Cooled down this weekend, hoping we still get a couple of weeks of boarding on Lake Oroville. Oroville is so low now, that even though the big body is open, all the forks/coves are NO SKI. So this weekend was cool, and we decided to do some exploring, which we love to do in the fall. I planned a route around our mountain to do some lake reconnaissance. We are thinking of moving closer to lake oroville, but there are a couple of other lakes close, we want to look at, either to visit in the future, or to even move to.
So I had on my list, 4 lakes. Antelope Lake, Lake Almanor, Honey Lake, and Eagle Lake. Here is a map of the area.
The drive up there through highway 70 along the feather river is amazing. Its nice now, but even more beautiful when the leaves are changing, or in the spring, when water is running everywhere. On the way to Lake Antelope we stopped and hiked to Indian Falls. Indian Falls is about 45 mins or so from my house.
We then went on to Antelope Lake, another 30 mins or so. I have heard about it, its a smaller lake, but supposed to be incredible, and secluded. And even though you can board or whatever on it, not many do. Its at about 5000 feet, and at the very EDGE of the moonlight fire that just smoked out all of northern california, and there was another fire here in july. Its a gorgeous lake, and I can't wait to come back to fish later this month, and have to bring the Tige up hear next summer. There are many sandy beaches, and even an island with pines and sandy beaches.
While I was standing on the shore, by the dam, I look up to see a large adult bald eagle fly above me, and circle for a bit. Then, the eagle landed on the beach on the island. There are 2 or 3 bald eagles on Oroville, and we see them a couple times a year. It never gets old seeing one. But I have never seen an eagle land on the ground. The island was a bit away, and even with our zoom lense, couldn't get very tight, but you can still tell its a bald eagle.
We drive to take the loop all the way around lake, and view the campgrounds. Halfway around, there is a ranger road block, and we can't go further until all the fire crews are down. Bummer. But then, we look over in the woods to our east, and Amy says, "Is that a Porcupine?". So we look, and then from behind a bush, is a black bear cub. So we want to take pictures, but want to make sure there is no mama around. We wait, there isn't one, and the cub looks confused. So Whitney went out, JUST a few feet from car, with me right behind, and we get some pics. The bear was ~10 feet away in these pictures.
Wow, we didn't expect to see a bear in its natural habitat. Not like going to yosemite or shasta and watching them tear through a cooler. It was different. We told the ranger about it, and he said he already called the right people, it seemed that the cub was separated from its mother in the fire.
So we went on to Lake Almanor and Chester, CA. Lake Almanor is a beautiful PG&E owned lake, that is fairly large, great for fishing and boarding, and such. You can live on this lake, and if we do move from Paradise/Lake Oroville, it will be here, on or just off the lake.
We were all hungry at this point, and I took the kids somewhere I had been once with just my 2 youngest and amy. And I was dying to take the whole family someday. There are some pretty cool places to eat in Chester, and this is one of the funnest. Its called the Candy Cane diner. Its a 50s diner with 5 cent bottomless drinks and bottomless fries with your meal. Mostly burgers, dogs, and sandwiches. When we were there last, they told us of the MONSTER banana split. We ordered the small last time, and it must have taken close to 1/2 gallon of ice cream to make.
I had the whole crew with me this time, and I ordered the large. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, I make no exaggeration, that it probably took somewhere between 3/4 to a full gallon of ice cream to make this beast. The whole place was watching my kids eat this thing. I told them, just go for it, we will clean up the mess later. Wanted them to have fun. Didn't think they would eat the whole thing.
The waitress said she timed them, it took 7 minutes for them to pound that thing down. GEEZ. Thomas was trying to keep up so hard, he had brain freeze after brain freeze. His head probably didn't cool down for an hour.
Well, we headed out to eagle lake, and it was getting dark, too dark to take pics, but it was even more beautiful than Almanor. Only 50 minutes from chester, and chester is on the shore of Lake Almanor. I think we are going to have to move to chester. Gotta find a way to get good broadband up there.
Anyway, thought it was gonna be kindof a boring day without the tige, but we had a great day. Can't wait to hit eagle and antelope lake.
You can see all of the images, or most of them, here:
http://homepage.mac.com/ragboy/2007-...0Lake%20Recon/
So I had on my list, 4 lakes. Antelope Lake, Lake Almanor, Honey Lake, and Eagle Lake. Here is a map of the area.
The drive up there through highway 70 along the feather river is amazing. Its nice now, but even more beautiful when the leaves are changing, or in the spring, when water is running everywhere. On the way to Lake Antelope we stopped and hiked to Indian Falls. Indian Falls is about 45 mins or so from my house.
We then went on to Antelope Lake, another 30 mins or so. I have heard about it, its a smaller lake, but supposed to be incredible, and secluded. And even though you can board or whatever on it, not many do. Its at about 5000 feet, and at the very EDGE of the moonlight fire that just smoked out all of northern california, and there was another fire here in july. Its a gorgeous lake, and I can't wait to come back to fish later this month, and have to bring the Tige up hear next summer. There are many sandy beaches, and even an island with pines and sandy beaches.
While I was standing on the shore, by the dam, I look up to see a large adult bald eagle fly above me, and circle for a bit. Then, the eagle landed on the beach on the island. There are 2 or 3 bald eagles on Oroville, and we see them a couple times a year. It never gets old seeing one. But I have never seen an eagle land on the ground. The island was a bit away, and even with our zoom lense, couldn't get very tight, but you can still tell its a bald eagle.
We drive to take the loop all the way around lake, and view the campgrounds. Halfway around, there is a ranger road block, and we can't go further until all the fire crews are down. Bummer. But then, we look over in the woods to our east, and Amy says, "Is that a Porcupine?". So we look, and then from behind a bush, is a black bear cub. So we want to take pictures, but want to make sure there is no mama around. We wait, there isn't one, and the cub looks confused. So Whitney went out, JUST a few feet from car, with me right behind, and we get some pics. The bear was ~10 feet away in these pictures.
Wow, we didn't expect to see a bear in its natural habitat. Not like going to yosemite or shasta and watching them tear through a cooler. It was different. We told the ranger about it, and he said he already called the right people, it seemed that the cub was separated from its mother in the fire.
So we went on to Lake Almanor and Chester, CA. Lake Almanor is a beautiful PG&E owned lake, that is fairly large, great for fishing and boarding, and such. You can live on this lake, and if we do move from Paradise/Lake Oroville, it will be here, on or just off the lake.
We were all hungry at this point, and I took the kids somewhere I had been once with just my 2 youngest and amy. And I was dying to take the whole family someday. There are some pretty cool places to eat in Chester, and this is one of the funnest. Its called the Candy Cane diner. Its a 50s diner with 5 cent bottomless drinks and bottomless fries with your meal. Mostly burgers, dogs, and sandwiches. When we were there last, they told us of the MONSTER banana split. We ordered the small last time, and it must have taken close to 1/2 gallon of ice cream to make.
I had the whole crew with me this time, and I ordered the large. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, I make no exaggeration, that it probably took somewhere between 3/4 to a full gallon of ice cream to make this beast. The whole place was watching my kids eat this thing. I told them, just go for it, we will clean up the mess later. Wanted them to have fun. Didn't think they would eat the whole thing.
The waitress said she timed them, it took 7 minutes for them to pound that thing down. GEEZ. Thomas was trying to keep up so hard, he had brain freeze after brain freeze. His head probably didn't cool down for an hour.
Well, we headed out to eagle lake, and it was getting dark, too dark to take pics, but it was even more beautiful than Almanor. Only 50 minutes from chester, and chester is on the shore of Lake Almanor. I think we are going to have to move to chester. Gotta find a way to get good broadband up there.
Anyway, thought it was gonna be kindof a boring day without the tige, but we had a great day. Can't wait to hit eagle and antelope lake.
You can see all of the images, or most of them, here:
http://homepage.mac.com/ragboy/2007-...0Lake%20Recon/
You guys look like one big happy family, that's awesome. 
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