Gormley Green
Contributors
WTW definitely came to my aid in planning this trip last minute, with special thanks to Smokecreek1 and MarkBC, we had an awesome time without incident.
The stats:
2137 miles (3439km)
140.3 gal(531.1l)
15.23mpg
15.44 l/100km
Day 1 – Squamish, BC to Portland, OR
Rainy, boring drive. Stayed in a hotel downtown, enjoyed some beers at the Deschutes brew pub, ate dinner, slept.
Day 2 – Portland, OR to Eagle Lake, CA
I5 from Portland was boring, torturous even! Though we did enjoy a nice lunch in Grant’s Pass, OR.
Finally crossing into CA was cool, as it was my first time in the state. We were able to deviate from the freeway and join up with Smokecreek’s route, so we were more than happy.
The weather was nice, skies clearing, but not enough to see Shasta.
At Mt. Shasta we took 89 to 299 to 139. All awesome roads with great scenery – mountains, huge trees, etc. We were smiles the whole time. Eagle Lake campgrounds were closed, but Rocky Point is a boat launch with informal camping so we just parked on the beach and had the whole place to ourselves. It couldn’t get any better. I would have opted out of any of the campgrounds for this location.
Some of this went down
Nice clear skies at night and great stars
Day 3 – Eagle Lake, CA to Squaw Valley, CA
Woke up to thick fog in the lake basin. As soon as we got onto the highway again, just a few hundred feet from the lake, we were out of the fog. I didn’t get a good vantage point to photograph it, but it was cool to see the fog lingering only on and slightly around the lake.
Off 139 before Susanville we saw a fire road heading up a mountain, then a right turn off the highway. We parked, got our bike gear on, unloaded the bikes, and headed for a ride. It was 10 miles to Fredoyner peak at a steady climb. I kept saying “we’re not in Sqaumish anymore!” as we’re used to heavy trees, single track, and damp weather! This was basically the opposite. Expansive views, hot (75 at 9am and climbing!), dry, and just different. It was just a road but it was great exercise and a fun ride, especially back down to the truck.
Me ruining a great view of Eagle Lake
Finished up around lunch time, made some sandwiches in the shade and continued on our way.
We took 395 out of Susanville, to the 70 and headed west to 49, to the 89 to Truckee. It was an absolutely fantastic drive all around. Never having been to CA, I definitely enjoyed it.
Sometimes it looked like this
And it was defeintely nice to feel the sun again after a long snowy BC winter!
Arriving at Squaw was awesome. Free camping in the back parking lot, which was rather close to the action and right under the tram face. A fairly notorious closed off area of the resort. It does get some action each year (except this one, with no snow) by extreme skiers.
From the tram
We made haste for the nearest patio in the village and downed some cold beer and met some cool folks.
The stats:
2137 miles (3439km)
140.3 gal(531.1l)
15.23mpg
15.44 l/100km
Day 1 – Squamish, BC to Portland, OR
Rainy, boring drive. Stayed in a hotel downtown, enjoyed some beers at the Deschutes brew pub, ate dinner, slept.
Day 2 – Portland, OR to Eagle Lake, CA
I5 from Portland was boring, torturous even! Though we did enjoy a nice lunch in Grant’s Pass, OR.
Finally crossing into CA was cool, as it was my first time in the state. We were able to deviate from the freeway and join up with Smokecreek’s route, so we were more than happy.
The weather was nice, skies clearing, but not enough to see Shasta.
At Mt. Shasta we took 89 to 299 to 139. All awesome roads with great scenery – mountains, huge trees, etc. We were smiles the whole time. Eagle Lake campgrounds were closed, but Rocky Point is a boat launch with informal camping so we just parked on the beach and had the whole place to ourselves. It couldn’t get any better. I would have opted out of any of the campgrounds for this location.
Some of this went down
Nice clear skies at night and great stars
Day 3 – Eagle Lake, CA to Squaw Valley, CA
Woke up to thick fog in the lake basin. As soon as we got onto the highway again, just a few hundred feet from the lake, we were out of the fog. I didn’t get a good vantage point to photograph it, but it was cool to see the fog lingering only on and slightly around the lake.
Off 139 before Susanville we saw a fire road heading up a mountain, then a right turn off the highway. We parked, got our bike gear on, unloaded the bikes, and headed for a ride. It was 10 miles to Fredoyner peak at a steady climb. I kept saying “we’re not in Sqaumish anymore!” as we’re used to heavy trees, single track, and damp weather! This was basically the opposite. Expansive views, hot (75 at 9am and climbing!), dry, and just different. It was just a road but it was great exercise and a fun ride, especially back down to the truck.
Me ruining a great view of Eagle Lake
Finished up around lunch time, made some sandwiches in the shade and continued on our way.
We took 395 out of Susanville, to the 70 and headed west to 49, to the 89 to Truckee. It was an absolutely fantastic drive all around. Never having been to CA, I definitely enjoyed it.
Sometimes it looked like this
And it was defeintely nice to feel the sun again after a long snowy BC winter!
Arriving at Squaw was awesome. Free camping in the back parking lot, which was rather close to the action and right under the tram face. A fairly notorious closed off area of the resort. It does get some action each year (except this one, with no snow) by extreme skiers.
From the tram
We made haste for the nearest patio in the village and downed some cold beer and met some cool folks.
