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Pedaled 248 miles including the 15 mile Almeda fire excursion in Oregon.
May 16-23, 2024

By distance this was my shortest tour ever, but it's long enough for the wildfire theme. I saw an interesting combination of intact forest and burned forest with newly revealed sky and mountain views. Mostly with a regenerating understory, but sometimes with bare soil years after the fire. I also enjoyed the usual scenic variety that occurs when traveling from forested mountains above 5000 feet elevation to semi-arid valleys below 500 feet elevation.

Old bridges made this route more interesting. I enjoyed seeing the railroad trestles and the large number of railroad and highway truss bridges. The Feather River highway (CA 70) is one of the best places to see old trestles and truss bridges, plus three tunnels. The Bizz Johnson trail also has a tall trestle and two tunnels.

Scenic or Ugly?

I think the route is scenic even though much of it burned recently. Impressive mountains and deep river canyons are still there. In many places, the fires opened up panoramic views of surrounding mountains that were previously obscured. The landscape is seldom burned all the way down to the river. There is usually a green unburned corridor along the river. The rare fully incinerated crown fire areas were sad to see because recovery is so slow. But the patchwork of burned and unburned areas started to seem normal by the time the tour ended. I think it's a good thing that the Sierra Nevada landscape is reverting to the historic norm after a century of fire suppression.

Theme

The wildfire theme exceeded my expectations. The scale of devastation was even larger than I imagined. I had planned encounters with the 2020 Almeda, 2021 Dixie, and 2018 Camp fires. I didn't plan to encounter the 2009 Goat fire west of Susanville which appeared to be the hottest of all. Still mostly barren 15 years later.

I wasn't sure what recovery would look like in Paradise 5 1/2 years after the fire. I learned that merely removing all the debris and dead trees can be a herculean task towards recovery. Rebuilding has been slow.

The 15 mile bike ride through the Almeda fire in Oregon was outside the theme of Sierra Nevada wildfires because it isn't in the Sierra Nevada. But it gave me excellent before and after comparisons that are worthy of the Destruction and Renewal theme.

The Season

I hit the sweet spot with the weather. High temperatures ranged from 72F to 86F. No rain. Not very windy. 

The top of the Bizz Johnson trail was not in the sweet spot. I pedaled the trail a week before the winter's fallen trees were removed. Later would have been better, with a firmer surface and no fallen trees.

Belden Resort was a disappointment partly because I was there before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. They were just opening up. Traveling in late May added more problems than expected.

Changing plans

In the middle of the tour I discovered that my planned backcountry route from Westwood to Quincy is a private logging road. I had to detour on the main roads through Lake Almanor, which is actually a more scenic route.

At the end of the tour I had in mind to bike all the way up to Lovejoy falls in the canyon of Chico creek. But that trail was steep technical singletrack unsuitable for a loaded recumbent bike.

At the end of the tour I was notified that my reserved U Haul truck is NOT at the convenient location I reserved. Instead I had to pedal to the far north edge of Chico to pick up the truck. The extra 6 flat miles was no big deal after aborting the climb to Lovejoy Falls.

Problems

I lost my swimsuit at Belden Resort. It fell off a 2nd floor railing into an inaccessible storage area. It was old and in need of replacing. Nothing else was lost or broken.

No bike issues at all. No flat tires, even though I started with an old set of Marathon Racer tires that I retired after the tour. I didn't pump the tires or lube the chain during the tour.

The new panniers functioned well. The narrower setup made it easier to roll the bike through a doorway or carry the bike up stairs. No adjustment problems at the beginning of the tour. But I concluded that the top compartments are more in the way than useful. I will probably remove them.

Day 1 featured swarming flies, fallen trees, and a squishy trail all at the same time. But they were mere challenges, not problems.

Construction was my friend

CA 70 had 5 segments of road construction with 1-way traffic and sometimes long delays. The delays were a minor problem but mainly a benefit for me. Construction delays were so long and unpredictable that nearly all motorists used alternate routes. The only traffic was construction trucks. I had long periods with no traffic at all.

Epic hike on the way home

While driving to Susanville it occurred to me that the driving route takes me near Castle Crags State Park which was on my "bucket list" to visit. The trailhead is only 14 miles off the driving route. The unplanned Castle Crags hike was a great way to end the tour.

Balance

In 9 days I drove my car 730 miles and a U Haul truck 110 miles in order to pedal a mere 248 miles. I'm not exactly proud that I drove more than 3 times farther than I pedaled. But nowadays it's the norm for tours far from home. At least my car got 46 miles per gallon.

The U Haul one way truck rental cost more than $2 per mile, plus $35 for fuel. Double the price per mile compared to the U Haul trucks I rented last year from Jackson, Wyoming to Twin Falls, Idaho and from College Place, Washington to La Grande, Oregon. Special California prices, I suppose.