The middle of nowhere

rickster

Member
When I was more "able", I used to travel across the wilderness in a variety of ways. None of them had motors. They had boots, snowshoes and skis. Often they had ropes, ice hammers, crampons and ice axes. Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe used to be one of my favorites to ski across in the winter. I'd spend days...weeks navigating by map and compass through the many valleys and over the ridgelines as I camped at the feet of the peaks that I would free ski for days. While those days now only live in my mental diary, I still love the smells, the mountain air, the blue sky and the solitude that wilderness provides. Lucky for me that Pacific Gas & Electric, the power provider for much of California has a reservoir and power plant right at the border of Desolation Wilderness. It's also great that the road to get there, Ice House Road is in amazing shape.

It's only the end of July, but we've had a summer that's worth hiding from. Northern California has been baking in 100-108 degree heat and getting up high into the mountains is my method of crawling under a rock. I've made a lot of trips into the mountains and over to our much cooler coast, but today I left home and once again used my network of backroads to get to Placerville where at 1867 ft. one can start to sense the cooler temperature. Placerville is an old foothill town that came into prominence during the gold rush. It's only a stone's throw from Coloma where John Marshall first discovered that "thar's gold in them thar hills!". Placerville began as a town known as "Dry Diggin's" and matured into a city called "Hangtown" before the more respectable locals figured that business might be better with a new name. They must have been right, because the town became a hub for supplying the gold mines and moving goods and services to and from where they were needed. Placerville was also a Pony Express mail hub. One of the riders who relayed mail through Placerville during the Pony Expresses short life was Buffalo Bill Cody.

All that history, and I just needed a sandwich! Yes, on the lettuce, olives, cucumbers and onions. No thanks on the peppers...they make me fart. The sandwich and a bag of chips to prove that I'll eat anything with oil and salt went into my saddlebag and I hopped on Highway 50, one of the prettiest mountain highways in the west. Riding higher and higher through Camino, Pollack Pines and Fresh Pond saw the temperatures plummet. It was actually cool enough in my mesh jacket to think about putting on that sweatshirt I carry in my bags. But, no way! I've been cooking in the heat for so long that cold was good. Of course, subject to change!

About four miles after Pacific House on Hwy. 50 is the turnoff to Ice House Road which goes up past Ice House Reservoir, Union Valley Reservoir and continues on to Loon Lake. The road is so twisty that just about the only time you are perfectly upright is when transitioning between the left turns and the right ones. It's not a quick trip though. For me, Ice House Road, like many in my area is a 30-35 mile an hour journey as I know from my experience in the back country how frequently one sees deer in these forested mountains. Bambi speed, I tell myself over and over. Just keep it down to Bambi speed.

After Ice House Road intersects with Wentworth Springs Road, it is 7 miles to Loon Lake. Shortly after the intersection, say a mile or so, the forests open up and give way to what I think of as "Granite Disneyland". Giant slabs of broken granite litter the landscape, the large peaks of Desolation Wildnerness become visible and then from above, the first view of the expanse of Loon Lake. Once down a short hill, I'm at the lake shore and the sparkling lake is showing off it's blue color as though it had invented it. Loon Lake sits at 6,410 ft. and the air was fresh and cool. It felt like a cool shower on a hot day. I found my way to the edge of the lake where the campground had picnic tables. There were, to my surprise only two others in the entire campground. So, I quietly ate the sandwich, noisily munched the chips and since I was alone, wished I had ordered the peppers.

The trip home finished the loop. When I got back to the intersection with Wentworth Springs Road, I took it toward Georgetown, another small mining town of the 1850's. Although the 2014 King Fire decimated over 90,000 acres along the way, the trip along Wentworth Springs is still amazing. The road rises and falls, the blackened trees are a contrast with the green re-growth beneath them and there is Stumpy Meadows Reservoir. The reservoir is still majestic under the nearby peaks even though it is now surrounded by a burned forest. If the King fire had been nature caused instead of arson, one could even say "nature at work" and be easy about it. I continued through Georgetown and took Hwy 193 to the "Gold Country Highway", Hwy 49 and did the steep up and down into and out of the American River Canyon to get to the city of Auburn which is close to where I live. When I arrived at my home I realized that we had a cooling trend going on. It was 99 degrees.

CTX700 at Loon Lake-IMG_0010.jpg
Loon Lake at the border of Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, California
 
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