It was supposed to be really cold last night but the weather guys flubbed it. It was forecast to be 20 degrees or a bit lower but it never dropped below a balmy 32. However, it is gorgeous outside during the day. Today we took a spin through what some local people and businesses refer to as the State of Jefferson*. In regular English, the part we went exploring in today was in the State of California on the northwest side of Mount Shasta.
It is a gorgeous assortment of jagged volcanic cliffs, rolling hills with juniper trees and sagey stuff, some pine forest, flat grass pasturelands filled with many cattle and some deer, all overshadowed by the massive volcano Mount Shasta to the southeast. Mount Shasta makes the surrounding mountains look like pimples on an arid landscape.
We started out by driving due east from Yreka on CA-3 through Montague where the road name changed to Ball Mountain Little Shasta Road (imagine that in your return address). After a few miles, the road turns a few times before transforming again, this time into Lower Little Shasta Road. Not much further on, the name changed again into Harry Cash Road, turning and heading almost due south toward Mt. Shasta. The volcano is a whopper and filled up the whole windshield.
After more pleasant driving, we intersected US-97 and turned southwest toward the mountain town of Weed. We only went the wrong way a little bit before finding our way through town and onto Old Highway 99S which wanders along the western edge of the enormous valley and west of I-5. We cruised up this fine rural road back to Yreka. It was a spectacular drive.
*The State of Jefferson is apparently a group of folks with extensive farm and ranch land holdings, plus Trump voters and conspiracy loonies that want to have some southern Oregon and northern California rural counties secede, forming a 51st state. Consulting their website, I found that the folks wanting to secede allege that the California government is somehow filled with traitors, commies, girls, Deep State secret operatives, extraterrestrial visitors, immigrants, Democrats and other people that aren’t rich, white & Trumpies. The State of Jeffersonians want them gone and to have their own state where gerrymandering would be pointless. There was no information regarding the massive road, farm and business subsidies the state gives them and what would happen once they no longer had the massive tax bases to keep them in cops, roads forests, farms, ranches and businesses. They should probably give their proposed rebel state a more appropriate name like State of Ignorance, Incontinence, Insanity or National Socialists.
To make it even better, a further search of the internet unveiled an interesting tidbit about Mount Shasta: It is rated #5 of volcanoes most likely to erupt in the United States. St. Helens and Kilauea have already met their obligation and Mt. Hood and Mount Shasta are scheduled next. If eruption occurs here, and it will, the whole State of Jefferson with be within the new State of Incineration or Immolation.
We took a few pix along the way. Click the link to see ’em. https://photos.app.goo.gl/1CAmsz2uqGnF4ztv8