Welcome to the the second edition of George’s Journeys. Every year I try and get out of Southern California’s metropolitan sprawl and escape to parts unknown for a couple of months at a time, camping under the stars, taking photographs and of course sharing my experiences with my small band of readers, family and friends.

I am planning a road trip through the Central Valley of California up through San Francisco, Napa Valley, Chico, Redding and ultimately the forests west of Alturas, the government center of Modoc County. Why Modoc? For starters it is among the few remaining forest ecosystems relatively untouched by greedy developers and loggers. Secondly, I am looking to buy a couple of acres in the middle of nowhere that will someday be the site of a small cabin where I can spend my remaining days, writing, hiking and photographing wildlife.  Mt. Shasta is also not far away and I have always wanted to see this mysterious volcano.  The stories I have read regarding this mystical place are enough to make you wonder if there are inter-dimensional gateways to the unknown.

Mt. Shasta is located in the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and is 14,179 feet in elevation. Wikepedia.org, public domain, Photo credit: Caia Cupito and Ore-Cal RC&D

This excerpt from Wikipedia.org describes the attraction, “Mount Shasta is not connected to any nearby mountain and dominates the northern California landscape. It rises abruptly and stands nearly 10,000 ft  above the surrounding terrain. On a clear day, Mount Shasta can be seen from about 150 miles away. The mountain has attracted the attention of poets, authors, and presidents.

Mount Shasta was described by the poet Joaquin Miller:

“Lonely as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California.”

I will be leaving San Bernardino (which along with Riverside County is called the “Inland Empire”) July 1st and plan to be back sometime in September. My SUV, a small utility trailer and a dog will be my ship and crew. I cannot tell you the name of my dog yet as I have not yet found him or her. My little Tiger as I called him died a few months ago from an unfortunate accident so I have been visiting shelters and asking friends if they have any pups I might adopt.

Nature meets habitation

In any case, my next blog will describe the current planning for that trip to include my energy efficient solar/propane system and some new gadgets I will be testing out for future trips.  For a summary of last year’s trip through Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado refer to the Past Trips page accessed through the menu on the top of this page.  Of interest may be the fact that (unbeknownst to me) at the time what came to be known as the Wallow Wildfire was ravaging through the Southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It burned over 496,000 acres in Arizona alone qualifying it as the largest fire in Arizona history. In Texas it burned 500 homes and resulting in the evacuation of over 5,000 people.  Following is an excerpt from Wikepedia:

 

 ”The Wallow Fire, named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, was a wildfire located in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, United States, in the White Mountains near Alpine. As of 26 June 2011, it had burned about 841 square miles (2,180 km2) in Apache, Greenlee, Graham, and Navajo counties in Arizona and Catron County in New Mexico. On 14 June 2011, the Wallow fire was “upgraded” to the largest fire in Arizona history, passing the Rodeo-Chediski Fire which burned 732 square miles (1,900 km2) in 2002. Nearly 6,000 people were evacuated. In addition to other air assets, a converted DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker (“VLAT”), capable of dropping up to 12,000 gallons of fire retardant in seconds, was deployed to help fight the fire. Two individuals were being questioned on June 15 as persons of interest who may have abandoned a campfire that started the blaze. On July 3rd, the fire was 95% contained. The Wallow Fire was declared 100 percent contained as of 6 p.m., Friday, July 8.”