A few years ago while driving to Oregon I was looking for a free place to sleep and lucked into this spot off Hwy 139 north of Susanville. As I was whizzing by I noticed the brown Forest Service sign and ended up spending the night along the dirt road. The next morning I learned that it's a 8.5-mile dirt road to another road junction which serves as the trailhead for Fredonyer Peak, which hosts a fire lookout. I didn't have time to hike it then as my sister was expecting me that evening but I vowed to return. That little promise came true when I was once again on the road heading to Washington because I'm just not ready to take a flight yet. Since I had worked it into my itinerary I had some leisure time to enjoy the journey and it was pretty nice. The trail isn't much, just a well-graded fire road which according to AllTrails has a very consistent slope. There are just two switchbacks on the 1.5-mile ascent, meaning the views don't change much either. That's good on the way up, as Eagle Lake is spread out below and on a clear day like this one both Lassen and Shasta can be seen in the distance. I also got to see a Bald Eagle but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture a good shot of that memory.
Next time you find yourself on the back roads of California this is a nice little detour, just allow about 45 minutes to drive to the trailhead or else make it a very long walk from the highway. It took me an hour to do the three mile round trip which included a lunch break sitting on the 'patio' of the fire lookout.
Pics here:
