Day 17: Sierras–Swimming and a drive
Everyone agrees we need to go swimming at the local hole. Joel laughs and says “Martha, do you forgive me yet for last time?” We visited the Dudes in Breck 12 years ago and did a casual afternoon hike with them to camp out in a cool place. The hike was a solid max 4-hour death march straight up a mountain that about killed Martha. I had to carry both our packs. We brought no food since it was such a light jaunt for the Dudes and Joel’s ex. We were eyepopping famished and trashed by the top. Still, it was cool to dive off the glacier into the lake with all those huge trout. We’d asked for a light hike. It’s been a joke ever since. So what kind of deadly extremism were we in for this time? The next day we packed some goodies and set off. The narrow, rocky drive in nearly wrecked the van, to start. The descent of the scree-field wasn’t too bad if you didn’t fall. The river did look lovely. I thought maybe the nude German fashion model girl who was at the pool area with us might qualify as intimidating to M, but she was friendly. The Yuba river was gorgeous and we cavorted and swam. But there were rapids exiting the pool and only big round boulders to creep around on. One slip by a child and we’d have death. Gulp. We watched them like hawks. They’re cautious kids but Lucy hadn’t had a nap and was being a bit reckless. Afterward we heard that people drown every week in the Yuba and similar area rivers. So she did get her chance to about faint when it later sunk in fully what we’d been doing.
After that, we had to take off. We were all bummin’ at the short visit, but it was time to head deeper into the hills to see Uncle Tim.
I get in an extra-twisty hilly bikeride then shower up and we’re off. We elect to go the mountain backroads. We spend hours getting nowhere besides carsick.
Downieville is a great looking place that we pass through. It’s along a river that’s full of small-time free-booter gold-mining vacuum dredge-rafts. Interesting scene. There must still be claims being staked. The town is totally preserved with a mainstreet of two-story buildings with roofed balconies on each story and active bars, restaurants, inns, shops and civic functions in all of them. I’d stop there a weekend anytime.
We finally bust out of the mountains onto the rangeland valley in the evening and take the supposedly less scenic highway to Tim’s place in Susanville.
I decide that I prefer Big Sky valley and rangeland driving to mountain driving. It’s far better scenery to me as well. We start making time and finally pull in in the late evening.
