Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 16:36:25 -0700
Reply-To: Nicholas Wilson <nwilson@MCN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Nicholas Wilson <nwilson@MCN.ORG>
Subject: Trip report - Mendocino Nat. Forest (long)
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Just returned from spending three days roving the mountaintops of Mendocino
National Forest in my '82 Westy.
Mendo National is little known and uncrowded, the way I like it. I
probably saw no more than a dozen people in my three days, August 1-3.
Located in Northern California, it straddles the mountain range that
divides the Pacific Coast from the Sacramento River Valley. The north end
contains the Yolla Bolly - Middle Eel Wilderness Area, the southern part of
the Trinity Alps. Yolla Bolly comes from Wintun Indian language meaning
snow-capped high peaks.
The south end is at Clear Lake, east of Ukiah. It's accessible from the
Sacramento Valley, I-5 side to the east, or from the Hwy. 101 corridor
about 12 mi. north of Willits. From 101 the road leads to Covelo, named
after a town in Switzerland, and then to Mendocino Pass at about 5000 ft.
elevation.
The Westy performed great except for poor gas milage driving around steep
dirt and rock roads, mostly in second gear at 15-30 mph. Haven't
calculated mileage yet, but it was about 12 mpg. When I topped up the tank
prior to entering the forest I got 17.25 mpg for the highway portion of the
trip, which included climbing from sea level over two 2000 ft. ridges to
the last gas station, at Covelo, 1500 ft.
While the lower elevations at Willits and Covelo were sweltering in
100-plus temperatures, all was cool at the 5000 to 7600 foot elevations I
was driving at. The 2.0L air-cooled engine runs at a lower compression
ratio than the wasserboxers, and that means lower fuel efficiency and lower
power for the same displacement. The high elevation cuts way into the
available power and fuel efficiency due to the low atmospheric pressure.
It's a good idea to carry a spare, new air filter when traveling on
extremely dusty roads. A partly clogged filter cuts into power by
restricting intake air. I pulled my filter out and rapped it on flat rock
several times as clouds of dust blew out. Even with a new seal between the
engine and body lots of dust gets in.
I spent both nights parked next to the fire lookout tower at Anthony Peak
at 6954 ft. The peak has spectacular 360-degree views taking in the full
width of California, including Mt. Lassen in the east and the Pacific to
the west. Daytime temp there was in the 80s, and the minimum night temp
was about 68. FM radio reception was super; I was listening to stations
well over a hundred miles away. There is a graded dirt road right to the
top, and there's a parking area, and even a public vault privy.
The fire lookout tower was built in 1932. It was condemned in 1990 and
unstaffed for three years. It was restored to historical standards using
volunteer labor and authentic materials in 1993, and was reopened for
service that year. The tower has been staffed during fire season for many
years by a mother and some of her kids. They drive up from Covelo, 30
miles and 5500 ft. elevation gain, and stay five nights, taking Sunday off.
The fire lookout arrived Monday morning and gave me a tour. The
centerpiece of every lookout tower is an optical instrument called a
"fire-finder." The one here was made in 1932 in Seattle. It consists of a
2 ft. diameter movable metal ring with hairline sights and scales for
compass bearing and elevation. The ring rotates around a stationary center
which holds a topo map of the area. A taut metal band with a mileage scale
helps locate the line of sight along the map. I enjoyed using the
fire-finder to identify the dozens of mountain peaks visible from the tower.
I spent the days driving the nearby area on graded dirt and gravel forest
roads, stopping a lot to shoot video and still photos of scenery and plant
life. Much of the area is untouched virgin pine and fir forest. The
Forest Service has numerous underused campsites in the area. Most require
no fees, and it's only $5 a night for the ones that do charge. None have
showers but some have water faucets and all have privies. They also have
picnic tables and fire rings, and the better ones have cooking grills. The
Wells Cabin campground, at 6300 ft. elevation, is within a mile of Anthony
Peak, and it has water and many level or nearly level campsites. Only two
campsites out of two dozen were occupied Saturday night, and it was empty
Monday and Tuesday.
There are several fishing lakes in the vicinity, each with campgrounds
adjacent to them. Some of the names I remember are Plaskett Lake, Howard
Lake, and Hammerhorn Lake. All are stocked with trout, and all are manmade
except for 24-acre Howard Lake, which also offers swimming and canoeing
(bring your own). I had a great cooling swim in Howard yesterday. It's at
4200 ft. elevation, so the air was warmer than up at 7000 ft. where I'd
been the two previous days. It was 90 in the shade in late afternoon, but
the humidity was around 30% and there was a 10 mph breeze. For comparison
it was 106 in Santa Rosa the same day.
My Dometic fridge ran fine on propane the whole trip. I lit the burner
before leaving home, and it's still on now. The fan ran constantly when it
was in the 90s inside the camper, and it could only keep the temp down to
the low 50s inside the box. It was down to the low 40s in the box up at
the higher, cooler elevations. The fan cycled on and off when it was in
the 80s inside the camper.
Near the south end of the Mendo National is Lake Pillsbury. It's a large
developed crowded power boating lake with fee-for-use campgrounds and boat
launching. I've never been there since I prefer solitude. It's accessible
by taking the Elk Mountain Road north from Hwy. 20 at Upper Lake.
Here are some figures for Mendo National: it's 65 miles from north to
south, 35 miles across, about 1,000,000 acres of forests, mountains and
canyons.
It snowed when I first went up there May 19 this year, and there were no
signs of spring. The oaks were still bare, there were still unmelted El
Nino winter snowbanks 13 ft. deep on both sides of the road near Black
Butte at 6900 ft. The road to Anthony Peak was still under 4 ft. of snow.
Most of the snow is gone now except for sheltered areas on north slopes
around 7000 ft. After climbing to the summit of Black Butte, 7448 ft., and
getting kind of sweaty, I enjoyed cooling off by eating a nice snowball
while looking at snowclad Mt. Shasta far to the north-northeast.
