Going Downhill Fast

We started the day in Alturas, California.  Way up in the northeast corner of the state.  We got off to an early start because the weather reports all forecast I-5 in the Redding area to spend most of the day at 110 degrees.  Isn't that how we started this trip and isn't it how we got into so much trouble with the bike?

With much trepidation, we set out having decided to not waste the opportunity to sight-see along the way.  Lassen National Forest and Lassen Volcanic National Park are not too far from a straight shot in the direction we will be heading.

Highway-299 was our initial route.  This is fun because it goes all the way to the coast within a few miles of where I was born.  In my youth, I traveled the western end of this highway and now I had the chance to ride the eastern end.  Some day I hope to cover the middle part just for completeness.  This was 75 miles of sage brush, some farm land, and little else.  Then we turned south on Highway-89 to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park through the Lassen National Forest.  Almost immediately, this was beautiful.  lush forests of evergreens except where they were clear cut.  As we got nearer the park there were scars of a great forest fire a few years ago.  Everywhere around and getting thicker as we got closer were great and small volcanic rocks which covered the area in the major eruption of 1907.

Lassen Volcanic NP is nice, but set up mostly for camping.  There was a very small visitor center and not cafeteria.  There was a nice stream and two beautiful lakes.  Certainly worth a visit.

The park is at elevation 5,500 feet and higher.  Leaving there, we encountered some grades of up to 10%.  Unusual for a highway.  We lost altitude very fast.  Corning is about 300 feet elevation.  From the time we left California more than three and a half weeks ago, we had hardly been below 4,000 feet, often above 5,000 and reaching 8,500.  Now we were coming back to earth.

We got to I-5 and it was stifling.  Approaching 110 degrees as the weathermen had promised.  I went really slow down the freeway trying not to repeat the calamity of four weeks ago.