Hayden Hill and the Lost Volks

We were going to hike in the Warner Mountains but left too late in the day on Friday to make it all the way up to far northern California before night fall. Instead, we saw some likely looking reservoirs on the map north of Eagle Lake in northern Lassen County. What ended up happening is that we never found any reservoirs. We camped the first night in a burn area and the next day kept going, expecting to use the GPS to find a short cut back to Hwy 139 so we could go on our way. It was like the frog in ever increasing hot water... we should have gone back but back was increasingly far and we thought we could do it based on the map. Still the roads were nothing but old hints of tracks over rocky ground, high up in the sage, juniper and antelope of the high desert. We were doing pretty well...just past where this photo was taken in a place you might find on Google Earth, called Long Valley, when a small rock punctured the oil pan and we came to be stopped once and for all.
Long story short, Michael hiked out seven miles to the nearest neighbor's. Luckily they were kind and generous and came back for Sasha and I in their high clearance truck and we stayed over at their off the grid cabin, 10 miles from their next closest neighbor.

While there I took a ride with them out to the Dream Catcher Horse Rescue Ranch and heard their concerns about over grazing and lack of responsibility in the care of these horses by this non-profit. It was very concerning.

Our new friends are incredibly hard working and creative establishing and maintaining a comfortable life for themselves in retirement far from anywhere.

I just wish we hadn't done the drive in my new veggie wagon. We now get it about how low and vulnerable the clearance is...It was too tempting and we were too confident. Now Michael and friend Peter are out there. Who knows if they will even be able to find the car, much less get it loaded up and safely hauled back for repairs. It's 7000 feet elevation up there so they are prepared but a lot could go wrong.

I'm glad I got to meet wonderful new friends but don't know if it was worth it for the trouble we have caused ourselves. Happy Less Labor Day to you.