Yolla Bolly/Mendocino National Forest

A reasonable way to spend a national holiday, in my mind, is to enjoy some of our scenic national landscape. A friend and I decided to tackle the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness, near the Mendocino National Forest. After much internet research, we discovered several people had hiked the Ides Cove Loop Trail. We drove to a town called Paskenta (the eastern side of the wilderness area), which was basically the ranger station, a store, and a few ranch-like homes amid the rolling golden California hills and majestic oaks. There was some concern that the trail and wilderness area might be closed due to forest fires. The ranger station gave us the proceed-at-your-own-risk.

Arriving late Friday night, we did the typical roadside camp out and planned to hike out early in the morning. We started at the Ides Cove Loop trailhead. The trailhead began at about 6200' in a dry alpine forest. A quarter of a mile or so from the trailhead is a sign that directs hikers to either Burnt Camp or Square and Long lakes. We were quite foolishly mapless and relying on accounts from other hikers who had posted on the internet. One source claimed that the left path sent them down the mountain and back up. Lesson learned, however, follow the signs. Believing our "guide" we took the right path to Burnt camp, despite intuitively feeling this was the wrong way. We hiked along an alpine ridge that fortunately, despite the baking sun, had some breezes. We descended into the forest, which provided respite from the mid-day sun. After descending about 800 feet and arriving at Burnt Camp, we realized we were most definitely too low. Some exploration and consulting of the internet "guides" led to our decision to go up. The climb was about 800' over a half mile or so and intense. The mid-day sun at our backs and loose slopes ahead made for a strenuous climb. At the top, we encountered the first sign of other humans, a fire-fighter, who directed us to our destination at Long Lake. Our route looped us under Square Lake and up onto the ridge one over from Long Lake. The fire-fighter said the next ridge over from Long Lake was where the major fire burns and that it was unlikely it would reach us. Reassured of our route and that we wouldn't have to flee from a fire in the middle of the night, we proceeded. The trail crossed a meadow, lush and green with alpine springs, from the continuously melting snow pack. Above it rose 8000' Mt. Linn, still with some snow on her otherwise brown and barren sides. Over the next ride, snow-fed springs fed into our destination of Long Lake. We climbed the short distance to her banks. Then, we scouted potential camp areas and settled in for a well-earned lunch. After deciding where to set up camp, it was necessary to evaluate the lake's fishing potential. Initially, it looked quite disappointing, but the afternoon sun soon revealed a half dozen or so large brown trout. Several quick casts did not go unrewarded. A nice sized trout took the bait and was released back. We spent the rest of the light hours exploring our surroundings, but planned to do more fishing in the evening.

The next morning after landing an enormous trout, and also returning it to the icy Long Lake waters, we headed to the alpine meadow with the intent to summit Mt. Linn. Climbing up snow pack and skeet covered mountains, we ascended about 1800' and sumitted Mt. Linn. In the distance we could see the fires, a ridge over from Long Lake. Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen and what we believed to be the Trinity Alps could also be seen off in the distance. We became a little concerned about the forest fire slowly approaching and decided to check in with another group we saw over at Square Lake. There was no word from the CDF to the neighboring lake folk and so our next venture was to head over the ridge and check the fire for ourselves. We climbed past alpine meadows, through fir forests, over a snow field and across a series of shadeless ridges until we saw the path of the 100-acre fire. Again assured that we were out of harm's way, we proceeded back to the camp for some swimming and more fishing.

The next day we headed out via the Ides Cove Loop trail, past Square Lake this time and its neighboring emerald alpine meadow. All too quickly we were back to the car. Instead of returning through Paskenta and back to I5, we decided to try crossing Mendocino Pass and go through Covelo to Hwy 101. The landscape never ceased to be spectacular. In Willits we stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, at the far end of the old town. For the second time, I was impressed by my combo choice of pollo asado taco and enchilada. It was fresh, delicious and authentic - muy casera - and a perfect end to a weekend in the wilderness.