And then there was one … Rosann and Paul departed the
Redding RV Park first. We have been traveling with Charlie & Nancy since
July 20th and Paul & Rosann joined us on July 25th.
That is a long time to travel together … now we are on our own again … just
like it was when we started out on June 27th.
The smoke is moving in quickly this morning, it was
clear when Paul & Rosann left!
We made a quick stop at Walmart. We had talked about
coming to this Walmart with the 3 rigs yesterday. Glad we did not … not a big
parking area … plus you go through a residential area to get to it! A Senior
Living community was dropping off some clients and it was funny how they lined
them all up like they were going to race! If I was in a community like that, I
would race … got to have some fun!
After our stop, we got on the road! We are traveling
on CA 44 E. It is a roller coaster road, lots of quick up down, up down and up
down. Hopefully, it will smooth out!
We passed a small shopping mall called Lassen
Landing, and there was this elevation marker for 2,000 feet. Remember this, as
I think we will be going up today!
We passed several small billboard signs that state “Join
the State of Jefferson” … you know me, I have to figure out what it is! Did you
know there is a “ghost” 51st state in America? There is, and there has been
since 1941. Located in the rural areas of northern California and southern
Oregon, the state is called Jefferson. Yes it is named after the famous author
of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd president of the US. Jefferson
comprises four counties from Oregon and three counties from California. In case
you think Jefferson isn’t real just because it hasn’t been officially declared
a state yet, it is important to know this ghost state already has its own flag
and seal, and once even had its own governor. The people who live in the area
of Jefferson are serious about it.
California and Oregon are both large states, and
people in the rural areas of these states have long felt like their interests
weren’t taken seriously or given enough representation in the state
governments. Because the counties of Jefferson border each other across the
California and Oregon state lines, these counties have much in common with each
other, and the residents believe they would create a state that gave its
residents what they need in a much better way than they are currently being
served. Back in 1941, the idea for Jefferson had so much support that young men
from the counties that comprised the proposed state would stop anyone
attempting to drive into Jefferson and hand out literature. The movement to
make Jefferson a state had support in both the California and Oregon state
governments, and a governor was elected in preparation for Jefferson being
given official state status. However, just as the vote on making Jefferson a
state was about to take place, the assault on Pearl Harbor happened, and plans
for Jefferson were scrapped so residents of all states in the United States
could focus on the nation’s participation in WWII. This does not mean the idea
for Jefferson was forgotten, though.
After the war, many attempts were made to garner
interest in forming the state again. These efforts are still ongoing, with the
most serious movement beginning again in 2013. This time, the movement is
almost entirely based in the northern counties of California, since they feel
disenfranchised by the rest of the state. The original southern counties of
Oregon that were originally part of the proposed state have not expressed
interest in joining the movement this time. However, 11 counties (as opposed to
the original 4) in northern California have sent their declarations of intent
to secede to the California state legislature, and to form the state of
Jefferson. You may see a state of Jefferson yet. With 11 counties declaring for
Jefferson, supporters only need one more county to declare to get it on the
next California ballot. Supporters are confident they will get that one more county
they need.
We are at 3,000 feet elevation and still climbing!
Shingletown is alongside Highway 44 in eastern Shasta
County, at an elevation of 4,000 feet. Shingletown was first called Shingle
Camp. Shingles and shakes were in big demand by the gold miners on the other
side of Shasta County. Because of the abundance of the right kind of trees and
because shingles and shakes could be sold just about as fast as they could be
made, shingle-making camps sprang up just about everywhere on the Shingletown
Ridge. Usually, shingles were made from cedar trees and the shakes were made
from straight-grained sugar pine trees.
Beginning in 1852, Nobles Emigrant Trail passed right
through Shingletown. This important trail was the most popular route pioneers
traveled on into Shasta County from the east - several thousands of people used
it in the 1850s and 1860s. Soon, Shingletown was strategically located at the
junction of three popular roads from east to west. Shingletown became the chief
business center on the Shingletown plateau. Today, the shingle and shake-making
camps and the big lumber mills are long gone from the forests around
Shingletown. Gone too are the sounds associated with it and the smell of the
fresh-cut wood in the mills. Even though the lumber industry no longer exists,
traces of many of the larger mills still exist in the forests. Emigrant Trail
road signs exist on the north side of Highway 44 in quite a few places, letting
us know where the old historical trail was, and you can still see the ruts in
the ground left by the covered wagons as they rolled along.
Lassen Peak, also called Mount Lassen, is a volcanic
peak in northern California. It is the principal attraction of Lassen Volcanic
National Park. The peak stands at the southern end of the Cascade Range and
rises above the surrounding area to an elevation of 10,457 feet. It is
classified as a volcanic dome, formed when lava is too viscous to flow away and
accumulates around its vent. Lassen Peak was thought to be extinct when it
erupted without warning on May 30, 1914. Minor eruptions continued for the
following year, until May 19, 1915, when larger and more spectacular explosions
propelled a stream of molten lava 1,000 feet down the mountain. Three days
later a blast of hot gases felled many trees and produced a mushroom-shaped
cloud that rose some 7 miles above the summit. The eruptions ceased in 1921,
but evidence has suggested the possibility of a periodic cycle for volcanic
activity in the area.
Created in August of 1916, Lassen Volcanic National
Park was the fifteenth national park established by Congress, Lassen is one of
the oldest national parks in the United States. The remarkable hydrothermal
features in Lassen Volcanic National Park include roaring fumaroles (steam and
volcanic-gas vents), thumping mud pots, boiling pools, and steaming ground.
Water from rain and snow that falls on the highlands of the park feed the
hydrothermal system. Once deep underground, the water is heated by a body of
hot or molten rock beneath Lassen Peak. Rising hot water boils to form boiling
pools and mud pots. Super-heated steam reaches the surface through fractures in
the earth to form fumaroles such as those found at Bumpass Hell and Sulphur
Works. It’s a lot like some parts of Yellowstone, but does not see the traffic that
Yellowstone gets.
As we traveled through the Lassen National Forest, we
were on CA Routes 44 and 89. Which is part of the Volcanic Legacy Byway. Along
this byway we saw fantastic sites, the slopes of Lassen Peak jutting above the
valley floor to the summit at 10,457 feet. Lassen National Forest is a total of
over 1-million acres. The forest lies at the heart of one of the most
fascinating areas of California, called the Crossroads. Here the granite of the
Sierra Nevada, the lava of the Cascades, and the sagebrush of the Great Basin
meet and blend. Within the Lassen National Forest you can explore a lava tube
or the land of Ishi, the last survivor of the Yahi Yana Native American tribe, watch
pronghorn antelope glide across sage flats or an osprey snatch fish from lake
waters.
Poison Lake, it looks all dried up? Poison Lake was a
shallow lake, along Highway 44, with water that was found to be unfit to drink
by the emigrants on the Lassen Trail. The travelers also found that Lassen’s
Trail was not “fit” for travel either. In 1916, it was part of the Honey Lake
Valley Irrigation District’s scheme to tap into this other lakes and small
streams, to transport it all the way to the east side of the Honey Lake Valley
for reclamation purposes.
There was a sign for McCoy Flat Reservoir and the GPS said it was right next to the road. But maybe it is the wrong time of the year, it is dry, bone dry.
We passed by a wooden sign for the Goat Fire. The
Goat Fire was caused by a campfire on July 18, 2000. Located in steep, rocky
terrain along State Highway 44, the fire spread rapidly toward the community of
Lake Forest Estates. Because of extreme fire conditions, and as a precaution,
evacuations were started. Over 1,100 firefighting resources were called in to
battle the flames which were racing through heavy timber, jumping from treetop
to treetop in the form of a crown fire. The land had been owned by Roseburg
Resources Timber Company before purchase by Sierra Pacific Industries. Roseburg
had completed a thinning and chipping project in the area back in 1991. When
the Goat Fire reached this thinned area flames dropped from the top (crown) of
the trees to the ground where firefighters were able to attack it. In addition
to the thinned area, Roseburg had completed a 1000-foot shaded fuel break along
one side of Lake Forest Estates in 1990. The fire reached within a mile of the
community. Firefighters were able to safely stop the fire in the thinned forest
keeping the flames out of Lake Forest Estates and saving several thousand acres
of productive forest. The Goat Fire was contained in 36 hours with only 1,117
acres being lost.
We turned onto CA 36 and headed into Susanville. It
was a charming town with ample murals and a historic theater. The murals,
painted over the last 20 years, depict scenes from Susanville’s past and pay
homage to historical figures that have shaped our area.
On August 7, 1934 during a special session of the
Susanville City Council they condemned the Liberty Theater, after state
inspectors stated it was unsafe. Two days later the theater would close, and it
was only fitting the film shown that day was “The Party’s Over.” It should be
noted that the Liberty was built in 1921. In late September, demolition began and
it was announced a new theater would be built on the site of the old one, to be
named Sierra Theater. Construction on the concrete re-enforced theater began in
October, and the owners noted it was earthquake proof, the first of its kind in
Susanville. On Friday, March 8, 1935 a grand opening was held for $75,000 Theater.
The first showing was appropriately a film named, “The Whole Town’s Talking.”
We transitioned onto U SHighway 395 and made a pit
stop at the Honey Lake Rest Area. Honey Lake was in the background, it kind of
looks like honey along the bank. Honey Lake, a shallow lake in the Great Basin
Desert. This large, shallow lake, surrounded by alkali vegetation and
agricultural fields.
There were some beautiful lavender plants at the rest
area. Those plants always make me think of all my dear friends that love
purple!
The Plumas National Forest, are ahead of us and on our
right. The forest occupies 1,146,000 acres of scenic mountain lands in the
northern Sierra Nevada. The Forest was established by President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1905. Situated just south of the Cascade Range, the Plumas is
versatile in its land features, uncrowded, and enhanced by a pleasant climate. Beginning
in the foothill country near Lake Oroville, the Plumas extends through heavily
timbered slopes and into the rugged high country near US Highway 395.
We passed by a sign for Sierra Army Depot. We have
never heard of Sierra Army Depot. We learned that the Army set up shop at
Sierra during World War II and used the base to store vast quantities of bombs
and ammunition. The site made a lot of sense for this type of work, the spot
was “near enough to Pacific ports, but far enough from the coast to be
sheltered from possible attack.” It also had its own rail spur and boasted of a
low rainfall climate that minimized the threat of rusting. Over the decades,
the stockpile of weaponry at the Sierra Depot grew as the Army started using
the arid base to store an expanding fleet of surplus vehicles. Today that
includes some M1 Abrams main battle tanks that are parked in neat rows, along
with vast lots of armored personnel carriers, trailers, trucks, and other miscellaneous
vehicles.
You can tell it is an arid environment, when a dirt devil can
easily form on a farmers field.
No fan fair arriving in Nevada, not even a sign … but we are
here, at Bordertown Casino and RV Resort, our home for 1 night.
Daisy was in the office and she kept an eye on everything that goes on. Daisy and her friend, the prong horned antelope!
Our site was perfect and beautiful!
No comments:
Post a Comment