08-08-2025 An Extra Day to Explore, Medicine Lake Eagles and Visiting Eagle Lake

This post won't be a long one. I thought about adding this part of our trip to the last post, but decided that the eagles warranted their own story.  

Eagle Lake in September of 2024

I wanted Deborah to see Eagle Lake, where Mo and I camped last September.  Deb loves to fish, and Eagle Lake is well known for its spectacular Eagle Lake trout, a variety that is only found in that large, mostly shallow lake near Highway 395 in California.

At first, we thought we could pack up Friday morning and then drive south to the lake, leaving the MoHo at a rest area on the highway.  Thinking about it a bit more, we decided that was dumb, and we should simply stay one more night at Medicine Lake and return after our southern sojourn to Eagle Lake.

It was no trouble to add another night to our stay at Medicine Lake.  With the Lifetime Golden Age Pass, the fee for camping at our site was a mere $7.50 with an additional $2.50 for Deb's car.  I slept a bit restlessly the night before, worrying about just how far it was to reach Eagle Lake.  I didn't dig out the maps, which might have been the smart thing to do.  Instead, I estimated that it was probably 80 miles or so to the lake from where we were camped.  Wishful thinking.

Mo and I woke up again to see Medicine Lake silky smooth, without a trace of wind, and with gorgeous, clear skies. One last kayak before we leave.  This time, I made the effort to pack up the Nikon in the dry bag, hoping for another day with an eagle or two around to photograph.

Mo was a good sport about handling the big camera as we passed it back and forth between the kayaks.  She wanted to get a photo of me, like so many that I have taken of her with her boat reflected on the water.

Approaching the meadow on the south side of the lake, I could barely see the first eagle with its head shadowed by a branch. From a distance, the white tail is what caught my eye.

We continued along the southern shore, and by the time we reached the western side of the lake, we had spotted seven eagles.  From one vantage point, we could see five at once.

There were at least three mature birds, with the fully white head that only develops after they are four or five years old.

Several of the eagles were younger, maybe 2 or 3 years old, based on the brown feathers still showing on their heads.

Another full adult eagle on the west side of the lake

Another young one, a few hundred feet northwest of the older bird

From this point, Mo and I could see five eagles at the same time, but when I zoomed out enough to see all five, they were almost invisible.  Here you can see three if you look closely.

Mo and I spent about two hours watching the eagles from our boats, and we paddled slowly around the lake.  I kept saying, "No more photos! We have a long drive ahead of us today!"  But then another magnificent bird would appear, and I would stop and spend more time getting the perfect shot.

Deb didn't mind the time we were gone because it gave her time to relax and enjoy the lake with Mattie, have her breakfast, and do the simple morning things that she had missed on the previous day when we took off in the boats so early.

Our destination for our spontaneous day trip was Eagle Lake, which was actually 132 miles each way from our campground, just 15 miles north of Susanville, California.  We decided that having a late lunch, early supper in Susanville would be a great idea.

When Mo and I camped at Eagle Lake in September of last year, the American white pelicans had arrived for their fall migration.  We love these birds, having spent many years in their company kayaking the wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin.

Kayaking with pelicans and grebes in 2024 at Eagle Lake, California

This year, when we reached the marina, we saw just three pelicans.  The other reason for visiting was to introduce Deborah to Gina, the proprietor at the Eagle Lake Marina.  Gina is wonderfully friendly and willing to share her knowledge about the best way to catch the famous Eagle Lake Trout.

Gina at the Eagle Lake Marina. Sadly for us, Gina was off traveling in Munich, Germany, this year.

We drove back to the Merril campground, where we stayed last year, and Deb liked how it looked.  It is VERY different from Medicine Lake, with level ground, hookups, bathrooms, and level campsites.

View of the lake from the Merril Campground in September 2024

Obviously, camping at Eagle Lake is a very different experience from camping at Medicine Lake, and we have enjoyed each, but Medicine Lake is our treasured spot.

Deb enjoyed seeing the lake and really enjoyed driving through the high desert juniper grasslands along Highway 395.  Our supper in Susanville was a bit of a bust at the Lumberjack restaurant.  The reason we stopped was for the shade where we could park for Mattie.  Restaurants with outside seating don't exist in Susanville, it seems, and the day was hot.  The menu was extensive, but the food left a lot to be desired.  My sweet potato fries were good, but the rest of our meal was completely forgettable.

The view as we left Susanville to continue north back to Medicine Lake was gorgeous.  The hill is steep with no place to pull over for photos, so I had to be content with this one from a moving car.

We realized later that neither of us had taken many photos.  Deb took a photo at the beginning of the back road to the community of Spalding on the west side of the lake.  She said she tries to get sign photos so she can remember where she has been.

When we arrived back at camp for the evening, it was almost 8 PM, and it was already beginning to get dark.

In spite of the long day and the late hour, we had no desire to miss out on the last campfire of the trip.  Once again, Mo did her campfire magic, and we settled in to watch the lake under the night sky.

Saturday morning, the three of us and Mattie bid goodbye to what we know for sure is our most favorite lake ever.  Now even more special because we could share it with Deborah.

08-07-2025 Another Day Exploring, A Morning Kayak, a drive to Glass Mountain and a hike to the Medicine Lake Glass Flow

Early morning miasma on the lake with the air temperature at 34F

This morning, it was Deborah's turn to get out on the lake during the early morning stillness. There is no better time to be out paddling.  Even though it was cold when we got up, by the time we were on the water, the sun warmed us enough that we had to take off our jackets. 

Lots of delightful vignettes to during a slow paddle on the lake

Since we have paddled this lovely lake every single day, I thought I would share a little bit of geologic information.  Feel free to skip this part if it is too detailed.  I love this stuff and I think a few readers do as well.

Medicine Lake is a small lake just 4 miles wide and 7 miles long. It is nestled in a caldera that may have formed by collapse after a large volume of andesite was erupted from vents along the caldera rim.  No single large eruption has been related to this caldera formation. The only eruption recognized to have produced ash flow tuff occurred in late Pleistocene time, and this eruption was too small to account for the formation of the caldera. 

Deb and I were on the lake for a couple of hours, and the winds never came up

Later theories are that Medicine Lake caldera formed by collapse in response to repeated extrusions of mostly mafic (darker colored basaltic) lava beginning early in the history of the volcano, somewhat similar to the formation of Kilauea caldera in Hawaii. The small lake from which Medicine Lake volcano derives its name lies within the central caldera.

The broad shield volcano that forms the Medicine Lake Highlands began to grow about one million years ago, following the eruption of a large volume of basalt. During the past 11,000 years, eruptive activity at Medicine Lake Volcano has been episodic. Eight eruptions produced about 1.3 cubic miles of basaltic lava during a time interval of a few hundred years, about 10,500 years ago. That eruptive episode was followed by a period of calm that ended with a small andesitic eruption about 4,300 years ago. During the most recent eruptive episode between 3,000 and 900 years ago, there have been 8 eruptions.  

The area called Glass Mountain is large enough to be seen from miles away on Highway 139

Even though we have been there often, when we are in Medicine Lake, Mo and I usually take the back road drive to Glass Mountain, specifically to hike up to the best outcrop of black obsidian we have ever seen.  We were excited to share this amazing spot with Deborah, and after lunch, we piled into Deb's car for another back road trip.  Mattie was best left at home in the cool and safe MoHo, since hiking on shards of glass isn't good for little pup's feet.

Negotiating the rough, rocky tracks that are "trails" around the area can be tough

The goal is to stand next to this gorgeous obsidian outcrop

Glass Mountain is a large, solidified flow of volcanic glass, specifically obsidian, which is a type of volcanic glass formed from cooled lava. It originated from the eastern caldera rim of Medicine Lake volcano, with the lava flowing down the eastern flank of the volcano. 

Trying to manage a decent pose on the sharp glass outcrop can be challenging

Daughter Deb had a much easier time climbing around than I did

The flow is composed of rhyolite and dacite, which are types of volcanic rock. The formation involved an initial explosive phase with ash and pumice, followed by the oozing of thick, glassy lava flows. The Glass Mountain obsidian flow is relatively young, dating back about 950 years. 

Yesterday, from the top of Little Mount Hoffman, we could see Little Glass Mountain, in the photo above. It is a specific area within the larger Glass Mountain formation, known for its high flow front of broken obsidian and pumice. A few years ago, Mo and I drove down to explore Little Glass Mountain.  It was interesting, but not nearly as dramatic as Glass Mountain, with obsidian that was dark gray rather than pure black.

A photo I took in 2003 of the lighter colored obsidian at Little Glass Mountain

Something else I need to mention: In all the photos I have taken over the years, I have never seen any evidence of beetle kill in the area.  Sadly, if you look closely at some of our photos, you see brown and dying trees, mostly high-elevation lodgepole.  With increasing temperatures and repeating drought cycles, the trees can no longer resist the invasion.  It is a story that is happening throughout western forests from the Sierras in California all the way north into British Columbia and Alaska.  It made me sad to see this happening at Medicine Lake.

View of Medicine Lake from the Caldera Rim in 2003. No beetle kill in sight

Beetle kill in our campground at Medicine Lake

There is no quick fix for this problem on such a huge scale.  Most of the timber at this elevation isn't marketable, so timber companies aren't interested.  The US Forest Service is so overwhelmingly understaffed and underfunded that it cannot thin or burn, or even cut down the dying trees.  The last resort of using pesticides is much too expensive to consider. It is heartbreaking to see this happening in our beautiful Western forests. In 2022, in California alone, bark beetles affected more than 1.9 million acres of forest land. This is a significant increase from the 780,000 acres affected in 2021. 

Typical lunch: apples and peanut butter, cheese and crackers, chips and dip, and apples and carrots for Mattie

We returned to camp for a late lunch and an afternoon relaxing before going for a short hike just north of the campground to the Medicine Lake Glass Flow.  While not as dramatic as Glass Mountain, the edge of the Glass Flow is just a short .75 miles from the campground on an easy, mostly level hike on a nice trail.

It was perfect for Mattie, and we encountered no one else on the trail. It was ok to let Mattie off-leash since she minds well when called, and there wasn't another soul around.

After our hike and supper, it was time for...you guessed it...another beautiful campfire.

Once again we were treated to a magnificent show of sunset and a rising moon, with the lake reflecting the changing light and the sparkling moonlight on the water.  

Mo had me take many photos of that water reflection, trying to see the sparkle.  I discovered that a still photo cannot capture it adequately, and when I finally took a video, it was easy to see how the rippling water reflected the moonlight.

Originally, this was supposed to be our last night at Medicine Lake, but I got a wild idea as we sat by the fire, and we made the decision to extend our stay for one more night.  There was one more destination we wanted to share with Deb. Tomorrow I will write about our road trip and post the photos of the eagles I got on that last morning with the "real" camera.

08-06-2025 A Day Exploring the Medicine Lake Highlands

 

Mount Shasta view from the road leading to the Little Hoffman Lookout

After our morning kayak, the three of us ate an early lunch before our next outing for the day.  Deb was tickled to have the opportunity to try out her Subaru Crosstrek Expedition on a real dirt backcountry route.  The road leading to the lookout is about 4 miles of dirt, rock, and gullies through forest that has been cleared and only partially cleared up after what appeared to be a prescribed burn. She drove it like a champ and was tickled with her little car that is mostly used on the freeway between her home here in Grants Pass and Central Point near Medford, where she works.

After 4 miles or so, we arrived at the locked gate at the entrance to the somewhat steep gravel road that leads to the lookout at the mountain summit. 

Mo and I hiking up to the Lookout in July of 2014 (notice the jackets)

Mo and I hiking up to the lookout in August of 2025

We have done this hike several times over the years, always looking forward to the magnificent views that open up at the top of the mountain.  Each year, I get the opportunity to check my progress as I compare how much harder it might be for me as my "thing" progresses.  I am happy to report that with sticks and a slow pace, I did as well as last year.  A great sign that with this slow progression, I probably won't live long enough to end up in a wheelchair.

Almost there!

Deb and Mo taking photos of flowers and views along the road to the lookout

The Little Mt. Hoffman lookout was constructed in the 1920's and was used by the Forest Service on a regular basis until 1978. It is one of the few remaining historic lookouts on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lookout is still occasionally used by the Forest Service in times of extreme fire danger.

Staying at the lookout would be a unique and memorable experience. From a height of 7,309 feet, Little Mount Hoffman offers a spectacular view of Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, Mt. McLoughlin, and a variety of other interesting landforms. From the Tulelake Basin in the north to the Fall River Valley in the south, the 360-degree view offers a glimpse of some of Northern California and Southern Oregon's most unique and beautiful scenery. 

The lookout has been restored to its original character

For just $75. per night, you can rent the lookout by reserving at Recreation.gov.  There are bathrooms, but there is no drinking water, and you must pack up what you will need for your stay.  Also, there is a fire pit if you bring your own wood, and there are no restrictions at the time of your reservation.  It says nothing about this on the website, but I did read somewhere that they open the gate for renters to drive up the road rather than having to pack wood and water and food to the site.

All three of us thought that might be a wonderful thing to do someday. We can even bring our dog if she remains leashed.

The views in all directions are simply spectacular.  I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to spend the night up there watching the skies and the stars.

Here is a website for information about renting the lookout: Little Hoffman Lookout

Just for fun, Deb pulled up the Peak Finder app to see the names of all the mountains we could see from the lookout.  It was great to have a signal up there as well, and we caught up on emails and text messages before going back down to the lake, where there is no signal. Access to the internet would be a nice benefit while staying in the lookout, with apps about weather and the night skies and flight radar adding to the natural beauty of the place.

We returned to camp in time to relax a bit before supper and another gorgeous campfire. This time it was spaghetti made at home, a really good salad, garlic bread, and best of all, one of our favorite wines. Klinker Brick Winery in Lodi has the very best old vine zins around, and Old Ghost is truly delicious.

Mo built another perfect campfire, and we snuggled with the dog and blankies, and jackets as we watched the sunset and the almost full moon rising once again over the lake.

Tomorrow, another day of exploring as we visit Glass Mountain and the Glass Flow at Medicine Lake