The road from Alturas to Oak Bottom Park was my first real taste of the Jefferson State. Wooded, hilly, and rugged compared to the desolate border region of the past couple days.
Just outside Alturas i pulled over into a small parking lot to check my map and within 30 seconds i saw a middle-aged woman approaching me with a pursed lips and a stern gait. "can i help you?" she asked as i looked up from my tank bag, still seated on the bike. i lifted my hand to wave hello, and returned to my map, folded up inside the transparent map-pocket atop my tank bag, tracing the days route with my gloved hand. "sir...sir, you cant stop here, this is a school...excuse me..." she squealed. i looked up, a little stunned, then thumbed the starter and just chugged away from her and out the driveway, onto the shoulder just beyond it, and hit the killswitch, just 20 feet from where i was, and resumed my map searching. "allrightythen" i said as i rolled past her, interrupting her charge. "Oh I'm sorry, am i scaring the children? or just you?", i wanted to snap. "BOO!" What a shitty place.
This was also my first sight of the wildfire damage to the countryside. many fires burned throughout the summer and continued to burn into the fall and during my tour. some of the worst ones were in the Shasta-Trinity Wilderness, including the fire that claimed the lives of 11 area firemen. Some smoke could still be seen, and i started to see small areas of burnt earth and ash.
On an impulse i stopped at Oak Bottom, and it turned out to be one of the best nights i had camping. Its on the shores of Whiskeytown Lake, highly developed, and frickin' huge.
Being Friday night, it was starting to fill up, but everyone was staying close to the water, so i was able to get a site at the top of the hill above everyone else that was very private.
As i rolled in to choose a site, i saw a small black bear cross the road ahead of me, and for the rest of the evening i could hear, every few minutes, some terrified tourist shrieking away, "OMG! Its a fucking BEAR! its a fucking BEAR! kids, get in the tent NOW! OMG!" From where my site was, i could hear these fits breaking out all around me; first there, the over there, then back there. pretty funny. he never came to my site, probably because i didnt have piles of steak and cotton candy and soiled diapers just laying around. what was really shitty was i could here the park rangers telling people that they were going to have to shoot it since it wasnt responding to their efforts to chase it out of the park. poor little bastard was just a baby, a victim of a shrinking habitat spoiled by human overpopulation and tourism.
since my site was at the edge of the hillside, i had a panoramic view of most of the park. a few yards from my site was the steep hillside that led down to the swimming beach and tennis courts. looking back to the west at my site:
turning to the east, i could see the beach and part of the lake...
every site had a huge concrete firepit and a metal bear-proof food locker. i went on an errand run to Shasta to get two bundles of firewood and some man-cans...
Markhill stove did good...its a tidy little fucker...
in the morning i woke up at 5 and decided to get up early. the sky was totally clear and it was still only a couple days after the full moon, so i was bathed in moonlight. i played around with my cameras settings to try and capture it, but without a proper tripod and remote its hard to get a crisp image...
sunrise...
