Honey Lake Rest Area, California

Last October, we made a quick trip to Reno, Nevada.  On the way there, we drove through the Oregon Outback, taking Hwy 31 to Lakeview.  We went through Alturas, and at a little store before driving into Susanville, we turned left, got on Hwy 395 and headed on in to Reno.  It took us right around 8 hours to get to Reno  from  La Pine.   

Somewhere outside of Alturas, the landscape became barren and ugly (at least I thought so).  After several hours, I even started getting irritated by it.  I kept thinking, who would live here?  Actually, hardly anybody does. 

It might have had something to do with my low blood sugar and the lack of mini-marts offering a simple CORN-DOG, but I was saying to myself (and most likely out-loud) ... we are not going to come home the same way that we went this time around.

So, when it came time to come home from Reno, I got creative and worked in an extra day of vacation by suggesting that we drive around Mt. Shasta and spend the night in Ashland.

As we were leaving Nevada and entering California on Hwy 395, I kept seeing something that I couldn't make sense of.  I asked Cary, what is that?  He said, it is a lake.  I said, it looks like a lake, but I don't see any water.  When we would get to a spot with a good view, it looked like there was blonde ash all over the place.  I said, do you think that this is kind of like Summer Lake, but all dried out?  It turns out that was basically what we were looking at ... another alkali flat in The Great Basin.

After quite a few miles of the view above, we came to a welcome oasis, with an explanation of what was going on around there.

In the middle of nowhere, (20 miles east of Susanville, California) there is one of the nicest, greenest, rest areas that I have ever seen. Honey Lake Rest and Wildlife Area.

There were many places for a picnic.

The view behind the restrooms shows a close up of  Honey Lake.   In the front, by the parking lot, there are information plaques telling about the area.  I am going to enlarge the photos of the plaques so that you can read them easier.

Even the rocks were kind of pretty.

That day, it was one of those times when I really appreciated somebody planning and implementing a huge project just so that someday I could have my questions answered pleasantly and in a timely manner.  I think that parks are a fine way of generational giving, don't you?

Well, there you go.  A bit of history, and some pretty autumn pictures on this cold winter day.

God bless,

~ Kathy M.

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