Day 32: To Lake Almanor

August 10, 2009

Early in the morning it was 50F with clear skies. I got up at 6:30 and on the road at 7:50. First up a big hill to get out of the campground, then downhill 1 mile to the intersection of Highways 70 and 89.

Highway 89 and a Western Pacific Railroad trestle.

I detoured 4 miles west on Highway 70, down the Feather river to Woody's Feather river hot spring. It's a small rural RV park with a hot spring on the premises. It's kind of unusual because there are two different hot water sources. The smaller milky pool was 98F. The larger pool was 102F, but has a rotten-egg hydrogen sulfide smell. Both pools get much warmer after the sun shines for a few hours. I soaked there for about an hour. A few steps away is a sandy beach on the river bank. It's a beautiful setting with a very user-friendly setup. It's private property but they encourage the public to go there and pay a voluntary fee of $2 per person.

Woody's Feather river hot spring. Private property, but public access is allowed with a donation of $2 per person.

After the hot spring I had to pedal 4 miles upstream to get back to Highway 89. The hot spring detour took a total of 2 hours.

Back on Highway 89 I turned north again, going up a small fork of the Feather river. The road stays close to the river most of the time.

I parked at the Indian Falls area and walked 5 minutes down a forested nature trail to the falls and swimming area. It's surprisingly popular considering how few people live in the vicinity and how little traffic goes by on highway 89.

Indian falls, a popular swimming hole accessible via a 5 minute walk on a nature trail.

The road climbs steadily from an elevation of 2900 feet at the 70/89 intersection to 3670 feet at the town of Greenville where I stopped for lunch and groceries. It's a quaint little town.

After Greenville I continued uphill to Lake Almanor. The road parallels a creek but it was seldom visible. It was just a boring uphill ride through the trees. The road has no shoulder, but traffic is light.

Climbing through a tunnel of trees again.

At Lake Almanor I stopped near the dam to take a few pictures, then continued on. There is a sizable seasonal residential community in the area. The reservoir was built in the 1920's and many of the buildings were built shortly afterwards. At 4:30 I arrived at the large Lake Almanor North (Forest Service, 4350 feet elevation) campground. It has huge trees, but highway 89 is within earshot and the lake is half a mile away. $17, with pit toilets.

Lake Almanor, a large shallow reservoir built by PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) for hydro power.

Today's high temperature was 88F. I'm steadily traveling north, but right now I'm at lower elevations. I never felt very strong today. One reason is that today was mostly uphill while the previous two days were mostly downhill.

I feel like I'm getting close to home, though. The mountains have the volcanic "Cascades look" that I see at home. The rocks are now mostly gray basalt instead of yellowish granite. And today I saw my first log truck of the tour.

This morning I rode along rivers and soaked in a hot spring. That was fun. The afternoon was just a boring uphill ride through the forest. Tomorrow will have much more uphill through the forest to Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Distance: 43.2 mi (69 km)

Climbing: 2478 ft (751 m)

Average speed: 8.8 mph (14.1 km/h)

Max speed: 34.5 mph (55 km/h)

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 1,422 miles (2,288 km)

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