June 30, 2015 Susanville, California to Fallon, Nevada

After Lassen we went to Susanville, California. Susan is kind of like Sue.   It was founded by Isaac Roop in  1854 and named for his daughter and the town lies in the Susan River Canyon.

The Susan river runs through Susanville. I love the Susanville Ford. Of course John wanted to go to the local brewery. Lawson Ale Works, it is in the old Pioneer building which was a Saloon in  1892..

The old historic bar at Lawson Ale Works. The beer was good, but we had to wait one and a half hours for our dinner. Service was way too slow. They ended up paying for our drinks to make us happier. After Susanville were hot  plains.  100 degrees.

Into Nevada. We went onto highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America.

We passed the shoe tree. The legend was that it was started by a young couple on their honeymoon. They got in a spat and she was going to walk the rest of the way back. The husband took her shoes and threw them  to the top of the tree. The couple made up and every year they came back and threw another pair up there.  These blue signs are Nevada historical markers.

 

We stayed in Fallon, Nevada. Outside of Fallon is Grimes Point Archeological Area.  There are over 1000 pieces of ancient rock art, making it one of the most important  archeological sites in the Great Basin.  Some of them are over 7000 years old. Petroglyphs are made by chipping off the black patina coating on the rocks, which is made over hundreds of years of rain and hot sun, so they are white in the black background. These are so old that the patina is starting to  cover up the glyphs, they are kind of hard to see. There is also a hidden cave with Indian artifacts in it. It is closed, except for every other Sat with a guide.

 

But the ones we could see were cool. It was 103 today. We only spent about 20 minutes out in the heat to see these. This Hwy 50 sign is at our hotel.  I found out there is a survival guide that if you get it stamped at 8 different spots on the highway you get a certificate that says you survived the highway signed by the governor and a hwy 50 pin.  Of course we did not know about it in time to get one and John won’t go back and get it. Life Magazine in 1986  described hwy 50 as the ‘Loneliest Road in America’ and said there were no attractions or of points of interest along the road and recommended that driver have ‘survival skills’ to travel the route. Nevada fought back with the Survival guide with lots of attractions.

Fallon is the headquarters for the Naval Strike and Air War Warfare Center, home to the flight school commonly known as ‘TOP GUN’.  Hwy 50 follows the pony express route for the next 20 miles, with a few  pony express stations.

The next morning John went to the chamber of commerce in Fallon and got me a Survival guide.

These photos are the guide and the route. It now has 6 stamps on it, I will get the certificate! What a man John is.

June 28-29, 2015 Eugene,Oregon to

We left the bus in Eugene  and took off in our car. We will drive back when the bus  is done.  We headed south toward California.

Welcome to Grants Pass, Oregon. Mount Shasta behind a barn in northern California. We stopped at Seven Feathers Casino in Oregon and I won $55!

 

Black Butte near Shasta is an extinct volcano. Oak trees outside of Redding. We spent the night in Redding. It was so hot we did not leave the air conditioned motel room.

  The next day we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen is the worlds largest plug volcano. It was going to be 99 in Redding, but the national park is at 6,000 to 10,000 feet and it was much cooler here. Lassen erupted in 1914-1921.  There has been a lot of volcanic activity in this area. Loomis Museum  was built in 1927 by Mr Loomis who photographed the volcano erupting and the park. He  had a small museum and store where he sold his photos. We saw a movie about the park, viewed many good exhibits and learned more than we ever wanted to know about mountain lions at a ranger talk . 

 

We learned among other things that basalt rock encased in black dacite is called Quenched Blobs at an interpretive sign at the Devastated area, which was stripped of all vegetation  from the May 1915 eruption. It has now naturally reforested.  We had lunch at Summit Lake and went wading in the cool refreshing lake.

Beautiful Kings Creek  meadows. There is a trail from here that leads to Kings Creek Falls. There are lots of wildflowers. We hiked the Bumpass Hell trail which leads to a large area of spectacular boiling springs,mud pots,and boiling pools . Mr Bumpass first saw this geothermal area and filed a mining claim on it. He guided tourists up here and took them to see the hot springs. He was doing well until he fell through the thin crust by the hot springs and was badly burnt. He lost his leg from the burns.  The trail is around 8,000 feet so it was in the high 70’s and pleasant. This is the beginning of the trail.

It was a three mile hike. The pink flowers are heather and were everywhere.

John waiting for me in the trees. I of course was taking photos. We topped the ridge and looked down on the hydrothermal area.

Caution: Don’t let this infernal wonderland become your hell! Stay on the boardwalks.  It was very colorful with boiling hot pots, mud pots and fumaroles.

 

These are fumaroles, steaming vents.

 

Hot pools and mud pots.  All of this is right below Lassen peak, which has this Eye of Saron looking down on it. I think the eye  is a quenched  blob!

There are many HUGE trees, the lava flow did not reach these.  Right below the trailhead is Emerald Lake.

 

John stripped down and dove in. The water felt wonderful. Farther down the mountain is the Sulfur Works. It was at one time a sulfur mine, there was boiling mud and fumaroles here too.

  

Sights from the day. Boiling mud, colored run off from the pools, sulfur crystals and more boiling mud. Many colorful flowers too.

June 27, 2015 Sand Dunes, Oregon

We drove down to the Oregon Sand Dune park on the coast near Florence. It was going to be 99 degrees in Eugene, so the cool coast was the best bet. It was partly sunny and 65-75 degrees there.  Only 40 miles west of Eugene.

Here is the 6-8 mile  trail we hiked on. It starts in the deep ,dark, and lush enchanted forest.

 

The rhododendrons were blooming. The foliage was so dense we walked in tree tunnels.

 

Tree tunnels topped with rhododendrons. John, Leslie, Scott and Rhody (short for his full name of Rhododendron) were waiting for me as I dallied and photographed.

 

More rhododendrons on the trail. They are so beautiful. We came to the dune part of the trail.

 

This part of the trail is on over grown dunes. These fir and spruce are not old growth forest, they were clear cut in 1920. This is how tall they have become since then. The lower limbs die off and become mossy because the canopy blocks the sunlight. Lots and lots of ferns.

At the edge of the forest you can see the ocean on the horizon. We hiked  3 miles to Three Mile Lake.

  

The sun  was coming in and out, it was in the 70’s. We had lunch here and a nap in the warm sun.

 

It was very steep loose sand going down to the lake and back up. Leslie was using the same method as Rhody to climb the sand. It was hard work. John , Scott and Rhody at the top of the dune.

 

We walked down to the ocean. It is nesting season for the snowy plovers, so dogs are not allowed on the beach now. The plovers lay their eggs on top of the sand with no nest.  People and dogs on the beach disturb their nesting, so parts of the beach are closed.  We walked a mile along the beach. It was cool, misty and windy. Scott took Rhody on another trail away from the beach.

  The wind made cool lines on the sand and there  were mackerel clouds, nice patterns together.

Along the beach and up the  trail leading off the beach back into the dunes.

The sun came out and it was really hot crossing the steep sand back to the forest. We met up with Scott and Rhody and hiked back in the tree tunnel. We had dinner  on the deck of the Travel Cove Cafe along the Siuslaw river in Florence. Yummy seafood Mexican.

 

The bridge over the Siuslaw River was built in 1926 and is a draw bridge. There sand dunes come all the way into town. It would have been fun to slide down the sand into the river. If the air and water were warmer. . .

 

Florence marina and some of the interesting shops and signs.

 

Lots to see in the forest. saprophytic plant, rhododendrons, mossy contorted branches, many different species of ferns.

Berries, blossoms and a banana slug. They are about 4 inches long. Wild foxglove flowers.

 

Green foliage, monkey flower, fiddlehead fern and a leaf with a face. Pink and white flowers.

 

Sights on the dunes.