A Day in the Mountains

I had the afternoon off today, so I headed up into the mountains. The weather has been ridiculously gorgeous, and I really haven't been up where I was headed in close to ten years. My parents owned a cabin up this way, nestled between the forest road and a small creek. But that has nothing to do with this post.

There's a turnoff from the main forest road that takes you to a reservoir higher up in the mountains. I've lived in this area for over 50 years (except during the 80s...), and I have never been to this place. All I knew is that there was a mountain road to this place that actually continued past and joined up with some other mountain roads that I was familiar with. Since it was a lovely day, I figure I'd take care of that.

I immediately found out why it's not really someplace to head to. It's a one-lane rock road, and very unfriendly to a regular passenger car. And steep.However, it was obvious that there had been traffic on it recently, so I forged ahead. About 3 miles up this road, there's a locked gate with a "NO TRESPASSING" sign. Just past a few trees was a monster house! With a lawn. A lawn!! It was big enough that it had to be a year-round residence, but I can't imagine how/if they get out during the winter! The pictures below don't really give a sense of how high these places are!

Anyway, just past the top of the mountain sits the Chessman Reservoir. I had no idea it was as large as it was! And I couldn't tell that there was any public access to it. I suspect not. But it was spectacularly pretty. After getting mad at myself for not bringing a camera, I pulled out the phone. It might be on its last legs, but it still doesn't do badly!


I then decided to continue on, rather than double back. Anything for more adventure! I then found out that, rather coming in from the west as I had, I should have come from the east. The roads were actually somewhat developed! Lots of logging operations going on to clear out the trees killed by pine beetles. Sad, really. Nothing terribly exciting on the rest of the trip. The trees are in the midst of changing up there (not in the valleys yet). Definitely thinking about heading back with a camera this weekend!

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Theme Alert! - Don't forget that we've got a theme coming up! It's going to be "Post-it®" HNT on October 6th. See my HNT from two weeks ago to see more details!