other choice was the lakeside spot ($15/night), we decided to stay. We were positioned at the trail head to approach French Lake. This was our morning coffee view, from just above camp.
This trip is the completion of a desire I hatched five years ago while summiting a nearby mountain (English Mtn), where I saw this jewel of a lake. There are no trails that go there. The only road is gated, by the irrigation district. My research put us on a over-grown jeep track filled with ten year old pines, growing densely and plenty of deadfalls. It was two miles and 700'descent of bushwacking.
But, at last, I had found French Lake.
The day was young, and we had many more miles still to go.
to
be
continued
