Lake Van Norden walk

After viewing the progress Jodi is making with some work on her cabin Commando and I walked around Lake Van Norden. This is a beautiful alpine meadow and is part of the Yuba, Truckee, and American River watersheds. There is a partially dismantled dam that has created the lake...don't know why it hasn't been fully removed.

I followed a random use trail for a while, then walked along the edge of the lake, then cut across the main stream (getting my feet wet), then followed a very straight trail back to the car.

Saw some small black frogs and a hawk. Commando really enjoyed the open space and ran and ran and ran.

Great people I met today

The hound and I drove up to Loyalton to look at some houses and hike. It's a pretty area and would make a great weekend place.

The woman who owns the Blue Moon Bakery in Loyalton (0n 49) was incredibly charming. They were transporting a bunch of cakes for a wedding (to be assembled at the wedding) and she was very friendly and pleasant.

Stopped at Machado's fruit stand (80 and Bowman) and bought an apple pie and some cherry preserves. I usually stop at Ikeda's but thought I'd give Machado's a try. They are much smaller but have some interesting produce...and they also sell fresh apple pies.

The guy working the pie counter was very charming and had the most engaging and friendly smile...he has a great sense of humor!

So, if you're ever traveling in either Auburn or Loyalton...stop in and bask in the friendliness.

Meadows Lake

Drove up 80 to to Truckee, then took 89 north, then took the Henness Pass Road to Meadows Lake road.

It's a pretty lake with some great camping spots. They are spaces far apart and most of them border directly on the lake. There were only a few spots occupied.

I put on my water sandals and Commando and I walked along the shoreline from camp spot 1 to the boat ramp and back. Then we drove over to an open area that turned out to be the remains of the town of Summit City According to the various signs, Summit Cityhad a brief stint during the Gold Rush and then was abandoned when they couldn't get gold out of the "stubborn ore."

There wasn't much left of the town. I was surprised. I expected some old tumbledown shacks. Perhaps the remains of a rock wall or sidewalk, but there really wasn't much there.

My main goal was to see if I could get close to Old Man Mountain so we headed to the dam area. I could catch glimpses of the mountain from campsite 1, but from the town site I could only see a volcanic crag (Hartley Butte). I decided to head to this volcanic high spot to see what I could see. On the way up I passed some other hikers who told me where to locate some petroglyphs.

Hartley Butte had some great views of Castle Crags, Fordyce Lake and the back side of Old Man Mountain so it was worth the scramble up to its shoulders.

I navigated down and did some cross-country scrambling to see the petroglyphs. There were quite interesting. I shot a few pictures with my cell phone. It seems as if many had been removed (based on the petroglyph sized chips on the granite. There seemed to also be some fake petroglyphs (on a wall not the floor, on bare granite not black discolored granite, and of different shapes). There was also some graffiti (1902?) and some intials that could have been from the settlers.

Perhaps someone needs to put up some signs for the First Nations people who were here before Summit City?

We drove back stopping in a few places for some short strolls.

Nice trip and I'll definitely have to come back before the snow flys.