A Pashnit Epic Adventure - Riding Northern California

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Alan building his '04 BMW R1100S into the shot

Photo by Alan

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In Quincy, a tiny town that is pretty much the only town of size for some distance, we hunted for a place to pick up lunch, and air conditioning. This weekend would prove to be a wee bit warm, but very doable as long as we were moving.

The group in Quincy


Past the Oroville-Quincy Highway, past the Feather River Canyon and it was off to Lake Almanor, a decent sized body of water (man-made of course) that's become somewhat of a resort area.

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Time to head up to Mount Lassen



Mount Lassen, a slightly active Volcano in a past life overlooks the town and we headed on over.

Mt. Lassen began erupting in 1914 (and continued into 1915) with a blast that closely resembled that of the Mt Saint Helens eruption in 1980. Photos of the Lassen eruption show a plume of ash 7 miles into the sky. In 1916, it became a national park encompassing 106,000 acres. The eruption of Lassen devastated a vast area of the mountainside. This area is appropriately named the Devastated Area just north of Dersch Meadows.

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Just after the entrance, the smell of sulfur fills the air and steam continues to rise from thermal vents. Adjacent to that are some bubbling mud pots, which don't do a whole lot. It's literally just a pot of mud, with bubbles coming up. Ah, we are so easily entertained.

Also of note was the parking lot where you could settle in for a spell - and hike to the top of the mountain. Considering the road itself summits at 8571 ft above sea level- the hike probably entails a pretty good view.

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One of the signs reads:

"Using your imagination, you can connect the dots between the surrounding peaks of Brokeoff Mountain, Mount Conard, and Mount Diller, recreating the outline of an extinct composite volcano named Brokeoff Volcano, more commonly known as Mounta Tehama. It is worth trying to imagine, if only to comprehend its enormous sized. The ancient volcano, active 600,000 to 4000,000 years ago, measured 11 miles across and towered to 11,500 feet - 1,000 feet taller than Lassen Peak."

"Sulphur Works rest near the volcano's core. Although the volcano's fire is long extinguished, the hydrothermal system here at Sulphur Works is connected to the same magma system- a network of magma pockets- that fed the extinct volcano."

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Haroldo



The Bikes

Photo by Jeff

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The Money Shot


Money Shot #2

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Ah the view from up at an elevation like this!!! For example- here's the view as you look forward.
Doesn't look like much? See below to see the view that's really there!!



Now turn your head to the right...

Scroll right --> --->

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Another example. Here's Jeff in complete & utter awe.


Now scroll the Panoramic---->

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Jeff's Aprilia Tuono

Photo by Jeff


The tour was no doubt turning out to be the Ride of a Thousand Views. Mt Lassen certainly has the great views covered and as you look southward, especially on a clear day, it's as far as the eye can see. It's all wide open above the tree line, and still plenty of snow on the ground.

The road snakes its way to the summit, a long way down at times, and if you have a panoramic feature on your camera, or stitch capability with your software, this is definitely the place to try it out!



The road itself is a mere 35mph within the park, but there are so many great views, the thing on your mind will be a hurried pace. It is $10 to get in, but the gal only charged us $5 for being on motorcycles.

Just as it should be!