Fredonyer Peak
Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 12:38 pm
June 8, 2020
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:
Fredonyer from the highway.
There used to be a nicer FS sign but this was good enough for me this time since I knew where I was going.
Parked at the trailhead. High clearance not needed to get here but it's nice to have, I was able to hit 25mph a couple times.
Eagle Lake with Lassen in the background. Shasta was harder to see off the right side of this photo.
Snow hike!!
This is posted at switchback #2.
Fire lookout, it was unoccupied this visit.
The patio. I sat here for a dollar-store lunch of tortilla wrapped around salami and cheese sticks.
Benchmark.
Abandoned outhouse. I tried opening the door and a bunch of huge bees fell out on the ground and then they started to wake up in the sun.
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: