We woke up to a beautiful morning at Juanita Lake, packed up, and headed out. We took a brief drive to the Butte Valley Grasslands. This land parcel was reverted to the government in the '40s when drought drove the homesteaders out.
We continued on 161 east until it intersected on 139 south. This area is also part of the Klamath National Forest and we stopped at several places to look at birds. We hit 299 and headed east again to hit Alturas and get gas. For some reason, I thought there were plenty of campgrounds between Alturas and Cedarville. We found one, and it wasn't very scenic or nice. After Cedarville, we drove south on Surprise Valley Road to try and camp in the Warner Mountains off county road 40. Although scenic, the two spots were full so we headed back to Alturas to go south on 395.
We turned on the road at the town of Likely, and headed to Mill Creek Falls campground. We'd gotten a late start from beautiful Juanita Lake and had dawdled along the way looking at the high volcanic plateau scenery so it was dark when we pulled into camp. We were also tired, hungry, and cold. We tried to start a fire but all of the firewood was wet, the matches were wet, and the lighter was broken so we gave up. We had set up the rain shelter, because it was sprinkling, and that took a bit longer too. Eventually, we just turned in for the night to listen to the intermittent rain.
As it turned out, this was a comfortable place for me to sleep in the tent. The ground was softer and less lumpy than at the other sites. Donna froze in the back of the SUV and her sleeping mat wasn't holding air so she was not very comfortable.
I woke up at the crack of dawn and tried to start a morning fire. The same impediments existed as last night and I soon gave up. With no fire, and still cold and hungry, we packed up in a hurry just as the sun was starting to light the camp.
We headed on the trail to Mills Creek Falls and the walk before breakfast and coffee was well worth it. Although the rain and cold were not making us comfortable, it was certainly making all the water features much prettier. We headed into Likely to the lone diner to have coffee and breakfast. I had my usual pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The bacon was good but the pancakes were not good. The diner was filled with kitchen antiques and we both thought of Malene with her collection.
We drove back up to the Jess Valley and to the Blue Lake campground. Blue Lake was nice enough and we hiked along the shoreline for a bit before getting back in the car.
Commando only gives this part of the trip 3 paws up. He got two small hikes and had to spend a lot of time on the leash or in the car.
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