by Dennis Engblom

The first edition of the Lassen Zodiac happened in spite of a few hurdles. The original ride leaders, Ray McAfee and Dick Schultz, were forced to abandon due to personal obligations. I stumbled into the substitute leader position with no idea of what to expect. But, there was a whole lot of work already done by the original leaders. My initial task was to determine who had signed up and still wanted to go.

The cast of characters for the first edition of the Lassen Zodiac were: Dennis Engblom (The substitute ride leader), John Hockenbury, Paul Gunkel, Mike Dodson and Jeannie Ennis all staying at the Chester Manor. Staying directly across the street in an upstairs, three-bedroom apartment, were Glenn Moore, Jack Hartman, Rich Zeisler and Jerry Adams. Camping at the North Shore Campground (about 3 miles east of Chester) were Jennie Brown and Larry Merlo.

Chester is situated on the northwest edge of Lake Almanor and southeast of Mt. Lassen. It is 4500 feet above sea level. The surrounding woods are mostly pine being on the east side of the Cascades mountain range. Mt. Lassen is the southern most peak in the Cascades mountain range. The weather during this third week of September couldn’t have been nicer. Where we rode the sun shone. Toward the end of Wednesday’s ride clouds were forming over the eastern peaks, and did the same on Thursday. Friday I was greeted with clouds over the western peaks, but more about those clouds later.

Ray had planned five rides for the zodiac. The first ride scheduled for Monday afternoon was a 30 miler from Chester to Westwood and back. John and I were late to the start so we were chasing the others, or so we thought. The ride proceeded out of Chester going north and east on Highway 36. Nice wide shoulder across the North end levee then up the hill to a right turn onto County Road A13. Pelicans and ducks observed us as we pedaled by the lake. The gradient on the climb and most all the climbs for the week were quite doable, 6% to 7%, as an average. A13 had nice shoulder and is a descent going up and down, but mostly down (The last descent can be a fast one) to A147. At this point we turned right and began the moderate climb to Westwood. Traffic was OK but A147 didn’t always have a shoulder until we got to the junction with A21. A21 had minimal traffic and a decent shoulder all the way into quiet Westwood. We passed through Westwood, then made a left onto Highway 36 to begin our return to Chester. This road had faster moving traffic, but not a lot of traffic, combined with not much shoulder. When we reached the A13 junction the nice wide shoulder returned plus there was a long fast descent to Chester brightening John’s outlook considerably. At the end of our ride we finally found the others, and learned they didn’t do the ride to Westwood. They had opted to ride toward Drakesbad. My bike computer said we rode 30.5 miles and had climbed 1100 feet during the ride. John and I were the only participants to experience this ride, so we have no other experiences to blend with ours for a recommendation regarding next years Lassen Zodiac. Is this a keeper? Tune in next year.

Tuesday, September 20, was the ride around Lake Almanor, which is 33.5 miles. This ride was modified from the ride Ray originally designed. Last year’s loaded tour from McCloud to Sacramento didn’t speak highly of this section nor did Jack who has participated in several area rides due to minimal shoulder and heavy log truck traffic. The morning was cool (Mid 40’s) when we left at 10 AM going north and east following the same route John and I did the afternoon before but at the junction of A13 and A147 we turned right going south. A147 was a quiet road with minimal shoulder. A log truck did come up behind us and slowed down to our speed waiting for an appropriate time to go around. NOT the normal experience from my perspective. A147 ends at Highway 89 on the southeast corner of the lake. Heading west on 89 we enjoyed nice wide shoulder. Looking down to our right into the forest at the lake’s edge I could see a road and what looked to be a bike path (Could it be??) Paul and Mike dropped off to explore it. The rest of us rode on to Prattville Road, which would take us down to the lake and a couple of stores. At the turn off John and Jeannie joined me in an extended exploratory of Butt Lake/Prattville Road. We rode south to the lake. On this road we experienced minimal traffic and lots of quiet. There was a screaming fast descent to the lake. The discussion once we got to the lake was the screaming slow ascent awaiting us when we would return. Butt Lake has several campgrounds and there were campers there but it was still really quiet. The ascent was a gut buster. I used my 28 X 34 at times (OK, a lot). Jeannie said when she looked at her computer when it first got steep it said 13%, then the climb got harder and she didn’t look at her computer anymore. Jeannie also said it didn’t seem like a long climb meaning it was over pretty quickly (620 feet of elevation gain) and one does work their tail off to get up it. I concurred. John just shook his head at us. On our return, we went into Prattville as the others had done. Jeannie and I doubled back on the frontage road to see where we could have accessed the frontage road or the bike path from 89 earlier than Prattville Road. We turned back after a few miles as John did not join us. Back in Prattville, there was a coffee shop serving espresso. The woods surrounding the road near the lake’s edge kept the temperature quite cool, and a cup of hot coffee was enticing. Unfortunately this coffee shop was closed on Tuesdays. We continued west on Prattville Road until we found a store open in the village of Lake Almanor. There was a nice deck so we sunned ourselves and had a snack. We returned to 89 and headed back to Chester. Nice wide shoulder all the way to Chester. John and I ended our ride day with 43.5 miles but Jeannie extended her day by doing the ride out to Drakesbad and back. Next year my recommendation is to take Seneca Road, which takes off very near the A147/89 junction and connects up with Butt Lake/Prattville Road for an extended ride. I don’t know at this point how many miles this loop will add or whether it is paved all the way. I am hoping it is. Others electing to do a short ride only can get onto the bike path or the frontage road and ride into Prattville and the village of Lake Almanor.

Wednesday, September 21, ride to Mt. Lassen Summit, the week’s penultimate ride. This day’s ride had a 9 AM start time. The temperature was a balmy 45 degrees when we left. John forgot his camera and went back when we were about a half-mile down the road. Consequently, we were quite a ways behind the others. John and I had discussed our concerns about traffic and no shoulder on Highway 36/89. To my surprise traffic wasn’t much of an issue. Construction on the outskirts of Chester kept the traffic held back for quite awhile for one advantage. Shoulder width varied on 36/89 during our time riding it. It seemed to me trucks only came up on us when there was adequate shoulder. John and I caught up with Jerry. The three of us stopped at Child’s Meadow about 20 miles into the trip. This was the only store/restaurant we were sure was open on the whole ride other than Chester. Ray said there was a store or snack bar at the summit but we were skeptical. Essentially one climbs to Mt. Lassen for almost 38 miles then descends for 38 miles. It isn’t all up on the way though. We actually lost 500 feet about 10 – 15 miles out of Chester. I should add that one climbs for 38 miles if you do the short ride. The long ride includes riding road 172 for an extra 11 miles one way with an elevation gain of 1500 feet before joining back up with the short route. Road 172 takes off from 36/89 a couple miles west of Child’s Meadow. Jeannie was the only one to ride 172 and she did it going to and coming back for a total of 92 miles. The rest of us did the short ride of 76 miles. The gradient is very kind. Highway 89 goes through Lassen National Park. Traffic is minimal as this is one of the least visited national parks in California. When Lassen blew up back at the turn of the century, it created a very big caldera. The sulphur works smell real sulphury and make interesting gurgling noise s as you ride by. The climb to the summit is very exposed and I was glad it was a very mild day. When I saw the 7000 foot elevation sign I may have experienced some sort of psychological effect because shortly afterward I believed I was experiencing shortness of breath and choose to shift down into my granny gear. I rode in a 28 x 28 to the top. At one point the road does a series of switchbacks then straightens out. Jerry pointed out Jenny and Larry above us riding their tandem on the long straight stretch. The four of us reached the summit about the same time. Jerry pulled out his camera and photo-documented our achieving the day’s goal, 8,514 feet above sea level. We rolled down the hill about 50 yards to the snack bar/store located in the parking lot of the main hiking trail to the summit of Mt. Lassen. Jerry and I split a roast beef sandwich he had purchased back in Child’s Meadow and shared my oatmeal raisin cookies also purchased in Child’s Meadow. We were waiting for John who never showed. Turned out he stopped at Lake Helen about 10 minutes ride time from the summit then turned back before we left the parking lot. An interesting observation was the number of cars and busses parked at the trailhead, several dozen or more. You could look up and see the little ant-like forms high on the ridge leading them up to the mountaintop. A lot of kids were making this trip. Maybe the park is becoming more popular. We didn’t hike to the mountaintop. We got back on our bikes and began the descent to Chester. 76 miles and over 5,000 feet of elevation gain. Jeannie got 6500 feet of elevation gain doing 172. This ride is a jewel and we keep jewels, right?

Thursday, September 22, was the ride to Lake Antelope from Greenville. This ride was originally supposed to start in Taylorsville but people wanted more miles than the 50 miles starting in Taylorsville would provide. Jack said there was a nice restaurant/coffee shop in Greenville. Some of us had breakfast there then started the ride about 9:30 AM. We rode out of Greenville on North Valley Road. Very quiet road with lovely views of the valley and surrounding peaks covered with pine and to my surprise fir trees. Jack had purchased a copy of The Bee and the Scene section had an article about the changing of the colors up in the mountains. The article caused me to think about the color changes I had witnessed around Chester. I hadn’t noticed any. As we rode on North Valley Road I looked at the mountainsides, and saw primarily only dark green. The color change was not happening to any great degree yet, curious and curiouser. Early discussion had designated a stop in Genesee at a nice deli coffee shop. It was closed. This was at approximately 19 miles into the ride. John and I were feeling the effort of yesterday’s climb and made a pact to turn around at 20 miles out. We did and the others disappeared down the road. Glenn and Jack rode around Antelope Lake, Jenny and Larry, Paul, Mike and Jeannie all turned around once they reached the lake. Mike and Jeannie did the search for the buffalo loop on the way back. Mike was unsure whether they found the buffalo or not. Paul rode back and forth on North Valley trying to hook up with Jeannie and Mike. John and I did the search for the buffalo on our way back also but we lost interest after seeing herds and herds of Black Angus. This ride is a keeper. If you do Glenn and Jack’s ride you get 91 miles. Doing Mike and Jeannie’s ride is an 82-mile effort. Riding straight out and back, as Jenny and Larry did, will result in 68 miles, maybe more. Elevation gain is around 2000 feet.

Friday, September 23, Dennis does Drakesbad. This was a solo effort as everyone else opted to leave either after Thursday’s ride or early Friday. The ride to Drakesbad was supposed to be the week’s final ride and was billed as a breakfast ride, but two reasons kept me from having breakfast in Drakesbad. One, the pavement ends 2.4 miles from the Inn; and two, they don’t serve breakfast according to a brochure found in the motel room. I had coffee at the Three Beans coffee shop then left on the ride at 7:45 AM. I left early because we had to get our cars out of the motel parking lot this day by 7 AM, so they could pave it and to make it back to the room for a shower before check out time. It felt cold on this day. I bundled up for the ride, wool socks over Wheelmen socks, leg warmers, t-shirt under Wheelmen jersey, arm warmers and the Wheelmen wind breaker jacket on top. I then decided to look at my bike computer’s temperature gauge to see how cold it really was. I leaned over and plucked my computer out of my helmet, which was lying on the passenger seat in my pickup. “Oh its only 54 degrees,” I says to myself. “I don’t need my full finger glove inserts.” “Gee it sure feels colder than 54.” Up the road I go, and my finger tips get colder and colder. I refuse to turn around and go get my glove inserts. At 9.1 miles out and after an hour and a quarter of riding I check my temperature gauge again, 37 degrees. “Yeah, it feels cold out side because it is cold, dumb a__!!” At pavement end, I stopped to record mileage. After fumbling around with numb fingers I finished writing and began the descent. I had climbed about 1000 feet in 13.5 miles. I had started in sunshine, but now there was a cloud cover. “What is going on with the weather,” I wonder? Interestingly my fingertips warmed and for the rest of the ride I am comfortable. The Drakesbad ride actually has three legs to it offering various ride length options. The middle leg is toward Drakesbad (Remember you don’t actually get to Drakesbad); the left leg is to Dominguez Springs. This is only a 2.5-mile long finger. The springs though are rather fascinating. A pool of water (Helped along by a little human intervention) forms at the base of a rock face then flows off under the road in a stream headed to Lake Almanor. My original intention was to ride the third leg, the right leg, on the way back; but I felt a couple raindrops and hunger, so cancelled that plan. The right leg is a road to Juniper Lake. The pavement ends about six and a half miles from the Warner Valley/Drakesbad road. Elevation gain for the two fingers I did ride was over 1100 feet. Riding the two fingers resulted in 32 miles for me. By my calculations depending on one’s mood Drakesbad’s three legs offer several ride options between 14 miles and 44 miles long. I pulled out of Chester at 11 AM and it was raining. I stopped in Greenville for brunch and when I left there it was just beginning to rain. The weather gods smiled on us this week.

Overall impressions for this zodiac are: let’s do it again, and again, and again. We came up with several ride alternatives, some are noted above. A ride option not mentioned above is riding east out of Chester to a road called 10 or maybe A10 not accessed directly from 36. Glenn and Jack did ride this route. It has approximately 1000 feet of elevation gain. Glenn wants to bring his mountain bike next time to ride the many fire road options in the area. He would like others to join him. The local bike shop, Bodfish, has documented many of these fire road rides in several books.

I am feeling enthusiastic enough to volunteer to be next year’s ride leader. John Hockenbury said he would be my co-ride leader. The negatives for this Zodiac had to do with the construction going on at Chester Manor. We are considering moving to a location off the main road offering rooms with kitchenettes and a wide expanse of lawn with a couple of picnic tables. There are a few issues to be resolved and we do have a year or less to resolve them.

Thanks for listening.

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