Lakeside Living & Buns of Steel

We chose Washoe Lake State Park near Carson City for our next stop. At the best of times, Washoe Lake is a mere 12’ deep and during California’s drought years it was bone dry. We were happy to see water when we arrived on Friday, 5/11. We had fueled up on the way in and made our grocery run Friday evening. With the that accomplished, we settled in to enjoy our stay. 

Washoe Lake at dusk.

The area surrounding the lake is mostly marshy wetland with some sand dunes and sage brush. The lake is an important stop for migratory birds, but we got the biggest kick out of the resident quail. Whole flocks (bevies?) waddle along at breakneck speed, stop suddenly, and then take off again.  They are a hoot to watch. The area is also popular with hang gliders. It was fun to watch them launch from a nearby hill and land in a field next to the campground. 

Sand dunes near the lake.

Busy quail, always seem to be running late. :)

Approaching thunderstorms had all the hang gliders making a quick landing.

We were also surprised to learn there were wild horses in the area and had two come very close to our campsite. In fact, they hung out right on the trail back to our rig. They didn’t seem too concerned about my picture taking at first and then the stallion took exception. As he came closer, Riley decided he wasn’t having any of it and started barking, which didn’t make the stallion any happier. I decided discretion was the better part of valor and we cut through the brush to get back to camp, giving the horses a wide berth.

This gal was quite the charmer, the stallion - not so much.

Does this bird make my butt look big?

Wild horses visit the campground, Riley is keeping an eye on them!

On Saturday, Rog mountain biked 16 miles on the Ash Canyon to King Canyon Traverse trail. The trail gained over 2000’ in elevation and he had some lovely views of Washoe Lake and Carson City.

The trail goes up the hillside with views of Carson City on the right.

Washoe Lake in the distance. 

The weather was decidedly chilly and wet at Washoe, so we decided to leave a day early and head for Eagle Lake near Susanville, CA. Although it was supposed to rain there too, it was 10 degrees warmer and I’ll take what I can get. Lol. There are five National Forest campgrounds on Eagle Lake and we’d read rave reviews about the Merrill campground. The road from Susanville to the lake is 14 long miles of steep, twisty, narrow, two-lane country road. We were happy to reach the end of it, but as we approached the campground a little after noon on Sunday, 5/13, we noticed the dump station was closed. Odd. We were even more surprised, and not in a good way, to find the entrance gated with a “Closed for the Winter Season” sign. What??!!

We’d checked the National Forest website and we were sure it said it was open. We saw RV’s and men working in the campground, so I skirted the gate to find out what was up. I found the camp host who informed me the campground didn’t open until Tuesday, 5/15. In fact, all five of the campgrounds were closed until the 15^th. I must have looked pitiful, because he went over to talk to the camp boss, who gave us directions to a spot where we could park until the campground opened. We thanked him profusely and beat feet before he changed his mind. (We checked later and saw at the top of the NFS website for Eagle Lake it said the area was open, if you scrolled further down it said the campgrounds were closed until May 15^th. Oops. Our bad.)

We followed his directions and Yesssss! Ms. Serendipity does it again. Instead of having to backtrack that 14 miles of windy road, we ended up in a great spot with fantastic views of the lake for free! I guess looking pitiful has its advantages. 😊 We set up, and then hiked the trail to Osprey Overlook.

View from our patio, think we did all right here!

Pant. Pant. Are we there yet?

Osprey Overlook. 

The next day Rog decided to go check out Susanville Ranch Park which has a whole series of mountain bike trails. Riley and I decided to have a “day at the beach” or in this case, lake. We had a blast. Riley had a grand time splashing and playing in the shallows. At one point, he did a face plant in the water and came up shaking – mastiff lips and ears were going in every direction. Hilarious. 

Boulders make a great resting spot on the point.

Freshwater snail shells look like piles of pearls along the lake.

Riley loves the water.

After the face plant, it's funny faces and a crazy dog runabout.

He looks so regal when he's not being goofy.

Rog also had a great time. He rode two of the three trail sections, putting in about 13 miles. He got to ring the gong at Rocky Top. There always seems to be a lot of climbing involved when he does his mountain bike rides – another reason I love the more gradual inclines of the rails to trails! We topped off an awesome day with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla in an Orange Cream hard soda from Indian Wells Brewery. Perfect!!

Going up!

Almost there!

View from the top! Whew!

It's such a climb, those who make it to the top get to ring the gong!

Excellent end to an awesome day.

After two days in our unofficial boondock spot, we moved the three miles (shortest driving day ever!) to Merrill Campground. It really was worthy of the rave reviews. Since we were the very first campers through the gate we had our pick of sites! Merrill is huge, with 187 sites and a choice of full hookups, partial hookups, or dry camping. We opted for a spot next to the lake, it didn’t have hookups, but it did have a huge grassy area for Riley to play in. Another plus is a paved bike trail connecting several of the campgrounds and marina. The trail hadn’t been cleared of winter’s accumulated debris, so we rode over a thick layer of pine needles and dodged humungous pine cones for a very fun 12-mile ride (without any crazy climbing!).

Backed up to the lake with lots of play space for Riley.

In some places the pine needles were so thick you couldn't see the trail. 

On Wednesday morning, Rog and I took the bikes into Susanville to ride the Bizz Johnson trail – 25 miles of rail to trail goodness! Since my tushy was still complaining about yesterday’s 12 miles, we only did the first section of the trail, about 13 miles total.  I got no argument from Rog, even Mr. Buns of Steel was a little tender after riding four out of the last five days.  It’s probably been a year since I’d ridden my bike and it takes a while for my bum to get reacquainted with that seat! 😊  

Bizz Johnson Recreational Trail - You don't often get to see the "rail" and the "trail." :) 

The trail was very scenic, crisscrossing the Susan River over several bridges and going through two long, dark tunnels. We were happy to have our bike headlights (thanks Tim!). And best of all… only a 3% grade! Lol. We had beautiful blue skies and sunshine for our ride. We were off the trail by 11:00am and did a little shopping in town. While we dawdled in the bookstore, dark clouds were piling up.  We made it back to camp by 1:00pm and had time to give Riley a little playtime before the thunderstorms rolled in.

The Susan River runs near the trail.

The old railroad tunnels were really fun to ride through!

Looking out from the dark side. :)

Lots of bridges over the Susan River.

River, rocks, trees, bridges, tunnels... yep, this trail is a keeper.
Next time maybe we can do the whole 25 miles.

Back to our starting point.

Next on the agenda is a stop in Likely, CA. We stayed there in September 2015 and remember they had the biggest dang jackrabbits we’d ever seen. Seriously, we weren’t even sure what they were at first – looked like a wallaby with big ears! I’m hoping to introduce Riley to one. Lol.