Warner Mts. Labor Day 2011: MarkBC View

[MarkBC]

This report is in two parts, differentiated by major area and attendees.

Part 1: Home Skillet and MarkBC in the North Warners including Abert Rim, in Oregon.



Home Skillet and I left Bend Thursday evening around 5:30, HS driving his Titan Expedition Vehicle and me driving my F250 with FWC Hawk, heading south on US 97 then Oregon 31 then US 395.
We took a pit stop at the Summer Lake Rest Area. It's a nice place to admire the view of some of the Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge as well as local fault-scarp mountains (including Winter Ridge behind us) and the magnificent and distant Abert Rim...nice.
We refueled in Lakeview (the Shell station on the north end is open 'til 10 -- we got there at 9), then headed back north on 395 (5 miles) to the junction with OR 140, on which we headed east to the North Warner road, where we headed north. Our nominal goal was Abert Rim, but it was too far/dark/late to try for that, so HS found a spur to turn off and camp for the night, next to Bull Prairie. I'm not sure if there were any bulls, but there were plenty of cows.

We sat and enjoyed the night for a while (and bemoaning the cow-noises/scat).
I made an attempt at shooting photos of the Milky Way, such as this one:

 

[highz]

Looks like you have the Andromeda galaxy and h and Chi Persei and environs in that Milky Way photo. Ni-i-i-i-ce. How long was the exposure? Had to be short since there is no star trailing. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[MarkBC]

Our plan for the day was to end up camping at a spot I knew on Abert Rim, but we'd take most of the day exploring our way towards that goal, visiting other potentially-interesting spots along the way.
So, after breakfast (thanks to HS

) we wandered north and east up to the so-called Drake Peak lookout area...so-called because the so-named lookout isn't actually on Drake Peak, which is ~1.5 miles to the east and has no road to the summit.
A couple had rented the apparently-no-longer-staffed lookout building for the past 3 nights, but they (and their bitey "Don't pet him!" dog) were leaving when we arrived. The lookout comes with a propane stove, etc...looks like it would be a nice place to rent for a night or two.

We noticed that a minor (but easy) road led to a higher peak -- Light Peak -- about 1/2 mile to the east, so we headed over there.

Looking back at "The Peak Which Supports Drake Peak Lookout" from Light Peak:

Home Skillet's self-conceived, designed, and fabricated "Titan Expedition Vehicle", with my relatively-ordinary rig behind -- the South Warner Mts. are in the far-background.

Looking east from the summit of Light Peak, with our rigs and HS's Rascal. Hart Mt is barely visible peaking above a layer of smoke which had drifted south from wildfires in Central Oregon. There's room for lots of camping rigs on this spot, and the view is 360°-fabulous! I'll be back to camp here, I'm sure.

Just a short time later -- less than 30 minutes of hanging out -- the wind had shifted enough to blow a lot of the smoke back north, so Hart Mountain is more clearly visible....though the smoke bank is still visible, too.

[highz: The star photo was a 20-second exposure, which was short enough to "freeze" the stars in that 74° vertical FOV shot. With this f3.5 lens I had to set the ISO to 3200 in order to get the exposure that short]

 

[MarkBC]

Can Spring and associated campground (see the map at the top of the thread) was another spot on our hit-list, so we headed there for lunch.
The pond suffered from some severe bovine mutilation, but it wasn't too offensive to stay there for lunch, and the little brook that drained from the pond was mostly-pristine with a hoof-trample-free riparian zone.

This little brook fed Honey Creek, a few hundred yards downhill.

There was even some wildlife at streamside -- a little garter snake:

We followed the creek down to it's confluence with Honey Creek, a short walk away -- no photos.

 

[ski3pin]

MarkBC, good stuff! We're enjoying your report as it unfolds. The map is a great and helpful addition. Here is the info on the Drakes Peak Lookout rental:

Drakes Peak Lookout

 

[MarkBC]

Our next wandering-around destination was Vee Lake (see the map). HS was interested in checking out the fishing potential, and since I had no agenda for this trip and I'd never been to Vee Lake I was fine with exploring everything. It's at the edge of the forest with drier juniper grasslands extending to its east. The lake has lots of fish...at least, HS said he saw lots of fish, though none could be coaxed to grab his flies.

(OK, it was mid-afternoon and not proper fishing-time

)
There are a couple of campsites, each of which could accommodate several vehicles.

I took a nap (dozed a bit, at least) while Home Skillet floated and fished.

Rascal: "My daddy is floating on the lake...will you be my daddy?"

One of the two spacious -- and empty -- campsites at Vee Lake:

 

[MarkBC]

OK, it was now late-afternoon and time to make it to our camping destination -- the designated hang-glider launch point on Abert Rim (see the map).
When we got within sight of the Rim, at more-or-less the official end of the road, we noticed that the spot wasn't quite perfect, and that a primitive steep basalt-rocky two-(barely)-track led up to what was a more-perfect camping spot. It took 4-low-range (for me, anyway) to crawl up there, but it wasn't technical, and the view at this 7000-foot-elevation spot was WAY worth it.

Here's a link to a 360° rotating panorama I made a little while before sunset:
Abert Rim Panorama
It's ~3MB to download, and you need Apple QuickTime viewer (or plugin) to see it, but it's the best way to see what it looked like at our really great spot.

Rascal the Fearless Wonder Dog (mostly border collie, but perhaps part mountain goat) approves of the view.

Some post-sunset views from the Rim down to the west at the valley ~2500 feet below.

Looking southwest:

Looking northwest, with the Summer Lake basin in the far distance and the end of the Chewaucan River -- just before it would feed Abert Lake (just out of sight far-right) if it wasn't taken for irrigation -- at the center right.

A little later-post-sunset, with a tiny bit of Abert Lake visible at far-right:

After dinner in Home Skillet's rig it was dark-night as I walked back the 30 feet over to my camper...so I tripped over an unseen 2-foot-high basalt boulder and went sprawling onto the ground. Both knees and one shin hit the rock as I tumbled, but I broke my fall with my hands so my face didn't hit the ground. Nothing broke, but huge puffy swelling of my knees and shin bloomed for a few hours. It's turned a lovely shade of purple now

.
The lesson: don't walk on rough ground without illumination!

 

[MarkBC]

In the morning we hung out for a while, enjoying the magnificent view, etc.
A couple showed up a little while before we left -- a man and woman and 2 labs who have their summer home (5th-wheel) on some property near Lakeview but are Bishop residents. I told them that Bishop is "my favorite area" and got an invitation to a guided tour of cool places on my next visit down there -- in October.

One of the things I love most about the Great Basin (and most deserts, really) is that without those heavy vegetative infestations found elsewhere, the raw landforms are visible. Like, see how those tilted sheets of basalt (Coglan Buttes) appear to slide down under Abert Lake (just visible on the far right):

Morning, perched on top of the Rim, with wandering dog:

We packed up and after considering which would be the best route -- i.e., most-interesting but without major risk of having to turn back -- we decided to try a route that looked like it exited to the Plush cut-off road (from 140) that runs just east of the north Warners (see the map on the first post).
We retraced our path to Can Springs and continued on that road eastward. I enjoyed taking this route previously-unknown to me out of the Mountains!

Here comes HS in his T.E.V winding down through the arid hills after we burst forth from the forest...but with enough water here and there to support some flowering plants:

For some reason I'd been worried that we'd encounter a "Private Property -- NO Trespassing" sign before we hit pavement, but the route was clear and ~ easy all the way to the Plush Cut-off Rd. We took that road back to 140, then back west to 395 and south past Lakeview. We had lunch in the Goose Lake State Park, just barely inside Oregon.
Then...on down to Alturas to rendezvous with the Lighthawks at the Elks Lodge.

 

[Lighthawk]

Great report, Mark. You've done a good job cranking out the TR in record time.
Keep it up! It's nice to read a follow up from someone you have had the pleasure to meet in person.

Wish we had been with you and HS (and the Rapscallion) for the first part of your tour.
Those views look fantastic. Even though you told us of your experience, seeing is believing.
Really like the Rascal shot looking like Mighty Dog on top of the boulder. And the 27 sec exposure of the night sky. Cool stuff!

Can't wait to see how we fare in your wonderful write up. I need to get serious about putting up our TR also. I'm not sure if I should bootleg on top of your thread or start another, which feels a bit redundant.

Unfortunately I came home just in time to get slammed by some significant customer issues. So the relaxation and enjoyment of our tour in the Warners is suddenly knocked out of my head to deal with unhappy people. I hate when that happens. Makes me wish I could just get in my Hawk and head back out. Ah well, instead I'll remember the interesting routes we traveled,the fireside conversations and shared meals. I guess they call that balance.

 

[MarkBC]

Part 2: The 'Lighthawks' (Andy and Susan, and Sadie the dog) Join the Previous Cast to Tour the Central Warner Mountains, in California, north of Alturas and Cedarville.

Home Skillet and I arrived in Alturas a little early so we had time to re-fuel, and I needed to get a few groceries.
At the Chevron station where I gassed up my truck I asked if the grocery store across the street -- the Four Corners Market -- was the largest in town. I was told: "Nope, but it's the nicest! They sponsor kids programs...", etc. So I bought my few groceries -- apples, candy bars, etc, at the the Four Corners. As the check-out lady was ringing up my Reeses Peanut Butter Cups she asked, "Have you tried Peanut Butter Snickers? No? Would you like to?" I said, "No, thanks, I'm fine." After I paid the total, the lady said, "I'll get you one of those Peanut Butter Snickers!", and she did. "For free?", I asked. "Yes." "OK...thank you very much."
Wow! That is the nicest store in town! Odd candy-pushers, but nice ones!

We ("previous cast" and Lighthawks) rendezvoused in the parking lot of the ornate, kinda California-Mission-style Alturas Elks Lodge about 5:30, discussed possible camping spots for the night and decided to check out the Plum Valley Campground (Modoc National Forest).

Here's a map of the route we took over the next (almost) 2 days:



We were pleased (and I was surprised, considering it's Labor Day weekend) to find a couple of empty adjoining campsites in the Plum Valley Campground, and no noisy/obnoxious neighbors! It would be good enough for the night.
That evening we shared good food, campfire, conversation. Lighthawks shared their home-grown veggies, as well as a large bag of oak for the campfire.
Home Skillet produced an appetizer plate for all and shared his pork chops with me, as I was the only other full-on carnivore.
I shared a pecan pie that I'd made for the event.

No photos (at least, none by me) until the next day.

 

[MarkBC]

Great report, Mark. You've done a good job cranking out the TR in record time.

Thanks, Andy.

Since I'm retired I have plenty of time and nothin' to do but write trip reports

(despite my pathological procrastination).

I need to get serious about putting up our TR also. I'm not sure if I should bootleg on top of your thread or start another, which feels a bit redundant.
I think a separate report wouldn't be redundant.
To make it easy and free of any hint of redundancy, you could skip the route-description (except for after we diverged)...but I'd think you'd want to keep your photos and impressions clean and unsullied by the titular "MarkBC View".

But if you like...

 

[MarkBC]

Morning at Plum Valley C.G. we discussed where to go/explore today. We decided to take a more-or-less prominent route that took us by/near Benton Meadow, Pink Lady Mine, Fandango Pass, but without a definite decision on our target campspot. See the map on Post #10 for our actual route.

As we drove by Benton Meadow it seemed kinda "meh...", though to be fair we didn't take the spur to examine it more-closely; we didn't stop.
At a major intersection we turned left -- north and soon were on a high road just west of the crest. At one point Home Skillet suggested we stop and follow a little two-track up to the ridge-top to check out the view to the east. It was a great idea -- a high-point, literally and figuratively, labelled as "Walk-to Viewpoint" on my Post #10 map.
I didn't take any photos of the 20-minute walk along that little road, but it would be drivable and ended in a small flat-enough-to-camp spot.
Though the noon-ish light and light-direction was completely wrong for photos, the view was so fine that it would have been silly to turn up our noses at it, photographically-speaking.

The view to the SE, of Surprise Valley-- a slender part of northern California that looks like it should be in Nevada, showing Upper and Middle Alkali Lakes. Home Skillet is ignoring the big view, focusing on the details.

Lighthawk capturing the view south along the crest of the Warners, with Middle and Lower Alkali Lakes visible to the southeast.

"Is that a sagebrush over there?" "Hmmm....lemme take a look." "Where's my dog?"

Ok...kidding aside, there were some birds spotted that I wasn't familiar with. A falcon-like species, for one. I have a couple of different bird books in my truck but I seem to be too lazy to get them out.

A few ancient artifacts (partially-worked, anyway) were found at this viewspot. There was no obsidian in the immediate area, so it seems that the ancients brought it up there, preferring a nice view for hanging out and workin' the rock, just as I would.

 

[MarkBC]

After our hike-and-view-and-photo diversion on the Warner Crest we went on to the Pink Lady Mine. Apparently, Pink Lady is some kind of obsidian (anyone know differently?), but all we saw were pits showing regular old black obsidian. Not very interesting, but it was an OK spot with enough shade to have a nice lunch. No photos.

As we continued on, somewhere along Lassen Creek (I didn't mark the spot), somebody noticed a big beaver pond next to the road. It's amazing how, frankly, devastating beavers can be. Yes, they're "natural", but they're sure no friend of the aspen! We didn't see any of those sharp-toothed, flat-tailed monsters, but it was an interesting highlight.

A lot of little trees -- and a few big trees -- had been felled by the beavers, and a few other trees were dying due to drowning by the pond waters that rose around them:

A large aspen felled by the ravenous rodents:

Beavers may be "eager", but obviously they do take breaks, or maybe they gave up...slackers:

Along this part of the route we were heading roughly northwest, but we wanted to get north over to the road that included Fandango Pass. We tried one primitive (but official) road, but after coming across a downed tree within a couple-hundred yards we decided to not waste our time, so we continued NW, almost to US 395, until we could head NE and then SE to cross the fabled Fandango.
We stopped at the summit, Fandango Pass, which has another nice view over Surprise Valley.
Though earlier in the day there had been much Fandango-related discussion, with references to a Roxie Music lyric "fed up with fandango?" ("Do The Strand") and speculation about how to perform the Fandango ("look it up on the Web"), when we were actually up there on the summit we didn't dance. (There was also a Procol Harum lyric "we skipped the light fandango", but unfortunately I didn't think of that at the time.)
So...we moved on and down, down, down -- the long and winding road.....to pavement in the Surprise Valley and headed north to Fort Bidwell. There we got back on dirt and headed north back up to the crest (the one stretch of road that repeated my July-trip route) and down the other side a bit to Cave Lake Campground.

 

[MarkBC]

Cave Lake Campground (6600') only had 3 campsites, but one big one was vacant -- perfect!
Rigs fore-to-back: Me, Home Skillet, Lighthawks

Even though it was late-summer, this place was lush! A little unnamed creek flowed past the campground and spread out as a big very-wet meadow on its way to Cave Lake a couple-hundred yards away, just past a line of trees.

Here's a little album of several of the species flowering in this lush wet meadow. Feel free to supply names!

Susan named most of them, but I don't remember... I think the last one is fireweed, but don't quote me.

I don't have any photos of Cave Lake itself...which seems a little odd, but I didn't actually find it that attractive.

It had a look like a man-made reservoir -- a wide high-water line...but it's not the lake's fault. It seems that, unlike most natural lakes, Cave Lake does not have an outlet stream -- the water that exits (not counting evaporation) must do so via seepage through the bottom. So when inflow is less the water level will fall, leaving a bathtub ring like a reservoir.
It's a very odd situation.

Dinner was a veggie-grilling extravaganza thanks to Lighthawks, featuring mostly their homegrown vegetables as well as corn and mushrooms. The veggies were topped with crumbled feta. Very nice.

And we finished off the second half of my pecan pie.

And we finished off the remainder of the firewood that Lighthawk brought.

 

[MarkBC]

Last day, heading home.

In the morning, Home Skillet and Lighthawk tried fishing Cave Lake, but you'll have to ask them how that went.

We all left the campground at the same time late morning, following the route shown in my map which brought us back to US 395 at New Pine Creek town just south of the Oregon border.
Lighthawks, I believe, were going to do a little more exploring on their way south....??
Home Skillet and I, after refueling in Lakeview, decided to just head straight home to Bend, semi-convoying as far as the Summer Lake rest area.

It was a very nice trip for me.

As a usually-solo camper (aka "loner") this was different than most of my trips, and an unexpected difference was that I seemed to lose track of time -- a good thing -- more than when by myself. I spent less time inside my head.

Looking forward to another WTW-based rendezvous/rally...Black Rock Desert??

THE END
...of my story....But what do Lighthawk and Home Skillet have to say/show? I know Lighthawk took lots of photos and they took a route south that I don't know yet. And I know that Home Skillet also shot video!
Come on, guys, share!

 

[highz]

Enjoyed your trip report a lot, Mark. Great photos as always, and the panoramas you shoot are always a treat.

 

[Lighthawk]

Come on, guys, share!

Here you go:

Warner Gallery

TR thread to come . . .

 

[locrwln]

Great write up. Can't wait to get back out, been too busy lately. So I have to live through you guys.

Jack

 

[ski3pin]

MarkBC, we really enjoyed your trip report, thanks for posting it! Lighthawk, really nice work with your photos, we are looking forward to the story that goes along with them!

...and Home Skillet videos?

 

[home skillet]

Really nice work on the TR Mark! I will enjoy reliving the trip over and over again.

I came back to an absolutely nutty week at work (my last week as an employee before I become self employed ). I am working on my photos and a short overland video, post it when I got it.

Home Skillet