65.0 Unexpected

Having traversed Yosemite we unexpectedly found that our bed, cake and coffee stop was next to a lake, Mono Lake. Not being too pressurised we went to the Visitor Centre on leaving - comfy seats and aircon even though we didn't need them; it being early in the day. Mono Lake has no outlet and is fed by streams and springs. There is a stalacmite type reaction going on between the spring water bubbling up at the bottom of the lake and the saline lake water. There is also a drawdown issue with the City of Los Angeles Water Board taking water. This has led to a drop in the level of the water thus exposing growths of stalacmite material, some of them then having been sculpted by the wind.

The drop in water level significantly increased the salinity of the lake and every year it has trillions of brine shrimp which, along with a special salt loving fly attracts millions of migrating sea birds. And it was just outside our motel.

Having done National Parks we now do lakes a bit as we headed on from Mono Lake to Lake Tahoe which, in winter, is apparently a famous ski resort. Hard to imagine snow here at present. Lake Tahoe was, unexpectedly to us, block to block motels and hotels. We were a couple of blocks from the beach which was fenced off (photos through the grille) and you had to pay 10$ to walk on the beach. Each. Not for us. We were glad not to be staying here more than the overnight stop. If it is expensive now, well in winter...

We did have a nice ride around the lake as we headed for Lassen Volcanic National Park. Not somewhere we had heard of before, but we saw it on the map and as it is free entrance for us... Note however that the aircon in the film auditorium could have been better. Mount Lassen had been quite violent just over a 100yrs ago and there were some nice contemporary photos as well as a film taken at the time. At the start of the park there were a number of sulphur smelling steam jets adjacent to the road. We are not sure whether there is a lake within the crater but there was a lovely lake on the road near the top of Mount Lassen. And the remains of snow even though it was so hot. All very unexpected.

We then rode to the sleepy town of Burney which really is Nowheresville. Despite it being Nowheresville, it has a very wide road going through it which nonetheless you can cross at ease because there is no traffic. We did meet a couple of guys riding Harley Electraglides across Northern California at the motel; ours at home is a 2009 model, theirs were a 1970's model and a 1951 model. And they thought we were adventurous! We benefited from Burney being a sleepy town by taking a day off, having a bottle of wine, enjoying roast chicken and potato salad from Safeway on a patch of grass under a tree in the motel's parking lot - and sleeping!