One more self-propelled climb up FS10 but, for the first time...we had help! We've been pedaling up this lane for over four decades and today it felt very different. We were mounted on our Verve+ ebikes that we rewarded ourselves with upon retirement in 2025. Yes, it was easier but we still worked up a sweat. So quiet! Eighty minutes of pedaling up and down a perfectly smooth road and we saw only two motorists, we had pleasant conversations with each of them...this is life in Plumas. What was different? My heart wasn't beating loudly in my chest, my breathing wasn't louder than the steady winds blowing downhill out of the Caribou Wilderness. I could hear critters scurrying in the underbrush down toward Bailey Creek. No doubt about it...ebikes have earned a place in our exercise agenda. I always said I wouldn't pedal ebikes until I was eighty years old however, I started at Seventy-five and I am glad to get ahead of myself here and my silly proclamations.

Rain...Finally Some Rain

Our remaining Emerald Forest, only a dozen square miles around Chester is bone dry. Surrounding this are thousands of square miles of burnt ground covered by a blanket of Ceanothus and four foot tall new pines. All of this end of Plumas County is frightfully dry, having experienced no more than three short rain events over the last six months. We are due for El Nino impacts from an extremely warm Pacific that are unprecedented. A 'Pineapple Express' is what we need..there'll be mudslides and rockfalls and saturated rootballs giving up on massive trees all over the region but at least fire will be held at bay and we will get to keep and appreciate the greenery that surrounds our small towns of Chester, Westwood and Lake Almanor.

Excited About Dirt

In the early '70's I was intrigued with riding my 'ten speed' on gravel roads. I was finding gravel everywhere I looked ...that turned out to be doable on 27 x 1.25 tires. I was not flatting and I was not falling and I was finding brand new turf to ride. My roommate and friends were shaking their heads, "Why does he want to pedal on dirt?" A half-dozen years later bicycles were designed to ride dirt and 'mountain bikes' were born. Here we are, more than fifty years later, and cyclists are once again excited about taking to the dirt roads. A whole different type of enthusiast wants to pedal on dirt. Roadies, tired of the brutality of sharing the asphalt with semi-conscious motorists are now seeking-out dirt roads and trails for exercise and peace of mind.

Truing Up The PCT

It's been a 'tic' of mine for many years...The Pacific Crest Trail loses the 'true Crest' just North of Lake Tahoe, temporarily returning close to it at Lassen Volcanic Natl. Park and then seriously loses the 'true Crest' again all the way to the north side of Crater Lake Natl. Park at Beaver Marsh. Map guys and gals will immediately know what I am talking about. we're talking drainages here...one side of the 'true Crest' drains into the Great Basin. The other side of the 'true Crest' should drain out to the Pacific. The Warner Mountains, which are a true Pacific Crest range are left out entirely...as are The Diamond Mountains and Babbit, Sardine and Pegleg lookouts, which are all on the true Crest. Following the 'true Crest' would eliminate much of the extensive burn areas that hikers are now shuttling around and shorten the PCT by more than a hundred miles by eliminating the westward sweep toward the Trinity Alps and the KLamath River.

Caught The Wave That Brought Us To Maeve

We headed west to the Pacific Ocean via SR 36 arriving at our first campsite (Swimmer's Delight) in Humboldt County. We prepared our rig for a three week clockwise swirl up the California, Oregon and Washington coasts and then inland to Lake Christina, British Columbia. After a few days of celebrating Canada we curled southward through Idaho (if you ever need a quiet place to camp near Sandpoint, Idaho try Garfield Bay county campground ) We dropped into 'the pipe' in Montana and Wyoming before 'kicking out' in Park City, Utah. Where we have reaquainted ourselves with Maeve Elliot, the light of our lives. Her parents are equally precious and we so appreciate their generous hospitality.

'Summertime and the Living is Easy'

September welcomes Autumn with temperatures flipping from 90 degree days in August to 60 degree days. This is my first free/retired Summer since the early 90's. We decide each morning what activities we will partake-in during the daylight hours that follow. We are daytime operators...evenings find us safe in our house either playing Scrabble or watching Netflix, often both. Nori, our Labrador gets the first exercise option after we finish our early morning coffee. This means either a dog walk on the trails behind our house or a bicycle-assisted trot to Last Chance Creek (a six mile run that includes twenty minutes of swimming and stick chasing down-current toward Lake Almanor). Afternoons find us in our bicycle saddles, usually headed uphill toward Lassen Volcanic National Park. Six, eight or thirteen mile climbs that are often traffic-free and wind-assisted. Since the Dixie Fire consumed all of the shade offered foliage we are exposed to the lava bones that hold up the Lassen uplift.