The Route
The 220 mile route is mostly paved. 6 travel days and 1 rest day. The original idea was a longer loop tour but I concluded that a loop has too much climbing. Instead I planned a one-way tour that starts at 4200 feet elevation and ends at 200 feet elevation. It still has two difficult climbing days.
The tour begins in Susanville which is in the Great Basin east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The tour ends in Chico which is in the Sacramento Valley west of the Sierra Nevada. The overnight destinations are Susanville, Westwood, Quincy (2 nights), Belden Resort, Paradise, and Chico. Lodging is reserved for May 17-23, 2024.
The eastern part of the route travels extensively through the aftermath of the 2021 Dixie fire which was the second largest wildfire in California history and the first wildfire to cross the crest of the Sierra Nevada. It burned nearly 1 million acres and the small town of Greenville.
The pointy detour on the western part of the route travels 17 miles through the aftermath of the 2018 Camp fire which was the deadliest and most financially destructive wildfire in California history, burning nearly all of the city of Paradise which had 28,000 people before the fire. Switch the map to Satellite view and zoom way in on Paradise to see that most lots have no buildings and no vegetation.
Both fires were ignited when wind-blown trees fell on power lines owned by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to liability claims from the 2018 Camp fire and a series of fires in 2017. After being found liable for $25.5 billion in damages for starting the 2017-2018 fires, I can't comprehend why PG&E didn't shut down power lines during the 2021 wind event that started the Dixie fire.
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The tour route stays in the northernmost Sierra Nevada range but has views of Mt. Lassen, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade range. The tour begins on the 25.4 mile unpaved Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail which crests the Sierra Nevada on a gentle 3% rail grade, mostly in the roadless Susan river canyon.
The middle of the route goes down the North Fork Feather river in a remote canyon. I plan to hike the nature trail to Indian Falls and watch for steel Western Pacific Railroad trestles built 1906-1909. The rest day in Quincy gives me time to explore the town's gold rush era buildings. I have a reservation for a riverside soak at Woody's Feather River hot spring on the way to Belden Resort, a ghost town founded in 1905 for construction of the Western Pacific railroad.
In Chico I plan to visit the Sierra Nevada brewery tasting room for a celebratory beer or three. I have never been there even though Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA is my favorite beer.
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1 month ago
1 month ago
The tour ends with a morning out and back trail excursion 10 miles up the canyon of Big Chico creek from the University to Upper Bidwell Park. After lunch I'll rent a U-Haul 10 foot box truck and drive 105 miles to my parked car in Susanville.
This tour is 3 years after the Dixie fire and 6 years after the Camp fire. I won't see smoke or fresh black ash, but it will be my first time to deliberately travel through the aftermath of large wildfires. I look forward to seeing the varying degrees of destruction and renewal in the natural landscape and in human communities.
By distance this is my shortest tour ever, but it's long enough for the wildfire theme. I hope to see an interesting combination of intact forest and burned forest with newly revealed sky and mountain views and regenerating understory. And the usual scenic variety that occurs when traveling from forested mountains above 5000 feet elevation to deserts below 1000 feet elevation.
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