Squaw Valley Road, aka FR27

We are in the valley, just to the east of us is a huge mountain range, the Wasatch Mountain Range, much of which falls under the stewardship of the Uintah Ranger District.  Year round they maintain a forest road that traverses the Squaw Valley and provides snowmobile trails and jeep trails.  So we grabbed the motorcycles and went.

The road started off pretty benignly unlit we passed the last campground and a sign that said: "Road not suitable for passenger vehicles."

The road twisted and turned, climbed and descended and always had either huge chuck holes or many, many rocks.  Fortunately the traction was good and the rocks did not move around, therefore Barbara gave this trail the following rating:

As you traverse the top of the mountain you get several views of the valley below.

The colored leaves make it a wonderland of color.

It was growing late and getting colder.  The GPS said we still have 12 miles of mountain road to travel.  So when we broke out on the south side of the route we were very happy to see the valley just below us.

One of our better motorcycle trips through the national forest. 

Stewart Falls, outside of Salt Lake City

Our son Joseph got a promotion with his job, now he gets to move from Orlando, FL to Redmond, WA.  I got talked into helping.  So we have stopped in Salt Lake City to await his arrival.  
While waiting we went hiking on a nice little trail called Stewart Falls.  Only 4 miles.  But an early snow storm has dumped a little snow in the high country. 

The puppies weren't real sure about the snow on the trail, but it was light and didn't muck things up to badly.

They eventually settled down and had some fun with it.

It makes us feel good to walk amongst these giant mountains.  Cool crisp air, pretty vistas. 

Off in the background you could see the nearby ski resort nestled in fall colors.

It was a pleasant surprise to find water running off the water fall this late in the year. Doesn't always happen.

Great Basin National Park

From South Lake Tahoe we bopped on over to Reno where we attended a Neil Diamond Tribute Concert at Harrah's.  We tried motorcycle riding but the rocks were too plentiful and too loose so that didn't work out.  We looked at running the Truckee river, but the water was too low.  So we left and headed on to Ely, NV. Here we did some motorcycle riding and visited the Ely Ward Charcoal furnaces. 

They would stack wood into these hives then light it up.  Using vents at the bottom they would control how hot it got.  After several days they you plug it up, let the fire die, then open it up and pull the charcoal out.  They sold the charcoal to the railroads.

 

There was a lot of OHV trails and forest roads in the area so we did a little riding.  Had a great time until we encountered "the hill".  It was short but very steep and had lots of loose rock on it.  Barbara was quite uncomfortable with it.  So we spend a lot of time here and eventually had to turn around and head home.

It was a short drive from Ely to the Great Basin National Park.  We stayed at the Border Inn.  The weather was turning cold and iffy so we took the truck into Great Basin.  As we climbed the temperature dropped.  We were glad to have the protection of the truck after our hike. 

Like most national parks Great Basin has two faces, tourist access and back country.  We did not have enough time to get into the back country.  Our destination was Mt. Wheeler.

The road up was steep and twisty, making us doubt our non-motorcycle decision. The Aspens along the way had just started to turn to their fall colors.

The main attraction for us was the hike into the Bristlecone Pine tree grove.  Hardy little pine trees that live in this high altitude snow laden area, and thrive. The trail into the area was a little rocky.

At first the trees themselves are somewhat unassuming. 

Then you start reading the information about them.  Over 3000 years old, growth rate very small.  Quite a contrast from the giant Redwood National Park so recently visited.

Gives a bit of different perspective to these little tough trees.

The pinnacle on the mountain draws the climbers eye, but too far, too high and too cold.

So we visited this little alpine lake on the way down, Theresa Lake, 10,230 feet. 

From desert floor to above timberline.  There are many unique and diverse ecosystems.  A person with a naturalists heart could spend a great deal of time here.

South Lake Tahoe

Coming out of the Redwood National Park the temperatures soared.  At one point the little temperature gauge in the truck said it was 113 degrees.  We re-evaluated our game plan and decided to head east at the latitude we were at as opposed to the original plan of going through southern California on our way to Texas.

Since we have purchased season ski passes for our Feb/Mar skiing at Heavenly Valley we decided to head over to South Lake Tahoe to check out the RV accommodations.  While there we did quite a bit of hiking around mountains above the lake.

The lake is very pretty.

There are some other alpine lakes near the big lake.

Great views of the lake from atop the mountains.

When you get down on the lake you will find the water clear and cold.

We did a little rock climbing in the area. Ran into my first Open Cold Shut anchor.  I thought them quite dangerous until I talked to a more experienced climber who taught me how to set them up properly.  Most of the climbing in this area is traditional mountaineering.  Barbara says she is ready with her "injectors", the rest of the world calls them Camelot's. 

Redwood National Park

These parks had an interesting layout.  They were scattered over many miles. Then, the California State Parks were interspersed with the National Park.  In each individual park you will see groves of Redwoods that are dedicated to the people that help purchase the land the groves are situated on.  So it took us several days of riding around to see it.

What we didn't know was that a good portion of the park is also on the Pacific Ocean beach.  The dogs had fun on the beach, they hadn't seen one for quite a while.

Of course the beach looks a bit different than the one we are used to in Florida.

Being a coast line you will see some very pretty buildings with a nice background.  Like this restored light house in Crescent City, CA.

When I think of Elk I think high country forest.  So I was quite amazed to see this big fellow grazing so close to the ocean.

We rode many miles looking at scenery similar to this.

Take pictures of Redwoods is really hard.  They are so big you can't get them into a single camera frame.

Of course we have to horse around a little on hikes.

And we stopped at some wineries along the way.  I think this one is a local favorite.

These trees are amazing.  Old, big, and the bases tend to get hollowed out by fire or disease.  It makes for good photo op.

Of course being in Northern California during the start of the Salmon run gives one great opportunity for fresh salmon.  A neighbor in one of the RV parks appreciated a little help that I gave them and rewarded us with a nice Salmon filet that he had caught that day.  We ate a lot of Salmon during this period, but none as fresh as this.

Crater Lake National Park

We left Smith Rock State Park and drove to Collier Memorial State Park.  Collier has done an excellent job with their lumber industry museum.  They have even restored a couple of steam tractors.  Here is an unusual picture of a Chipmunk and a Donkey.

We rode the motorcycles the 30 miles up to the National Park.

We didn't follow the advice of the National Park and rode counter clockwise around the lake.  The first glimpse of the lake was spectacular.

A couple of interesting things; This lake has no streams that feed it.  It is filled only with snow melt.  It is the deepest lake in the U.S.
Other than that it is very pretty.

We made a couple of stops along the way.

And even met a nice Marmot during one of our hikes.