I’m back in Alturas, California. For the fifth time. This is the final visit. There is not a whole lot to do in town. There is a wildlife refuge on the edge of town, and and that’s about it. There is Antonio’s for food. Despite it’s lack of things to do in town, around the area within 30 minutes to 3 hours, there are tons of places I would love to go to. One of them was the waterfall in Modoc National Forest near Likely, CA. This was about 30 minutes and then some hiking south on US 395. Alturas to me seems like an outpost in the middle of the desert in the NE desert of California.
The whole area I learned tonight (thanks to Google research) is on what is called the Modoc Plateau. The whole area is full of volcanic rock. Almost all the rocks you look at are full of bubbles. Northwest of Alturas is the Lava Beds National Monument. Haven’t been yet, but would like to! Southwest are several mountains, in particular is Mt. Shasta, an active volcano.
Of course to get to all of these places when coming from Michigan you have to fly into Reno. From Reno it was only an hours drive to Lake Tahoe. I went there in January 2013. I never would have gone there for vacation on my own had I not had my bag make it to the airport in Reno on a previous trip. I had the rental car anyway so I drove to Lake Tahoe, and then drove the entire circumference of the lake. It was breathtaking from every side. I will go back again sooner or later.
While I am not a huge fan of Reno, I would fly there and spend a night, and then head back to Lake Tahoe, and then head back north, hit the volcano, the lava beds, sleep in Alturas, hike near Likely, sleep again in Alturas and then head back to Reno. Thank you work for sending me to another place in rural America that have lead me to see these small, cool places. 🙂