Today, we wandered.....

   Today we had no set schedule or plan, so we thought we'd knock around and see what was on Hiway 70 west, out of Portola. It turns out there's quite a lot to see, if you like railroading and pretty scenery.  I shot video today, and Patsy took the stills.
    I really don't know where to start, but I guess I gotta start somewhere.....
   Patsy stopped at a Tourist Information "joint" and learned we were on the very route of Plumas County's "7 Wonders of Plumas County". Can you imagine our excitement?.....LOL.
   We missed a few of the "Wonders" 'cuz we couldn't find them with directions given....But we found a bunch of them.
   One of the "wonder"s we found was the "Williams Loop". It's a piece of track which goes in a circle and crosses over itself. The Union Pacific Railroad did this to gain elevation, but not end up having to climb a steep grade. Their Charter said they would never exceed a 1% grade through the Sierras. We couldn't see then entire loop, but we were able to park the rig and walk down and see what we could. There is a beautiful little river running along side the tracks. I don't remember it's name, but it might be the North Fork of the Feather River.

This is the actual point where the track crosses over itself. If you entered through the lower track, you'd go one mile on the loop, and then cross over on the upper track. They run long trains through here, and sometimes the engine crosses over the rwst of the train, right here. we were hoping a Train would come, but none did. We were here for an hour or so, looking around and waiting.

Here's a shot of the track that approaches the upper part of the crossing, Which is about 200 yards to the left of this picture. The scenery was just beautiful. There's a pond in the middle of the loop, and a bunch of forest, etc.. The pictures don't do it justice.

Here's the pond, and a shot of both tracks, after the crossing. The lower one exiting the tunnel, and the upper one crossing over the tunnel. You can see the elevation they gained without having to climb a steeper grade..

Here is a shot of one of the tributaries to the pond. I guess this was engineered to do some sort of function, but I don't know what it might be.

  We continued on 70 West, looking fo more wonders. We came to the Keddie Wye. It's named after the Surveyor who climbed and hiked through this area, long ago, to plan the route of the railroad through the Sierras. There's a little town named Keddie, but it is all but dead.
  This is a place where the track splits. On one leg it goes toward Quincy and Portola. I'm not sure where the other leg goes, as I haven't checked a map yet. The most interesting thing about this wye is that it is all built on supports, like a Trestle. As our luck would have it, when we found the Wye there was a train on it, taking the left  fork. The view of the wye snuck up on us quickly, and there was no where to park, so, by the time we got turned around, and got back, the train had just finished crossing the wye. But we did take some pics, without a train......
 

Although I couldn't see the approach to this Wye, I think it must come through a tunnel. I think that may be what forced them to construct this wye over the canyon. It would have neen really hard to accomplish in a tunnel, using manual labor.....Like I said before, the right fork heads to Quincy and Portola. Down in the canyon, at the base of the supports was a house. It looked like someone lived there. I wonder if they work for the railroad?
 At the bottom of the canyon was another beautiful river. This was a pretty scenic place, for sure!
  On to the next "Wonder!

  The picture at the top is a pic of the river that runs under this "Wonder". This is an unusual happening, as there is a bridge on the road that crosses the river, and a bridge where the train crosses over the road and the river. So the claim to fame is the triple layer of train, car & river.

When we got out of the mountains we were in farm country. we drove by fields of Rice for 20 miles, at least. Farm machinery shares the hiway with regular traffic, and it moves sloooooow. We were lucky. All the farm machinery was going the other way.

  We ended up in Williams, at a seedy little Rv / Trailer Park. But it's better than a Walmart parking lot, and we're only here one night.
  Tomorrow we should get to Fort Bragg and camp a few days before we ride the Skunk Train from Fort Bragg to Willits. But really we don' have to be there until Monday.... With luck, it will be pulled by a Shay Locomotive. No biggy to most of you, but Patsy's Dad and I both know what a weird little engine a Shay is.....LOL
So, that's about all the news that's fit to print.....I won't tell you what happened to Patsy in the shower this morning.......