August 2003

It seems August was a month for special experiences. Okay, for many of you rain isn't all that special but you must remember for us such moisture is as rare and exciting as snow in New Orleans. Than there was drive up Forest Route 120 (a gray hair producing adventure), the adventures of using a cell-phone, and finally finding a barber.

Most of the month was spent researching the Tahoe National Forest in central California. Contrary to the name, this Forest isn't that close to its namesake. It does, however, have some pretty little lakes. We started the month at Giant Gap campground next to Sugar Pine Reservoir. Although most of the Sugar Pine trees (they're the tree that produces those 2 foot long cones) are gone (either harvested decades ago or have been killed by disease), the lake is surrounded by a pleasantly thick growth of fir trees. It was just about the right size for us and our little inflatable raft. Our first full day there, we got out the raft and prepared to launch. (We had tried earlier, at a place called Wright Lake, but a thunderstorm ended that effort.) While preparing to launch, the sky threatening and opened up. We tied the raft up, enjoyed the sound of raindrops on the trailer, and waited. After almost a week of work and rain, we still hadn't explored the lake and packed the raft away for the year.

Toward the middle of the month we enjoyed another stretch of rainy weather. Again we were at a reservoir. This reservoir had few interesting features to explore. You must remember most lakes in California are man-made and used to produce electric power or irrigate. Unlike the east, California doesn't seem interested in storing drinking water in reservoirs. Well, the change in the shoreline between the first and mid-month is amazing to see. Between August 15 and October 1 (that's less than 60 days), the volume of the lakes we visit will be reduced to one-third. That means lakes the were full, or at least as full as the snow-melt will allow, for July 4th will be hazardous for boaters in just a few weeks.

We have all seen pictures of the dry, bleached bones of dead animals in a desert that is what these lakes begin to look like. As the water level drops, it leaves the barren earth exposed. The daily drop in water is shown by a ever descending rings, sometimes only a few inches, sometimes as much as a foot wide. Soon the stumps of long dead trees appear like broken rib bones of some prehistoric creatures. And it doesn't take long for the space between the dark green of the pines and the bright blue of water to grow into a broad strip of ugly dead land. If one is going to the bother of inflating a raft and paddling it around a lake, you want something more interesting to explore the barren ground. We understand the reason but frankly find the results less attractive.

Perhaps the only thing less attractive than paddling around a pond size lake, is the experience of driving up a death defying incline with sheer drops at nose-bleed caliber heights known as Forest Route (FR) 120. Thought we had left that behind us in Colorado but n-o-o-o-o. The chief differences between this month's and our Orphir Pass experiences was FR 120 is a paved, two lane roadway with loaded logging trucks hulling butt in the downhill lane. Now just how steep was the FR120? You may have a road with a "Trucks use lower gear" sign near you. It is probably a 6% grade/incline. (The number is calculated as the angle of the slope than divided in half so a 6% grade equals a 12 degree slope.) We estimated several sections of FR120 with 26% grade!!! Whatever the actual grade, poor Kermit's engine overheated three times, the transmission once, and a 70-mile trip took us a little over 4 hours! Oh the fun of it all.

Another fun-filled aspect of our project is finding cell-phone signal. Some of you know after 9-11 we finally invested in a cell-phone. One reason we held out for so long was the challenge of finding a signal in the forest. Well, it is still a challenge but at least now there is a chance of communicating on occasion and receiving our e-mail on a more regular bases. ("Can you hear me now?") We have found mountain-tops (and we mean the very top), mid-damn, and the most improbable are the most likely places. Example: while camped near Truckee, California we found the strongest signal was 7-miles from the campground in a gravel pit near the ghost town of Hobart Mills. Now, if any of you have experienced the "So Big" virus, you'll appreciate the joy of downloading e-mail in the middle of a gravel pit, atop a mountain peak, or at a damn.

And than there was the adventure of finding a barber for Fred. His last haircut was back in May. Now, while it is true his hair is thinning, that doesn't mean it has stopped growing. Frankly, Suzi thought Fred looked good in a Prince Valiant pageboy style but Fred didn't. So, were's the problem? Well, for one thing this is California, the land of either long hair or buzz cuts, neither style requires much in the way of a barber. Another thing is barbers appear to be a dying, or at least seriously endangered, bred in this part of the world. When we finally find a barber shop more times than not it was closed or appointments were booked through next Wednesday. In the sleepy railroad/lumber town of Portola we finally found a barber who took pity on Fred squeezed him in between appointments. Fred literally floated through the rest of the day, he felt that lightheaded.

So you see our adventures continue and the fun never seems to end. September will find us winding up this season's research with the Plumas National Forest. We'll enjoy a break (meaning we won't move) in Redding, California. The end of the month will find us in Sacramento attending an RV show and than heading for Montana for visit with our grandson and, of course, his parents. It will nice to slow down for a little while. Here's hoping your summer is slowing down to a nice pace.

Suzi and Fred