The communities on this section of the Golden Chain highway are small, and with summer over the roads were almost completely empty. We were able to stop often and take in the sight of the mist lifting and the autumn colors along the Yuba River.
We made it to the town of Downieville in good time but found that our favorite place to eat, Twin Rivers, was closed for the off season. In fact almost every restaurant in this tiny town was closed. Except for La Cocina Da Oro (The River Kitchen), and they were packed. About thirty bikers had rolled into town some twenty minutes ahead of us, and had flooded the tiny restaurant to capacity and then some. So we got our food to go and headed down the river to eat.
Downieville is as picturesque a town as you could ask for, I want to retire here and start a chipmunk rescue, I'm serious.
After an awesome meal we continued our quest further up and further in, toward the Sierra Nevada Buttes and the Lakes Basin. The highway winds along right next to the river, and even with the water at low levels, it's still a gorgeous sight.
About half an hour later and we were up another three thousand feet or so and the view was breathtaking.
The Lakes Basin Recreation area is part of the Tahoe National Forest and is an excellent example of the High Sierra's ecosystem. Lakes, ponds, and marshes, copse of Aspen in sunny areas, meadows and seasonal streams. There are trails every few hundred yards off the highway, or you can simply pick one of the many lakes to explore. On this particular trip we were on the lookout for The Bear Loop trail, which takes you on a relatively easy trek through and around four lakes.
Even parking at the trail head (that had a bathroom, oooh joy!), we could tell we were in for a treat. Mist was rising in the last patches of sun filtering into the forest, and the chipmunks, squirrels and birds were out in abundance, digging around for whatever forage the rains had revealed. The light was fading fast, so we headed out with no real intention of finishing, just exploring.
Onward we trekked, the terrain changing from forest to tumbles of rock and small hills with wind beaten trees holding on for dear life. Then back into the woods we delved until we reached our first lake, Big Bear. The trail was well marked, and I believe there is another trail head at Elwell Lodge, further down the road. We saw maybe four other hikers while were out, though none of them seemed inclined to go far. We passed them up, as we could see a tall rock overlooking the lake that called our names and asked us to climb it.
Big Bear Lake
The Rock What Called Our Names
We spent a lot of time forging a path to the top of that rock, forcing our way through extremely tough, low growing shrubs that could withstand me putting my full weight on branches thinner then my wrists (which are tiny). I'm from the valley, so I can't even imagine how many feet of snow pile up here, but from the toughness of the plants, it's probably too much.
A few scratches and bruised shins aside, totally worth climbing that rock. Unfortunately it took up quite a bit of time, and we had an hour and half drive home through twisting mountain roads ahead of us. So after a few more minutes of poking around, we decided to turn back. I'm very glad we did, because if our timing had been different we would have missed some excitement hiking out.
A doe and her two offspring were foraging along the trail as we hiked out. We moved slow and steady and besides a few curious looks were able to move alongside them for quite some time. It was a really nice experience, and I'm very glad we were there when we were.
Almost back to the car now, discovered some interesting shelf fungus among the fallen trees, but the light was fading fast and the darkness spreading and home called with promises of hot tea and showers.
So there it is, my first blog entry. Having completed it, there's a few things I'd wished I'd taken pictures of, just to document them. But I haven't blogged since the heydays of Livejournal, and I certainly never kept a photography/cooking and baking blog. But I think I'll enjoy it, and I hope you will as well.
Going back up into the mountains soon, hopefully tomorrow, actually. There's a waterfall that's been calling our names, and it's been raining since the wee hours of the morning. With any luck the rain will stick around a bit and we'll have another misty hike to enjoy. Then the week after that
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