visiting springs once hot
Determined to find that pedestrian tunnel and the rest of the Sea to Backcountry trail, I stopped at the fire road and poked around a little. Weaving around the plants by the river, I found it and passed through. Beyond, there was much poison oak. I made my way as best I could, trying to follow trail. At first the trail seemed very clear, but with loads of plant to avoid all around it, some of it head height. It got a little less so, but I could still see cuts on the branches of the bordering bushes. Then it started to seem more and more like animal trail and quickly I was forced to just push through the easiest place. I made my way toward a hill that had seemed to have trail on it in the satellite photos and would be much easier to travel on since it was just dry grass. I made my way up, turning onto a bit that looked like trail cut, but as soon as it was out to where it was flat, no cutting had been required and the trail vanished again. I made my way upward to where there should be trail, then seeing all sorts of poison oak up the hill, decided to just follow the grasslands toward the traditional starting point. I passed a windbreak someone had built of stones and soon bumped into trail. I continued along it the same direction to fire road, then turned up it. Fire road turns into trail, possibly at the forest boundary. Trail branches and does funny things at a saddle and I skipped a small section of it. I saw below someone had put a "no trespassing" sign along trail that continued down the canyon on the other side of the saddle. I continued up and found the backside of another. Maybe someone thinks it's funny on Trespass Trail? Isn't that name historical? I continued to the top.
Oh, yeah, and it rained. A lot while I ate, but my sun hat turns easily to a rain hat by simply remaining on my head. It was finishing as I left the peak, but I should have waited just a little longer for some good clearing. Ah well.
Then I went down for what seemed much more than I'd climbed. I spotted a trail to the side and followed it past one spring that was being collected only to pour out a pipe with holes in it. This spring isn't actually hot even though it has some of the same white grime I saw in Lassen around it. I took a photo of the water spouting out the holes in the pipe, and then, slowly, fewer and fewer spouted. The housing of the spring was quite noisy, but I couldn't look inside to see what was making the racket. Back to the trail, I followed it to a dry canyon, then took a trail that had branched off downward. A bit of smell and noise made it clear I'd got to the hot spring. I felt the water in the pools, but it wasn't very warm. I remember the runoff at the fire road being warmer when I passed before. I was expecting the pools to be quite hot.
I headed down and found that the trail I'd come in on had been very close to the junction of the fire roads. I followed it back, to a sign just past where I'd joined it that indicated a junction with a trail going up the hill and looked for such again, but didn't find it. A little further, I did find a junction and followed the trail a little way in the direction that wasn't mine, but it just seemed to want to climb. Along the trail above, there had been another sign indicating a junction that had a trail going down, so these may meet. I turned back and made my way down again, this time looking to get down to the freeway as much by the grasslands as possible, then follow it back to the pedestrian underpass. It worked well until I bumped into an old bit of fence. I followed it down, coming to bushes I had to push through, but others probably had been this way. Just short of a gate that would never open for me, the barbed wire was loose and the rest of the way to the roadway looked like an easy walk, so I climbed through. I was only a little way from the underpass, and popped under to the car again.
And it was cleaner than when I left it. Imagine that? Parking next to a gravel road and the car is cleaner.
Oh, yeah, and it rained. A lot while I ate, but my sun hat turns easily to a rain hat by simply remaining on my head. It was finishing as I left the peak, but I should have waited just a little longer for some good clearing. Ah well.
Then I went down for what seemed much more than I'd climbed. I spotted a trail to the side and followed it past one spring that was being collected only to pour out a pipe with holes in it. This spring isn't actually hot even though it has some of the same white grime I saw in Lassen around it. I took a photo of the water spouting out the holes in the pipe, and then, slowly, fewer and fewer spouted. The housing of the spring was quite noisy, but I couldn't look inside to see what was making the racket. Back to the trail, I followed it to a dry canyon, then took a trail that had branched off downward. A bit of smell and noise made it clear I'd got to the hot spring. I felt the water in the pools, but it wasn't very warm. I remember the runoff at the fire road being warmer when I passed before. I was expecting the pools to be quite hot.
I headed down and found that the trail I'd come in on had been very close to the junction of the fire roads. I followed it back, to a sign just past where I'd joined it that indicated a junction with a trail going up the hill and looked for such again, but didn't find it. A little further, I did find a junction and followed the trail a little way in the direction that wasn't mine, but it just seemed to want to climb. Along the trail above, there had been another sign indicating a junction that had a trail going down, so these may meet. I turned back and made my way down again, this time looking to get down to the freeway as much by the grasslands as possible, then follow it back to the pedestrian underpass. It worked well until I bumped into an old bit of fence. I followed it down, coming to bushes I had to push through, but others probably had been this way. Just short of a gate that would never open for me, the barbed wire was loose and the rest of the way to the roadway looked like an easy walk, so I climbed through. I was only a little way from the underpass, and popped under to the car again.
And it was cleaner than when I left it. Imagine that? Parking next to a gravel road and the car is cleaner.