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This year, Dave and I spent our summer time off doing some
more exploring in the far reaches of Northern California. Since
we had spent little time in Modoc County in the past, we decided to
concentrate on this. I collect California postmakrs, so this also
gave us an opportunity to get some of the rarer small towns. Each
picture may be viewed in much larger form by clicking on it.
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| Lava Beds National Monument is full of lava tubes (emanating
from the nearby Medicine Lake Volcano), and many of them have collapsed
to form small, steep gullies such as this one. |
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Lava
Beds slopes up the side of the volcano, offering a great view into the
Tulelake basin. Shown here are The Peninsula, on the left, and
Horse Mountain on the right, rear.
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On the Battlefield trail is this tree mold, formed when lava
flowed around a tree trunk while it was cooling. The tree died
and rotted, or burned, but the mold of its bark has lasted hundreds, if
not thousands, of years.
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We
took what we hoped would be a shortcut out of the park to the southwest
in order to get to the small communities of Tennant and Bray.
Part of the road is dirt, but this part is pristine--it's apparently
the old state highway and has virtually no traffic these days.
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The
road soon changed to a forest road, though. It was in good
condition, but we really didn't save any time over the long way.
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Tennant
is a small town made up of old company houses from the days when a mill
was open. However, there are no services whatsoever. Bray
was just a couple of houses, but there was also a mill here decades
ago. Old machinery from the mill is scattered about.
There's a good view of Mt. Shasta from the town.
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We hooked back up with Highway 97 and headed back into the
Butte Valley, the "long way" around to Tulelake. There's a very
busy Union Pacfic rail line that parallels the highway, and one almost
always sees a train or two on the drive.
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Back
at our place, we settled in for another beautiful evening. This
photo shows the moon rising over Tulelake, with stars overhead.
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Right before the moon rose, though, the Milky Way was quite
visible. This view is looking towards the constellation of
Sagittarius.
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Yet
another beautiful warm day. In fact, most days were so hot that
we didn't hike, as temperatures routinely hit the mid- to
high-90s. Driving around, we saw this beautiful view of the Lava
Beds and Medicine Lake Volcano behind. Schonchin Butte is at the
far left.
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We
next headed to check out the Scott Valley region, centered around
Yreka. We drove back down Highway 97, but stopped at the Grass
Lake rest stop. Grass Lake usually has a very low level of water
in it, but appeared dry this year. The meadow that replaced the
lake was full of flowers. It's a great place to see birds.
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Lots
of butterflies can be seen at the right time of the year, too.
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If
the weather is good, the view into Scott Valley from Highway 97 is
spectacular. Many cinder cones dot the landscape.
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Taking
the turnoff to Grenada brought us into the valley. This view was
taken near the small settlement of Little Shasta.
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Driving
through Yreka (it's the county seat of Siskiyou, and next to I-5, so it
is busy), we headed out to the communities of Fort Jones and Etna,
which were a lot busier in the 19th Century than today. There's a
good view of this part of the country from the highway.
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Near
Fort Jones was this peaceful scene. What a beautiful valley!
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After
visiting the towns, we tried to get back to the Klamath Basin via a new
route that took us up past Iron Gate Reservoir and Copco Lake.
The route appears to go through, but the road became too rough for our
sedan. At Iron Gate is this postpile formation.
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There
were quite a few lizards in this dry area.
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We
drove back to Yreka, and took some country roads back to Highway
97. This valley has great views of Mt. Shasta and Black Butte
(small peak to the right).
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After
arriving home, one of the most dramatic sunsets I have ever seen took
place. This picture is unprocessed--the sky was really that red!
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clouds cleared later, and Dave and I stayed up to watch the
stars. I took some photos of their trails--this was about 20
minutes looking towards Tulelake. |
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