Somehow or another, we got going at 7:30, and had breakfast, organized stuff for the day, repaired various things on the buses, and waited around. And waited, and ... eventually, we sloshed a bit of fuel into our tanks around 11:40 and started out for Castle Lake in ragged disorder.
I had Logan take the con for the Castle Lake road ascent. He was a little nervous, but soon acclimated to the bus pilot's role quickly. Sometime up near the top of the hill I realized some buses were behind us and had him drop me off and run down to join the buses for a drive-by shot with Mt Shasta in the background. I guess the other buses weren't interested, as they blasted by, but after they went by, Logan came up the hill around the corner hauling ass, and Bart looked pretty cool.
Castle Lake was sunny and warm. A little too warm, not that it was uncomfortable to be hanging out that day at 7000 feet in the wintertime! The demon under the lake was apparently a little disgruntled, and was moaning, groaning, and thrashing about under the ice, which cracked alarmingly. Fear and uncertainty run like quicksilver through your veins when the ice that is keeping you from being swallowed by the black depths heaves and shudders, fissures running through the ice just between your feet. As I walked from the shore to the fishing holes, I noted that the surface was not level; it had expanded, contracted, and shifted so many times it was almost as if the lake's waves had been frozen in situ. I took a bit of a walk, attempting to get out far enough to get a nice shot of Mt. Shasta over the lake, and then found myself very near the U.C. cabin, where there was a dock. Knowing that if I got to the dock I would be able to hike back to the parking lot on the trail that hugs the shoreline, I headed towards shore. As I got within about 50 feet or so of the dock, I found my level of trepidation rising to the point of panic, as I imagined the ice was getting thinner as I approached, and the beast under the fragile glazing was acting up. I wimped out and retraced my steps back to the fictional safety of company in the center of the lake, thinking that this was how the polar bears must feel ...
At the holes, things were pretty calm. Brian and Nathalie snoozed on a cot with a cat, Jeremy and Greg and other members of their teams exchanged pleasantries, Rachel and Eejermon lounged by a sled with some poles, and Logan caught three fish while Aaron meditated at an ice hole. The population on the ice this year was pretty minimal because of the creaking, cracking and groaning. Here's what you look like when the ice threatens separation under your feet: Uneasydude
Wandered back to shore around two. Brian stayed behind to break the record fish-catching on the SST: Ten! (I'm starting to suspect a connection between the low yields and boisterous party fishing; the converse is what Brian took advantage of.) The majority of this group fired up our steed and headed down the hill, lingering for a couple photo opportunities. Seemed people were enjoying themselves. Lou was anxious to get rampaging, and got himself into a minor bit of stuckage on a road to the right near where we were lingering. A bunch of willing hands helped out, and Aaron got flung into the air. After that we headed down to go do some rampaging and exploring.
The road that goes up and to the west of Lake Siskiyou was open this year due to the drought, and a vast playground for snowbussers was at our dispposal. I was heading for the area I call "campsite roads", which is a maze of tracks through the forest, with great potential for getting lost, stuck in the mud and snow, or trapped by driving too far in between trees which close ranks behind you. Team Idaho found a cool road that went up a ways (they turned around to rejoin the group), and the majority of the Teams continued on up the road, which was covered with a solid sheet of rutted ice.
Richard and Aaron followed me into the campsite roads area, and we ambled about for a bit, then had a run-in with some wicked mud pit that was unsuccessful in trapping the Rustybus and Bart, but grabbed hold of Aaron's bus, and they had to resort to the use of pine needles and sticks to foil the grasping mud. Emily's voice had come over the CB while Richard continued on, saying very calmly, "we're stuck." I mistakenly took it to be Rachel's voice from somewhere up on the other road, so disregarded it. Sorry guys! We found them after escaping from the stalking grove, and we started up the icy road to see what everyone else was up to.
The drought conditions were much more appreciated up here, as the road was icy, and we got into some real snow, but had it been a proper winter, we would not have made it anywhere near as far. This was a classic mountain road. A certain awareness was required when driving on that ice to avoid a steep rocky tumble into the frigid creek on one side, and rising up from the other, a gnarly cliff, heavily forested at times, but frequently comprised mainly of boulders. Some of these boulders had hurled themselves into the road, but were unsuccessful at stopping our passage. With the other buses we had come to, we pressed on, and eventually ended up at a road that was fairly wide, and several hundred feet past where we stopped, a bunch of other buses were having things done to them with shovels and chains. Looked to me like the classic SST Saturday stuckage scene, so I chose to assail the rocky mountain road on the right. Turns out I was wrong about the stuckage - more on that in a moment.
The road on the right was fun, but I was worried about going too far. As it was, Team Jo Cool and I made it up quite a ways before laziness (didn't want to put on chains now) and the time constraints I was feeling turned us back. Team Idaho and Team Surf City met us on the way up, and Richard had driven the Rustybus up the rocky part of the road backwards, and was hobbled by a rock when we all got down to the bottom. I wasn't sure what was going on at the upper part of that section, but I was feeling anxious about getting some more rampaging in before sundown, so a few of us went back down the road in search of some spot that Rex spotted previously.
At first it was Rusybus and Surf City that was with us, but at some point Teams Idaho and Bad Dog racing showed up at the melee. It turned out to be a nice bit of snow rampaging in an expansive flat area. There were roads to explore going off here and there, and it was quite a bit of fun. Just enough snow to pose a challenge, but not so much that the stuckages that occured were more than a brief lull in momentum. Richard was there, but had to have some impromptu chiropractic work done by Rex, as he had been abducted and examined the night before, and they didn't put him back together quite correctly. (Turned out his toe was broken - they musta slammed the saucer's hatch on it)
The sun by now was setting, and cast a pinkish glow on the mountain, just visible through the trees. Anxious to get in as much rampaging before the light failed, we headed back out, and turned off again at the campsite roads area for a brief meander through the woods. Unwilling to get stuck in the mud now, we didn't do anything crazy or linger long. Next time we're here, though, I'd like to get as many buses moving through the maze at once ... it certainly would make for some fascinating video! After we found the main road again, the others went on ahead, and I stayed behind, fielding a call from Britt who was coming through Mt. Shasta later with a heater box to replace the loaner, and to make sure Bad Dog Racing made it out of the woods.
As Bad Dog accompanied us back to the cabins before heading up to Bunny Flat, we tried again to take a railroad frontage road back into town, but soon were blocked by uncertainty (the road was largely overgrown and of unknown condition ahead) and a deer. You don't want to mess with those things! So back up onto the road we went, and regrouped at the cabins. We left for Bunny Flat at 7:02, taking about 23 minutes to ascend back up to 7000 feet for dinner.
All the while, since we left the stuckage and chaining up area on the snowy icy road past Lake Siskiyou, a grand adventure was unfolding. Justin and Lou and several others got their chains on and Robert from Team Oregon (I think) chose not to resort to their use. Apparently they continued to climb up the snowy road, and made it all the way to Gumboot Lake at 6500'. The lake was frozen solid, and they had buses out on the ice, built a fire, and hung out there during the Bunny Flat cookout. Plans and hopes to camp (or at least spend a good amount of time) at Gumboot Lake are in place for next year. I sure wish I hadn't missed that adventure. This is an example (to me) of how trying to fit everything into a preordained pattern can limit the experience at hand. Won't let it happen again - kudos to the adventurous teams!
Meanwhile, up at Bunny Flat on the flank of the mountain from which the SST gets its name, fish was being cooked, garlic bread being burned, and fire keeping everyone slightly better than frozen, and inundated with smoke constantly. Note to firebuilders: Burn smaller chunks of wood for a brighter, hotter, less smoky fire! It was a fun time, though - we had a good amount of buses there, and people milling about, eating, drinking, laughing, and playing music. The stars that shone most brightly were Jeremy of Surf City Racing and Eejermon of Team Idaho. Jeremy had a compelling stage presence that drew enthusiasm from the onlookers in many forms from cheers, sing-alongs, and some withering backing vocals, and Eej's most notable contribution happened to be a heavy metal song (on acoustic guitar) he had recently written based on a true-to-life experience. He called it "Death Party for Mice", and the crowd joined in the mouse-maiming mantra with some rather interesting ad-lib verses. The cheesecake was a welcome finish, and at around 11:20, everyone had had all they could take of standing around in twenty-three degree weather, and struck out for the safety and warmth of the cabins.
And behind us, implacable, foreboding, the giant Uytaahkoo sleeps ... for now.
(As of 17-Mar-09, there is an intended video to accompany this page - this could be done soon, or maybe later ... check back here or the Video Index periodically!)
