Bicycle Birthday Ride with Jeffery

Jeffery asked for one thing for his birthday; to ride bicycles along the Bizz Johnson Trail that goes from Westwood to Susanville California along the old railroad bed.  I eagerly agreed to give him the gift he desired, and we plotted our day-ride, leaving the possibility for spontaneous changes on the table.  I had only been to Susanville once, so it was a voyage of discovery in every sense.  We will definitely want to do this tour again; all the way from Westwood next time.  This time we just did a section.

Mt. Lassen, seen along the way to Westwood, still has quite a lot of snow on it.  Yay.

We had neither of us ever been up to Mountain Meadow Reservoir, aka: Walker Lake.  We need to go back to see more.

Here's Jeffery at the Westwood Ranger Station sign.

It's me and Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

Here comes Jeffery at the start of our ride from Devil's Corral to Susanville

First bridge on our trip

Jeffery, birthday boy, is happy.

the Susan River

a calming view

some of the many wildflowers in bloom

lots and lots of cool rock bluffs, piles, and shapes,  I'll be showing you more.

the first tunnel, which was blowing cold air through it

same tunnel, seen from the other end, which was wood, not cement

art shot of Jeffery in the tunnel

art shot of the ceiling.

We particularly liked this rocky outcropping and tunnel

but this black rock spill was also wonderful

penstemon

we stopped for a shade break along the Susan River

art shot of underwater flora

those lazy hazy crazy days of summer take it out of a fellow, eh?

perspective is important, but detail matters, too; so here's a close up of a huge, huge dead tree leaning on a rocky outcropping, and yet, I can't show you how big it is, since if I zoom back, it all gets rather small

the pink in it doesn't show, but it was so pretty, and I don't know what it is.

the landscape took on a softer look as we drew closer to Susanville

I loved this wall of "marching guardians".  By now, we can hear traffic noise again, since we're almost back in town

same rocks, different angle

Jeffery crosses the last bridge on the rail-trail (or the first if you start in Susanville)

Here I come, too!

the home stretch and "finish line" is in view

the view from over the bridge's side

where the rail meets the trail.

love this picture especially much

Western Pacific Railroad caboose

riding back to our hotel along Riverside Dr. and the bike lane there, we saw this lovely vista

That's all I can fit on this blog, since my internet has become limited, but in the next day or two, I'll have another bike adventure and fun day out with my honey to show you.  Now I need to decide what I want to do for MY birthday excursion.