56. The Secluded Sierra

With just 3 traffic lights in the entire county, wild open spaces, charming small towns, mountain lakes for swimming, paddling, boating (wait there's more!), shorelines featuring beaches and campgrounds, and a national park that's a still a secret gem, Plumas County in the far northern Sierra is poised for its close up. In this episode, Brad and Holly talk about their recent trip to the Plumas County, the lakes they visited, hikes and paddles and bike rides to do in the area, towns to stay in, places to eat, drink, shop, and spend the night... and visiting "California's Yellowstone"—Bumpass Hell and other spectacular sites at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Plus, they talk to Karen Kleven, a longtime Plumas County local, adventurer, and advocate for the Feather River Land Trust.

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Welcome to the Weekend Tripper podcast.Take it Outside. I'm Brad Day,
I'm Holly Kulak, and I haveto compliment you on the shirt you're wearing
right now. Holly, it's verycool. Why don't you tell us what
it says? It says Last andVolcanic National Park. Oh yeah. Adding
to my obsession with buying T shirtsat every national park, gave visit Horst

(00:39):
Day Park or basically any store youlove a trinket and a good T shirt.
Yeah, all the places you go. Well, and what I did?
You know, I've collected so manyT shirts over like a number of
years of traveling, and then Ialways wear them for a while, and
then I was like, why doesit have too many? Like I don't
wear them anymore. I just havea thing about T shirts. I don't

(01:02):
know what it is. So Ihad a quilt made by a quilt maker
using the T shirts. Oh that'scool. Yeah, So I have this
awesome, huge quilt and it's gotyou know, all these T shirts from
national parks, from national parks orjust yeah, like I don't know anywhere
I've gone. Basically, I justlike T shirts and yeah it names them
all. So like state parks orwhatever. I think it's a lot of

(01:25):
national parks. Well that's a reallycool one. And we have a really
cool podcast on tap for you today. It's going to be all about a
little destination in the northern Sierra calledPlumas County, and we were up there
a couple of weeks ago exploring allover Plumas County and we have a great
interview actually with Karen Cleven who isShe's on the Feather River Land Trust as

(01:51):
well as with the Tourism Association upthere. So a great conversation with Karen
about all things Plumas County and adventuresto be had up there. But before
we jump into that, I knowthere are some hot topic stuff that you
wanted to discuss, Holly in theworld of travel in the outdoors here in
not just California, but even beyondhot topics. I don't have one.

(02:15):
I usually like try to have afew more in the dock, but you
know, we have a great podcasttoday, so I just had one,
and I thought this was such acool story. I don't know if you
saw it too, but the cityof Melbourne gave trees email addresses so that
people could report problems with them,well kind of problems I don't know.
I mean, maybe like it needsit's like it dropped a limb, or

(02:36):
it looks whatever, unhealthy. Idon't know. But instead of people reporting
problems, they wrote love letters totheir favorite trees. And it's just such
an awesome it's a great idea assigningtrees and email address and then you know,
so I guess it's damage reports.Essentially is that they were looking,

(02:59):
you know, to have people right, and then they instead they put fan
mail two trees and it's like,I just have to read this one,
my dearest Almus. As I wasleaving Saint Mary's College today, I was
struck not by a branch, butby your radiant beauty. You must get
these messages all the time. You'resuch an attractive tree. I mean,

(03:22):
that's a real excerpt. I couldsee you really just getting poetic about a
tree. Well, and it's justlike they were really sweet letters, like
about people like cycling by a treeevery day and how much joy it gave
them. And then someone did areally sweet one about you know, having
trouble sleeping because of the noise ofcars and ambulances at night, and how

(03:45):
at their office. These trees.You know, she got to look out
these or he or she, I'mnot sure you got to look out the
window at these beautiful trees that alsoblocked noise. I mean, this was
just such a cool, feel goodstory, and I think it's such a
good idea. Yeah, and it'sI don't know. So each tree has
like a little email address, soif you wanted to send a love letter

(04:05):
or a note about something happening withthe tree, you can. People were
like, there's I guess National eucalyptDay, Eucalyptus Day, and people were
wishing their favorite eucalyptus trees happy birthday. You know, we have a lot
of eucalyptus in the Bay Area.They planted the hell out of that species
out here. It seems like,well, yeah, and it's kind of

(04:25):
like catches fire easily or they droplimbs or kind of yeah, they can
be. The ones that I seeare like massive. Fact had to get
one cut down that was too closeto the property. It was very expensive,
but it kept creaking and leaning,and everyone I knew was like,
you need to get rid of thattree. It's gonna fall. Yeah,
especially after the winter we had well, we have some great trees across the

(04:48):
state. I have a question,which like, do you have a favorite
tree that you would write a loveletter too? I mean I love redwood
trees, specifically et sequoias. Youknow, General Sherman, you know that.
I mean, that's a that's likethe most famous one, right,
But maybe maybe that one, handsomehandsome fella, you big handsome fella.

(05:15):
I know, I was trying tothink, I have so many. I
think it would probably be a localtrail even like you know, some of
the trails that I hike locally inlike glenn Allen Regional Park has these gorgeous
oaks. Yeah, and I meanI don't have one particularly, But also
I was thinking about, you know, in Maui the Banyan tree, because
that's just such a beautiful tree.And what happened to it that I think
they said it did like it's youknow, wounded and burned obviously, but

(05:42):
I do think they were saying thatthe roots system is still alive. I
don't really know what exactly that means. It'd be interesting to talk to somebody
maybe from the Ecology Center. Yeah, I'm about that. Yeah, that's
an iconic tree out there it is, and I just remember, like as
a little kid, it was thetree my brother fell off of. He
was I think, I don't knowif you're allowed to climb it but a

(06:02):
while ago, and he fell offof it and bruised his head and he's
fine. But then I've been backthere with other special people in my life.
You might know some of them.Well, that's a great story,
Holly, I'm glad you found thatone. Another story that I saw recently.
Also home to some fantastic trees upin Humboldt County where they have the

(06:27):
tallest trees with Redwoods National Park,they're trying something new for Roosevelt elk,
which is native to California, andyou may have seen these if you've been
up to humbold County and you've beento Redwoods National Park. The Roosevelt elk
there's very amazing. They can beup to a thousand pounds, but unfortunate,
yeah, that the males can getup to about one thousand pounds.

(06:48):
But unfortunately there's been elk on carcollisions and the elk are not winning those
battles, so a few of themhave died this year. I think five
died last year and that's probably anunderreport number. So what they're trying to
do is prevent that wildlife and vehiclecollisions. And there I thought, this

(07:08):
is like really cool. I mean, it's it's not quite the wildlife overpasses
that you get in BAMF, butthis is a nice step in the right
direction in my opinion. But they'regoing to be putting transmitting callers on the
elk specifically, I think they're goingto start with the female elk and they're
gonna put these transmitter callers around them, and then they have a whole series

(07:32):
of these like receiver posts that arenear the highway. So as soon as
an elk with one of these callersgets close to the post, like it
sends a signal and the sign willlight up. Because you know, sometimes
you see these signs that are prettypassive, that's like watch for deer,
watch for wildlife whatever. People ignorethose. But if it's going to be

(07:55):
like kind of lit up and tellingyou, hey, you know there's elk
in the vicinity right now. Yeah, so then maybe that's gonna make people
drive a little more cautiously if theysee that turned on. So great idea.
Yeah, so it's there's a lotof departments I guess partnering on this,
from cal Poly Humboldt and California Departmentof Fish and Wildlife CALTRANS so a

(08:18):
lot are kind of like working togetherand it should be done in twenty twenty
four, so we will keep youposted on that. I love that.
I think that's so cool. Andyou know, because it's like you always
hear things like, well, that'snature, but that's not nature. This
is like you know, cars,Yeah, cars are lighting. Yeah.
So I think that's such a smartidea. I love it. Yeah,

(08:41):
No, it's really cool. Let'stalk about into it. Yeah, let's
jump right into let's talk about youknow, this trip that we had a
couple of weeks ago. You know, you hear of a place like Plumas
County and you're like that, I'veheard of Plumas. Where is that again?
And it's in this really unique placein California where you're at the kind

(09:01):
of the northern end of the SierraNevada Mountain Range, You're at the southern
end of the Cascade Mountain Range.And it's also the Great Basin coming in
from Nevada. All kind of meatin Plumas County, and you have the
Feather River Canyon, you have LassaNational Park, you have all these amazing
recreational lakes like Bucks Lake and LakeAlmanor, and cute, charming little small

(09:24):
towns. And we were told,I think several times that there's only three
stoplights in Plumas County. Very proudof that, which is cool. I
mean it kind of adds to thewhole vibe of this destination that's in California,
that is such a great alternative tosome of the busier destinations that people
typically go to for their kind ofoutdoorsy trips. And you know, we

(09:48):
covered a lot in a few days, but it was amazing. So was
it about It's an So we wentvia Tahoe and so it's about it was
about an hour and a half Ithink north right to our destination. We
went to Quincy. Yeah, Ithink you get to kind of from truck
e you go north about an houror maybe an hour and change and you
can get to Plumas County. Andthe driving, I mean you were driving

(10:11):
set focused on the road, butthe scenery is spectacular. It's just wide
open spaces and then these charming littletowns on route with little artisan shops and
ice cream stores. You love thatice cream store and Quincy. I know
we'll get to that in a second. But we haven't got to Quincy yet.
But yes, I did the icecreamy store. Okay, let's just

(10:33):
go right to it. So inQuincy there's the toy store. Actually yeah,
but also has ice cream at thestore. Great combo. And you
know you think, like someone tellsyou, well, let's meet at the
toy store, like, okay,what's it called. It's called the toy
store. Oh, okay, great, And it's like a local treasure.
It's been there for a long time. And the owners it's newer owners now,

(10:56):
but so friendly. It's got thecoolest toy It's like I felt like
a kid again going around. Thereare tons of like games and also a
lot of PCT Pacific Crest Trail hikerslike they have that like circled on their
itinerary going to Quincy and going tothe toy store because free ice cream free
you're a PCT hiker, you getto stop in the toy store and get

(11:18):
a free ice cream. Yeah.And the flavor it's like fresh hand scoop,
like just deliciousness. And the flavorswere amazing. They had a I
think it was called Unicorn. Idon't think that was an actual ice cream.
I think that was a sorbet maybeunicorn unicorn. But I had the
peppermint candy cane and I think it'smy new favorite flavor. Yeah, and

(11:39):
I'm a Cookie's and cream but thatwas so good. That was good.
It looked like the PCT hikers wesaw eating their ice cream were really they
were digging on it. Oh yeah. You try to like talk with them
and they're like, hmmm, Ican't can't talk right now. I'm just
I've enjoying this. Well. That'sjust the thing is that the PCT trail
goes through Famus County and it's like, I think that's like halfway point.

(12:01):
Wow, if you're doing the wholething from from Mexico to Canada, like
right there in Plumas County in Quincyarea is I think right around that halfway
point. So those those hikers wesaw still got they still got some miles
underneath them get to Canada finished byHalloween. But yeah, so we started

(12:22):
the trip in Quincy. That's thatis the county seat and really cool,
just like they got some great restaurants, great bruppub you know how I love
a good grupub, Utopia, Quintopia. Yeah, waiting for them to get
some distribution down to the Bay Areabecause I found their beer is really good,
I know, and I like theirfood. They had not your mother's

(12:43):
brussels sprouts, I think that's whatit was called. I think that's like
the best brussel sprout. And Ialways order brussel spots if I see it
because they're not your mother's. Butthese really were like just delicious. They
were huge, crispy. Oh that'sso good, so good, so good.
Thanks Patio. Yeah, and therewas also that wine bar that,
like the drunk Brush wine Bar.Yeah, you felt like you were in

(13:05):
Europe. Yeah. It's in analley, you know, it's like right
down the street actually from the stringlights and the live music and all the
the stairway that goes up to Ithink it's like a little upstairs, Yeah,
a little upstairs patio spiraling up though, and then the wine's legit.
The wine bar itself inside is supercool. They have all of these really

(13:26):
beautiful photos, including some vintage onesfrom around Plumuth County. Yeah, but
like a great selection of wine,and there was music. It was fun
violin. Yeah, it was great. Where are you right now? It
was like we were like walking aroundlike this is this is awesome, just
like great community events. Yeah,it's just a very cool town. And
you're very close to Bucks Lake,which is a gem of that area.

(13:50):
It's you know, it's Quincy isabout thirty four hundred feet in elevation and
Bucks Lake is over five thousand feetit's five thousand, one hundred feet and
it is it's a great recreation lake. You can kayak it, you can
stand a paddleboard, if you havea boat, motor boat, you can
go around. I mean, there'sjust a variety of things you can do

(14:11):
at at Bucks Lake. And wewent out to Indian Rock because that's a
really good spot to have a picnicat h and uh and kayak around there.
So you can rent kayaks at BucksLake, I believe you can.
There's a marina. I think it'sBucks Like marina. This is obviously all
in our special issue that's out today, But you can rent from there,

(14:35):
and then you can also rent fromthe resort there. There's it's called Lakeshore
Resort, right, So there's placeswhere you can get all the stuff and
uh, and then you get outon the water and it's just it's fantastic.
It's warm enough for swimming. Karenwas going swimming out in that.
Yeah, so it's you know,it's it's a fantastic place to just kind
of hang out and picnic and oryou know, go out on the water

(14:56):
and uh. And you know,you don't even have to have watercraft to
enjoy Bucks Lake. You can alsodo a hike. There's plenty of hikes.
You can get up to a reallybeautiful vantage. Which we did not
do this particular hike, but isit Spanish Peak is you can do which
is a part of the PCT.Yeah. I think it's about a four

(15:16):
mile hike. Four mile hike.But what we did do, which we
both really enjoyed, was the MillCreek trail on Lake Lake Shore. Yeah,
total lake shore trail. I thinkwe went in like maybe a mile
and a half. You can turnaround wherever you want, but we wanted
to get out to these rocks thatyou could climb up on and have a
really nice view of Bucks Lake.So that was cool. That was super

(15:39):
cool. I thought that was likea mellow, chill, beautiful hike for
you know, kind of taking inall the Bucks lake beauty. Yeah,
what I liked about it was islike you're in the you start in the
forest. It's really nice. It'sgreat for a hot day, and then
you can go out to all theselittle like pocket beaches summer like sand beaches

(16:00):
some are, but if you wantto like just lounge or swim, and
it's like it's an easy trail.So it's yeah, the Mill Creek trail
and then you know, you justturn it out of the rocky out cropping
and but that like we had apicnic there and someone else came along and
was having a picnic too, becausethe view of the lake is spectacular and
nobody's there, like it's well,it's very limited. There's it's not overrun,

(16:22):
you know, it's just it's justnot like those other really big lakes
that you know of in this yearNevada. It's not that we shall not
name, no, but that wassomething I just to your point about not
knowing a lot about Plumas County beforeyou know, going there, I was
blown away. I'm like, what, like, people get out here now

(16:47):
because these lakes are beautiful. They'resure there's people, but there's not that
many, and you just you dofeel like you have it all to yourself
and you're looking at this lake.The water at bucks Lay was my style
because you know, I don't kayakingis not my favorite. I enjoy it,
and but I'm actually I'm changing mymind on it now because my last
few experiences in a kayak have beenzen and on lakes so easy going.

(17:14):
Yeah, and you know, justgetting in the water, it was warm,
it was you could see it.You know, it was very clear.
It wasn't super deep. I thinkthe water levels very obviously, but
it's just I couldn't believe it.I'm like, no, like I had
been to another destination where I mean, come on, it was just like
jam packed and you have to findparking and you have to like pay for

(17:37):
parking and you have to do allthese things. Not Bucks Lake. You're
gonna find parking, yeah, you'regonna find space, You're gonna find room
to roam, you're gonna find roomto lounge. Yeah. No, it's
great. And it's super close toQuincy, so if you wanted to stay
the night, you could you coulddo that in Quincy. Or. There's
plenty of camping sites out at BucksLake as well, so a lot of

(17:59):
options. Yeah, there was lotsof options like cabins and like we stayed
at the featherbed End Quincy feather bedEnd. Yeah, it was very charming,
B and B small, small,quaint, like really nicely done rooms.
I thought the hospitality was just amazing. And it's walking distance to everything.
Yeah, it was great. No, that was that was fun.

(18:22):
That was like day one and thenlike quint it a lot. So you
know, from Quincy you head youhead north on Highway eighty nine and you
know, the next kind of likebig destination after that is is Lake Almanor
in the town of Chester. Butyou also there's some really cool little spots.
There's Greenville and there's literally a placecalled The Spot. The Spot.

(18:45):
We checked out The Spot, yeah, which is like a collection of pop
up food trucks, which was great. You can get a drink there,
you can get some food, superchill, relaxing, a lot of options
and it kind of is a niceway to break up the drive going from
from Quincy up to Lake Almanor.There's also a really legit, great jerky

(19:08):
place called Riley's Jerky. You gotus if you will see it. It's
a huge it's a huge building.Riley's Jerky. Just stop there, get
something. They have like so manydifferent flavors. We thought there was popular,
which I think we haven't. Pepper, it's cracked Pepper. I kept
saving it because I was like thisfor a special occasional trail and then I
never ate it, so now Ihave to do it. Looks but hey

(19:30):
mean we got to taste some andit's absolutely delicious. Yeah, no,
it's really good. And we fromthere, we went up to Lake Almanor
and like, Almanor is huge andthere's a lot of people on on the
water on all kinds of different watercraft. It's just a really beautiful recreation.
Like but we wanted to check outthe Lake Almanor Recreation Trail, which goes

(19:55):
for a few miles. It's amulti use paved trai, so no cars
are allowed on this thing. Youcan walk it, you can run it,
and you and you can bike it. So we brought our bikes and
we biked a few miles of itfrom is it the Rocky Point campground or
we started, yes, yeah,park outside of it. Yeah, that's
a great place to park and youdon't have to pay for parking and you

(20:18):
just jump on the trail and you'rejust right on the side of Lake Almanor.
And we saw a bald eagle whenwe were there first, and then
we just it was like right place, right time. But I mean like
it is the right place because there'sso many there are bald eagles. There's
all spray, yeah yeah. Andso you're riding along and it's an it's

(20:40):
an easy trail and there's campsites thatyou pass by, and then you're getting
all the like lake views, andthen you come to a vista where you
can see Lassen from Lassa Volcanic NationalPark in the distance, which was so
cool. But you can also againlike park your bikes. They have areas
to park your bikes and then justdetour out to the beach where you can

(21:00):
hang out, just chill out andhave a picnic in the water or watch
people in the water. It's justa fabulous recreation area and it's huge.
It's huge, and we went allthe way up to Plumus Pines, which
is a great restaurant, has adock. If you have your own boat,
you can dock there really popular outdoorpatio. I mean this is kind

(21:22):
of like the one of the maindestinations at Lake Almanor. It's a good
stop. Yeah, it's definitely agood stop. And I think that it's
about through. Was how long didthat take? A six miles? Was
it six miles? And we're onthere? Yeah? Yeah, and then
you know you can turn around andgo back. We cheated, we did
someone picked us up. Yeah,we did it one way, but we

(21:42):
had connections, so ha ha haha. Yeah. So and it was
kind of a time thing. ButI mean you could easily do it.
I was saying, like we canride back and then was six miles.
Yeah, you can knock that outpretty fast. But Pines had really good
margarita's. I had one Margarita.Oh that says a lot because you love
yourself margarita. I know. ButI thought, are we going to ride
back? So like I can youknow, I can't drink drive. Come

(22:04):
on, you're on a drinking bike. You know people do that. But
safety first, right exactly. Itwas just a really cool, really nice
spot to have a you know,bite to eat. You don't have to
have alcohol. They have not alcoholdrinks too. Oh, I've been I've
been loving on alcoholic beers. Iknow, I know, you know that.
Uh yeah, no, it's butit's it's a great spot. They

(22:26):
have music there and it's just kindof a festive way to enjoy Lake Almanor
and enjoy the recreation trail because itgoes right to it. And the nearest
town is Chester, Yeah, whichis really cute, super cute. They
also have a fantastic group hub andChester. Timberhouse, Yeah, Timberhouse bring.
I swear we we love a goodI know. It's like I feel

(22:47):
like people are like, shut upabout the damn beers people. But it's
also a restaurant. Yeah, andit's a great It was a great restaurant,
nice outdoor patio. I didn't actuallyend up going inside. You did
because I was doing others, wasgetting photos and things, so you went
in to get some video footage.You said the inside was really cool,
super cool inside, and the menuis like excellent, you know, like

(23:07):
steak, burgers, fish and chips. Those pretzel bites with the cheese,
they're so good. I love us. Those were so good. What was
the dip? Oh? And theywere really pillowy, like the pretzel bites
were really pillowy. It's a greatdescription. Yeah. Anyways, that was
cool, and you know what elsewas cool. They're awesome barn, the
historic barn. Yeah, that waspreserved. I think Feather River Lantrust was

(23:32):
a part of that present. Yeah, and it's like again a local treasure
in the community and it is likereally pretty beautiful and we went at the
Golden Hours. You go out,it's in this field. It's it's very
popular for photography. They have abench quite far out and then you know,
you can park and then you canwalk out to the barn and it's
just it's really quarter a mile towalk out, yeah, the barn and
then you can go inside of itas well. It's just who preserved like

(23:56):
they it's been Feather River Lands.Yeah, part of that, I think
they've been the local community. Yeah, there's probably a lot of We'll have
to ask Karen Cleven because I'm I'msure she knows she's going to tell us.
But it's a nice stop and it'spopular with photographers. Yeah. Yeah.
No. Chester is a great placeto home base yourself for a lot
of stuff in Plumas County, includinggoing up to one of the least visited

(24:18):
national parks in California. Talking aboutLast and Volcanic National Park, Holly,
I know you had not been therebefore. No, that was honestly,
that was the last National park Ihadn't been to in California. That was
the last one in California, wasthe one that was missing. So I
was super excited about going there.And you know, I've always told you

(24:41):
knows, I'm always like, Iwant to see this like Bumpass Hell because
the name always intrigued me, right, like, yeah, you know,
it's it's not all about yeah,it's like so it's Last and Volcanic National
Park. So Bumpass Hell is thelargest hydrothermal area in the park, and
it's got all these mud pots,sulfur events, and boiling pools. It's
like we call it California's Yellowstone.Yeah, I think it was even even

(25:04):
cooler. Well, I mean,you know, I love California. But
it's just it's only open in summerand fall, and they only just recently
opened it. You can access itby a longer hike in another part of
the park, but if you wantto go just from the main trailhead that's
open, doesn't now open a fewweeks ago, just a few weeks ago,

(25:26):
I think we just barely like theyjust barely opened, and you can
do the three mile trail. Imean either way, it's going to be
spectacular. But and that's from thesouth side of the park. What did
you think of it? I thoughtit was I mean, yeah, it
is like a little Yellowstone with allthat kind of like the mud pots and
the steaming and the smell of sulfurand all that. And the boardwalk is

(25:49):
really well done beautiful. It's justlike it feels like you're in it.
You're in this kind of wild,just crazy landscape, and you're like,
this is this isn't California? Like, like, who knew California had this?
I thought you had to go outto like Wyoming to get this kind
of experience, but you don't.You can get it at that Last and
Volcanic National Park. I know,I'm just coming into that park from the

(26:11):
south side. First of all,the visitor center is spectacular. It's absolutely
beautiful. It's a great place.You can pick up some food there if
you want to picnic provisions yea.And it I just was like, this
is it's so beautiful like you know, Lassen Peaks there, and then just
doing that hike to bump Us,like you could see Mount Conrad and Diamond

(26:33):
Peak, these are all pretty likedistinct mountains, and Mount Diller and then
something called Pilot Pilot Pinnacle and thenyou get to this vantage that's more of
a bird's eye vantage, so youhaven't descended yet into bump Us. Hell
yeah, and it's just wondrous ina way, like you could just see
it from that distance and it's justlike Deeming Blue Springs. It looks like,

(26:56):
you know, oh it's hot springsand it is not. It is
not the blue look green and ice, and it is not something that you
can get in you want to bestay on the boardwalks. Yeah, but
yeah, it was. They saidthat NASA researchers study that area. Huh
yeah, because of it's really harshenvironment, which they think is like very

(27:17):
akin to Mars kids Mars. Yeah, it kind of had that that landscape
that geology had that kind of likewhite sand, kind of like orange Sherbert
swirly kind of like almost Mars liketerrain. Yeah, it was really wild.
Why did you think of the sulversmell? Oh, you know,
it comes with the territory, comeswith the territory, comes with what you

(27:37):
do. Need to get there earlybecause it Bumpus Hell is one of the
marquee hikes and in lass and soyou want to get get an early starter
to go late in the day.I have to check that out. And
you can see and the plaques tellyou a lot. They're super informative along
the boardwalk, and they were sayingthat one of the plaques said that the
highest temperature recorded in the big boilerthermal which is there, is three hundred

(28:00):
and thirty two degrees fahrenheit. Holycow. I mean yeah, that's you
just like melt immediately. Well.Also like they're very clear about like do
not step like, do not pullany funny stuff here because it's not cool.
It's like the ground can look veryit's just deceiving because if you step
on, if you step off andstep onto the ground, it can break
and it's just like boiling acid water. I mean, you do not want

(28:23):
to do that. Board walks,stay on them, stay on it.
Yeah, and that from there wewent and had lunch. We wanted to
like picnic and have like kind ofa nice picnic lunch and you know,
if you ask some of the rangersat the visitor center and they can be
super helpful for like little tidbits.And one of the raiders was like,

(28:44):
oh, you should go over byTerrace and Shadow Lake. It's a kind
of a it's a shorter hike,it's in the shade to get to these
lakes. I think it was likeless than a mile maybe three quarters of
a mile to get to Shadow Lakeor Terrace Lake. So we saw it
on the map, We're like,yeah, let's check that out. So
park the car and hiked out therewith our picnic provisions. And it was

(29:06):
awesome, like just like hanging outout there at those beautiful lakes and you
had that reflection of the trees andthe mountains and you could see Mount Lassen.
It was really a great place tohave like an easy hike into a
picnic spot. Yeah, it wasreally cool. How long was that hike
if you went to the third one, do you recall? I think it
was like another half a mile youwent to I think Cliff Lake, So

(29:27):
I think it's about four miles totalout and back. Yeah, or last
even think for that longer one,but you're climbing out you have to remember
that. Yeah, It's was fine. It was so worth it. It
was chill. A lot of lakesout there, and one of the one
of the marquee lakes kind of onthe other side of the park. But
we're like, we got to checkout Man's in either lake because you know,

(29:48):
it's it's kind of like it's abig it's one of the marquee things
to do. And Lassen it's gotcamping there. They have like some cabins
there that you can rent and youcan hike around a Man's the lake and
you can get that iconic shot ofMount Lassen with uh you know the peak
right behind or kind of reflecting onthe lake. Yeah, but in order

(30:11):
to get that view of Mount Lassenyou have to hike halfway around Manzonita Lake.
Again, I got We're getting thesetips from from rangers that are there,
like how do you get that niceshot of Mount Lassen and the reflection
on the lake. And they're like, oh, you gotta you gotta hike
around Manzoni and you gotta go abouthalfway. It's over by the dam.
You know, that's where you getthe shot. So of course, yeah,
it's not a drive up it's nota drive up. You can drive

(30:33):
up. A lot of people dodrive up, yeah, and they they're
like and I know you, likeI thought that you drove up in that
there you were like, tadah,there's like that view and it's still really
pretty, but you have to youhave to go find it. And there
were you know, people out thereon kayaks, stand up paddle boards,
stand up paddle boards, just likeright in that reflection. It's more festive.

(30:56):
It's a more festive type of environmentout at me. Yeah, they
have cabins and yeah, it's notas quiet, I would say as the
southern side of the park. Butbecause it was my first time, I
really wanted to just like check itout as much as I could, and
you know, it was worth it. And we just took a different route
back to Chester, which worked outgreat so we didn't have to, you
know, go back through the park. But that hike around Man's Need it's

(31:19):
only it's just under two miles,like one point eight mile. It's a
loop, so yeah, make itjust a loop pike and get halfway around
and take all the photos and justit's it's really beautiful. Yeah, And
then made our way back to theChester area and stayed at another great bed
and breakfast, Saint Bernard Lodge,which is like kind of iconic over in

(31:40):
Plumas County. It's been there forsuch a long time and the people running
it, Sharon is fantastic, doesa fantastic breakfast. They also have dinner
if you want to have dinner thereas well. Had a nice stick dinner
there one night. But yeah,Saint Bernard Lodge as in the Saint Bernard
Dog. There are no Saint Bernard'son property, but there are stuffed animals

(32:02):
Saint Bernards. Yeah, it's it'sreally charming and it's you know, it's
just outside of Chester and it's aboutfifteen minutes from the south entrance to Lesson,
so that was really cool. Butyeah, it's B and B and
the dinner was delicious. Breakfast isawesome. The blueberry pancakes were my favorite.
Was good. And also, yeah, as Sharon is, they're so

(32:25):
helpful to people staying about, like, oh, what are you planning on
doing? Just with advice on whatyou can do about around like Almanor or
of course in the park. Youknow, it makes such a difference,
like if you don't really know whereyou kind of have an idea or game
plan. I mean they had allthe maps, they had all the information
you'd want, and plus they've doneit, so they kind of know like
what's good and maybe what's not sogood, and they helped point you in

(32:49):
the right direction. Yeah, andalso we were lucky enough we were staying
there the night that they had thepursued media shower and it was early like
the the you know, I don'tknow the highlight of it or whatever.
Was it like four in the morning, and I was too we have been
a long day. I mean wewere out a long time, but we
still went out a love it atnights. Yeah, and you can see

(33:12):
a few totally no, I like, it's like dark sky country up there,
right, you can get some reallyamazing night skies and see the Milky
Way. So we were just onproperty and walked out back and sat at
a picnic table, and it's reallynice. It's really nice, and it's
a great location, as you mentioned, close to Chester maybe ten minutes or
so, and then really close tothe last National park, so you got
you got a lot at your fingertips. But yeah, no, it's a

(33:37):
it was a great trip, covereda lot of ground. It was just
awesome and like you if you havenot gone, absolutely go. I mean
I had people like stopping me justfrom my personal social media and then of
course from weekend shure, but justbeing like what like I had, I

(33:57):
had no you know, you havethis idea, like I know I've heard
of Plumas County, but you know, just you have to go make it
a point. Make it a point. So we're gonna be uh talking with
our friend Karen Cleven who is apart of the Feather River Land Trust and
all the good stuff that she andher organizations are doing up in Plumas County.

(34:22):
So we're delighted to have Karen Clevenon the podcast today who works does
some great work with the Feather RiverLand Trust as well as the Feather River
Tourism Association. It's great to seeyou again, Karen. Oh, thank
you. It's nice to see you. We had a good time. It
was great. I really enjoyed spendingtime with you. Yeah, it was

(34:45):
fun. We were up in PlumasCounty last week and it was a busy,
busy trip doing hikes and bike ridesand kayaking and uh, you know,
the first person we met was wasKaren at in downtown Quincy to get
some ice cream and kind of getsome fuel in the tank before we went

(35:06):
out on some adventures. We metat Carrie Candy and I have I'm actually
wearing a bracelet that I got there. Carrie Candy has like fresh baked goods,
amazing coffee fudge, and then likethe best gifts, and Brad knows
that I will run around and findgifts or things for myself in cool artisan
curated stores. Yeah. And thenit was funny because you said, Okay,

(35:28):
now we're going to head over tothe toy store. You know,
I think we wanted some ice cream. And I was like, oh,
what's the name of the toy store? And you said it's called the Toy
Store and it is such charming,And then I was worried. This is
classic Plumis County. I thought,okay, well then we have to go
find parking. And then I realizedyou don't have to hassle for parking in
Quincy or anywhere in Plumis County.I mean there's no traffic. You can

(35:52):
no traffic, no parking fees,no parking problems, no stop lights or
only three stop lights. They stoplights. Yeah, in the in the
county, you know, three steplights in the county. He was saying,
a bit of bad traffic days,four cars deep, right, Like
people are like, oh, thetraffic, and there's like I know,
people sometimes who haven't been out ofhere for a long time, haven't gone

(36:14):
to the bay or whatever they maycomplain about, Oh god, I have
to stop for these four cars orso much traffic. It's four cars.
But I know because like I said, I had I had spent most of
my time the last forty years inPlume's County, but I did spend about
seven years in Marin County from aroundtwo thousand and two thousands and and lots

(36:38):
of traffics there. And when Icame back, I go, oh,
well, this is like amazing.I can walk. I can walk everywhere.
And once I was coming back fromthe airport and I and it was
kind of later in the evening andI saw like two cars and that's like
ninety miles. So it was like, WHOA, this place is really different.

(37:00):
Yeah. And speaking of the place, you know, we mentioned Plumas
County and it's sometimes people like arelike, oh, that that's cool.
I've heard of that where where isthat exactly? And it's it's you're in
a very unique position in California,kind of at the very northern end of
the Sierra Nevada Mountains almost kind oflike where it connects with the Cascades,

(37:22):
and just home to so many differentlakes, including the enormous Lake Almanor and
beautiful Bucks Lake, and you're kindof like right on Lassen Volcanic National Park
as well. It's just there's it'sjust so much amazing outdoor adventure to be
had up in Plumas County. ButI wanted to talk to you a little
bit about the Feather River Lantrust,which you've been working with for several years,

(37:46):
and kind of all the good workthat that that you've been doing.
Can you tell us a little bitabout some of the lands that you've been
like helping to protect over the lastfew years. Well, I can talk
about myself. I can just talkabout generally about the land Trust. Sure.
So the land Trust started in twothousand, so it's a little over

(38:06):
twenty years old. It was startedbecause there was a lot of new development
happening in the meadows in the valleys, and so the person who founded it
Paul Hardy wanted to figure out anon latigious way to start saving some of
this prop some of this land,and so a land trust is the best
avenue for that because the way becausethe land that's conserved, I would say

(38:34):
eighty percent of the land. Imay not be totally right, eighty percent
of the land that's conserved. Andright now I think, I think the
land Trust is about it. Seventythousand acres of land conserved. Most of
that is large ranches and it's notit's not land that the land Trust owns,
but they do at easement on it, which means they pay the landowner

(38:59):
to give up their development rights,but then the rancher stays on the ranch,
continues ranching and gets that. It'susually about fifty percent of the sess
value of the property. So that'sso that's basically the way a lot of
the conservation works. But also theland Trust, I think, which has
been a great idea, also feltit was important to create some preserves where

(39:24):
that are open to the public,where these ease months on the ranches are
not open to the public, sectfor special events. And so I don't
know how many acres, probably probablyfour thousand acres is in some kind of
preserves. And these are fairly closeto communities. So the idea is that

(39:45):
there's a natural spot, you know, for people to go to, especially
for local communities and visitors. Thelargest one is in the eastern part in
Sierra Valley, which is you know, if you're looking at driving, it's
about a three hour drive from SierraValley to Lassen National Park. But they're

(40:07):
all in the same they're all inthe Feather River watershed. So that one
is twenty five acres and and it'sit's fantastic, it's got it's great birding.
It's a it's one of the it'sthe largest, i think the largest
meadow or montane meadow valley in theSierra's and so it's it's a fantastic place.

(40:32):
Lots of birders come there. Andand it is the headwaters of the
middle fourth of the Feather River,and that is that was called the Sierra
Valley, that's called Sierra Valley.Yeah, someday you can come out there.
It's it's it's incredible. In thespring, well this last year we
had great rain, you know,so that it was really incredible because it's

(40:53):
a Birder's Paradise and sort of AprilMay, and the kayaking is incredible.
It's a flat valley, and sothere's all these channels that then channel into
the middle Fork of the Feather Riverand it's surrounded by It's sort of you
said that you've got the the Sierrasand the Cascades, and you also have

(41:16):
in Sierra Valley the Great Basin.So it's a coming together of three ecosystems
basically. So it's surrounded by mountainsfrom those three different ecosystems. And then
there's there's a small preserve in Quincywhere I walk a lot. It's kind
of the only place you can kindof get out into the valley. It's

(41:37):
called the Lenhart Learning Landscape. Itwas developed pretty much for the high school,
you know, to have a outdooroutdoor events, and there's a you
know, there's a very there's aLearning Landscapes program through the land Trust which
is basically getting kids outside. Andthen and then there's one in so there's

(42:00):
several. There's one in Genesee Valley, which is in the Indian Valley near
Taylorsville, kind of on the wayto Lake Almanore and it's the Heart the
Heart k Ranch and it's a beautifulnine hundred acre piece of property that's that's
open to the public. And theother one, the newest one, I

(42:22):
guess it's the newest one, isin Chester and I don't know if you
went there or not. It's theOldsome Barn. Yeah, we did.
We checked that out. That wasmore really beautiful. Yeah. Yeah,
Well I was the campaign director forthat one. So I feel really proud,
really proud of that one because itwas up for sale and people were
afraid that if it was privately owned, it wouldn't be open to the public.

(42:44):
And so so that one's about onehundred acres and I think we've heard
that they're about five thousand visitors therea year, and lots of local people
hike around it. You can goto the barn, you can go walk
to the to the north fork ofthe feather. So it's and there's going
to be a lot of new infrastructureon that because right now there's no signage

(43:06):
to tell you how important that littlepiece of property is ecologically and historically culturally,
and so there is a there issome funding to start doing some more
interpretive signage, which will make itreally come to live even more. Yeah,
that was beautiful. Were we actuallywent very close to well not close

(43:27):
to sunset, but late day,so the sun was just it was just
so golden and it was really beautiful. It is there. Do you go
inside the barn. Absolutely, thebarn is incredible. It's about one hundred
and fifty years old. You know, it's you know, it was built
by a Norwegian ship builder who cameto this country for the gold Rush but

(43:49):
then ended up being a dairy,a dairy rancher. But anyway, he
built it and you can see Chestergets lots of snow, lots of weather,
and that barn still standing. Heknew what he was doing when he
built it in the first place.He knew what it and you can still
see the wooden pegs in the barn, you know, from when he when
they built it. So yeah,it's it's an extraordinary and it's so close

(44:13):
to Chester that Chester people can justwalk there, you know and do a
little loop around or go to theriver. Right. It's got it's got
the wildlife, it's beautiful in thefall has cotton woods that surround the north
fork of the feather there, soit doesn't always change beautiful colors, but
lots of times it does. Youknow, it can be pretty extraordinary in
the fall. And then you cansee if you walk out there, you

(44:36):
can see last and peak in thedistance. So that's so beautiful. I
mean, we were struck. There'smy first time in Plumas County and kind
of we were struck by the beautyof the region really and how much water
is up there too. And thisis something you mentioned to us, is
that twenty seven million people get theirwater from the Feather River Watershed, right,

(45:04):
Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot of it gets
some of their water, not alltheir water, and also for agriculture too.
It's one of the biggest sources ofwater in California. You know,
it's part of the California Water Projectand so yeah, it's really important,
really important watershed, and it's thelargest watershed in the Sierra and so I

(45:28):
think one thing that's really important,you know, if you're looking at the
kind of ecological aspects of it,is that Feather River Watershed has lots of
what are called montane meadows, youknow, so a lot of it's it's
just a higher elevation meadow. It'ssort of like Quincy's Quincy's in American Valley,

(45:52):
you know, and and the differentand there's just it has more meadows
and like valley than most areas inCalifornia. And that's significant because they're finding
and that's why the land Trust isso important for that's that's what the land
Trust works on, is considving thosemeadows. Yeah, because they're so important

(46:15):
for wildlife, and they're really importantfor storing water, you know, and
they're also really important for sequestering carbon. So there's been a lot of new
research done on the importance of meadows. Oh, that's amazing. Well the
wildlife. We saw more than onebald eagle on our short stay really in

(46:37):
Plumas County, and it's yeah,I mean it's a hotbed for osprey and
bald eagles up in Lake Almanor,and I imagine a bucks lake. It
looks like there's osprey and yeah,bald eagles. A you know, like
I was wondering this. Do theyI imagine they don't get along, right,
the osprey and the bald eagle?No? No, how do I

(46:59):
like, how does whom I'm notan expert burder, you know, so
this would not be. But butmy understanding is that bald eagles are predators
and so and so they will tryto snatch the osprey's fish away from them.
No, I would say, they'renot buddies. You know, it's
funny you say that. Because ourlocal newspaper, the Sonoma Index Tribune,

(47:22):
had a story about an eagle thatthey flew to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in
I think it's in Santa Rosa.They do great work. It might be
the Bird Wildlife Rescue, it's oneof them, but fabulous work. And
it was an injured bald eagle thatthey found at Lake Almanor and they believe
it was injured through a fight withan osprey. Anyway, it had a

(47:44):
short stay that did some they saidthey've got it and made it do some
aerobic workouts and it recovered fairly quickly. So it was a story about this
person who flies the wildlife and itwas his first time flying a bald eagle
back to release in like Almanor,and he got to do it, and
it was really it's a lovely storywith beautiful photos and it just I was

(48:06):
like I was just there and it'sso beautiful. Because they're both they both
fish, you know. Yeah,And like I said, there's lots of
expert birders in this area, soI hate to say too much, you
know, about the activities of thesebirds. But well you you are an
expert kayaker because you you met uswith your kayak and we went up to

(48:29):
Bucks Lake and that that's a phenomenalplace for standard paddle boarding or kayaking or
swimming too. You you you jumpedin off of it. It's great swimming.
It's probably one of the nicest placesto swim, for the temperature of
the water and for being able toswim sort of long distance as if you
want, you know, instead ofthe water swimming jumping in it's much It's

(48:52):
much warmer water and clean water.Well, the other places are clean too,
but the river is colder and theHigh Mount Lakes are definitely colder.
Yeah, oh yeah, I lovedit. I mean, I enjoyed kayaking
there so much, and it's notmy favorite water. Well, you know,
I'm not I like kayaking, butI was like, this was so
zen and I think you said tome, this is the perfect place.

(49:15):
You know, I'm not the beston ocean kayaking. You're a little bit
nervous with the waves, but thiswas ideal and you're totally right, Like
I, you know, I couldjust get out of the kayak for a
minute in some of the shallow sectionsand the water was beautiful, and there
was a person there on a standup paddle board, and I was like,
this is your right, Brad.It's the It's the perfect place for

(49:35):
doing that, for just having thatmeditative, like amazing experience on the water
where you don't feel like, youknow, a giant waves about to come
and topple you over. Oh right, it's pretty it's pretty safe. Yeah.
And I remember when we were grabbingice cream at the toy store in
downtown Quincy, there were some PacificCrest Trail hikers because the Pacific Crest Trail

(50:00):
goes right past Bucks Lake and inthe town of Quincy, and you see
a lot of PCT hikers pop intoto Quincy to get their free they get
a free ice cream at the toystream. Yeah. And is it like
kind of halfway on the are youbasically halfway on? It is about I
think it is. I'm not positive. I think it is about halfway,

(50:22):
Okay, you know, halfway onthe Yeah, on the trail from Mexico
to Canada to Canada. So thesepeople that we were seeing in you know,
early mid August, they probably won'tbe finishing until like October, maybe
November, right, and all ofthem, all of them don't finish.
Some of them take certain sections,you know, they don't do the whole

(50:44):
thing. Yeah, but there's alot of there's a lot of international people,
so I think they probably try todo the whole thing. Yeah.
Yeah, you almost picked up ahitchhiker who was looking to go oh right,
she was looking to go that differentdirection than when we were going.
Yeah, people pick them up allthe time. And there is a there
is a website where they asked foryou know, you know, the other

(51:07):
day there was some some young peoplefrom the they were from the Czech Republic,
and on the PCT Quincy website orthe Facebook, they were asking for
a ride, you know, toget down from Bucks to Quincy. And
so, yeah, there's a lotof people here that will pick them up
and take them places. That's lovely. Yeah, we saw a lot of
them in the town of Quincy.But going back to the ice cream,

(51:30):
I have to ask you what yourfavorite flavor is because I had thee it
was pepperin Candican. I'm like,it is Christmas all year long. Everybody
like, no, it's not.I've only known them. They've had them
during the holiday, So I thinkyou've peppermin now wow, I know.
No, well that's what I mean. I'm like, yeah, it was
so good. And I felt unworthybecause you were these specific christ rolines,

(51:52):
I know, and we had justrolled up. But Quincy is just so
walkable too, and we stayed,you know, right at the featherbed end
and Shelley, who's the owner ofit, was just lovely and it was
wonderful. She's like, you canjust walk across to dinner over there at
Quintopia Brewing where you met us bride, you could probably speak to the beer

(52:13):
of it. Yeah, well,you know, going back to the PCT
hikers, we so we saw somePCT hikers getting ice cream in the afternoon.
The next day for breakfast, wewent to a great little cafe called
Patty Thunder, and we saw somePCT hikers getting breakfast. But the night
before we were at a brewpub atQuintopia and Quincy, great local brewery,

(52:36):
great food too, and I didn'tsee any pct hikers, and I was
kind of struck. I'm like,if I was doing the PCT, A
brewpub was definitely beyond beyond my goto Quincy. Yeah, they would,
they would be there. They justwere probably weren't there that evening. Oh
maybe they just weren't there. Butthat was that was a great spot.
I think I had I wanted totry their Hazy i Pa, but it

(52:59):
was totally apped out, so Itried a different, different IPA. But
that's a You guys are lucky tohave such a cool little spot right in
downtown Quincy. No. Yeah,Tom who wasn't there. He he's the
owner, the founder, and itwas kind of interesting. It's I won't
get into it too much, buthe created. Before he started, he

(53:23):
knew he needed a lot of capitalto get started. Ye, so he
did a lot of research of whathe could do with the way of raising
money for with investors because it's difficult, you know, with SEC requirements,
and so he came up with aplan to get individual investors and so that's
how it got started. About Ithink he raised about four hundred thousand dollars

(53:46):
with I don't know how many investors, maybe twenty I'm not sure, you
know, so that you know,we're we're all kind of uh investors in
in that in that project. Andand it's had a rough time because you
know, there was COVID and therewere fires, and then two years ago

(54:07):
the actual place where he was brewingthe beer burned to the ground. Oh
so so he's been so it's anew one's being built, but it's not
ready yet. So he's been brewingbeer for the last two years outside outside,
well partially outside and then partly partiallyin somebody's airplane. Hangar. Oh,

(54:28):
I love that story. That's reallycool. That's that's resilience, baby.
Like, I want to try someof his beer in the Bay Area.
Hopefully he gets some distribution for Quentopiabecause I thought it was delicious.
Yeah, I don't know if he'sI don't know if he's in a distribution
yet. Too bad, he wasn'tthere. But he has he has three
little girls that are you know,triplets, so he you know, kidding

(54:49):
triplets triplets. Yeah, wow,busy person. Yeah, yeah, I
think he's probably a busy person.Yeah. So that's really it's really been
a a really nice addition. Yeah, to the to the town to have
that boot cub and a lot ofyoung people hang out there. Yeah.
No, it was cool and andlike Almanor we went we went from Quincy

(55:12):
up to Chester and uh and exploredthe Lake Almanor area, did their recreation
trail there, which was really beautiful, not that utilized. I was a
little surprised for, you know,for such a great multi use paved path
that's car free, which I lovethat. You know, you can jump
on your bike, you don't haveto worry about cars. And it goes

(55:35):
right along the shore of Lake almenRight, it's really nice. It was
beautiful and not not really heavily traffickedby other walkers or bicyclists. And that's
where we saw a bald eagle.We heard it first, you know,
you hear and it sounded I thoughtlike an osprey, but you know when
you looked up in the tree,it was indeed a bald eagle. That
was really cool. I think wewe sat around for a good five or

(55:57):
ten minutes to see if it wasgoing to move and try to get a
shot of it flying off the tree, and we got lucky and did see
that. So that was that waspretty We didn't see it fish though,
that's the one thing people talk aboutseeing a bald eagle fish. That would
be kind of terrible, I think. And you can also ski that trail
too, so I've skied it inthe winter before or just you know.
So it's because usually usually on thatarea. Well, this year we got

(56:22):
tons of snow, but they usuallyget they usually get snow there. Yeah.
Well, Plumas County is the fourseasons. It is a four seasons
yeah, great, yeah, yeah, and fall's coming up and fall and
people mostly don't know how beautiful fallis here because it just has different kinds
of trees and what you would seeon the East coast. You know,

(56:43):
it has dogwood and oaks, yeah, maples, and it's pretty pretty beautiful
in the second, third, fourthweek of October. Okay, there's a
hot tip get up to Plumas Countyand mid to late October to see the
those fall colors. Well, it'sbeen it's been a pleasure of having you
on the podcast today, Karen.Thank you so much for taking a few

(57:06):
minutes out to chat with us.Well, I always like to talk about
some of us County. It's aspecial place for me, and I think
there's room for there's room for lotsof people to come and visit and kind
of restore their spirit here, andwe are very welcoming to visitors indeed,
and the outdoors. It's all,it all comes together. It's a beautiful

(57:27):
spot. Thank you. Yeah,I'm glad you appreciate it, all right.
Thanks Karen, thank you,