FR17 Lassen National Forest s(u)
There must be hundreds of roads like this in the
northwestern states, forest roads that climb in thick
forest, with barely a hint of a far view. So they may look
and feel interchangeable. For some reason this one has a
sign, marking it as a biking route. But this may just refer
to sideroads in the general area. The surface is medium
heavily graveled, and it does not seem perfect for cycling.
But this road makes the missing link in a loop over the Lassen
National Park Road Summit.
From South. East of Mineral, a conspicuous sign
displaying a bicycle, points out this dirt road, as being 24
miles long and connecting to Ca44. The road starts with a
relentless climb in thick growth forest, just barely giving a
hint between the lush vegetation, that there is a valley below.
After about a 1000ft of climbing the slope levels out, and the
road traverses along a green ridge. The intersection with 30N16,
a shorter connection to the Lassen
National Park Summit is well marked. The road crests at an
indistinguishable spot in the forest From North. (described downwards). After lots of
gentle rolling along, the most exciting thing is probably
passing the sign for the Heart Lake trailhead. Actually - come
to think of it - the most exciting thing was a half second long
view of what must be Mount Shasta to the north. If I would ride
this again I am sure that I would miss this short glimpse. But
for all I know there may be other microsecond long views (when
seen from a moving bicycle).
A Dayride with this summit as intermediate summit is
on page: Lassen National Park
Road Summit
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Approaches
Then
gentle distant ridges appear in the distance, disolving in the
haze. The road passes several clear cut areas, with just a
curtain of trees between them and the road. Before getting to
pavement, there is another small climb of about 400ft. The jct
with Ca44 shows up completely unecpected.|
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