The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

The silence in the cab was unnerving. I just knew that at any second she just might explode. I could tell she was doing her darnest to not say what was on her mind. I mean, geeze, it wasn’t like I had never taken a shortcut before was it?

“Well honey, according to this map and my reckoning we are right here at this “T” intersection, see?” As I pointed to the map and broke the silence.

She looked over, or to be more precise, she turned her head and gave me “The Look”, and then rolled her lovely eyes.

“Dang Honey, we’ve already well past half way and it’s only another inch or so to where we are headed” I offered. Please remember that at this point we had been driving for one and a half-hours and had not even seen a cow much less another vehicle.

She finally spoke “Yea, like you could turn this truck with the boat behind it around anyway?”

Ok, so the road and I use the term loosely, had pretty much turned into a path less traveled. I sat looking at the intersection collecting my thoughts and trying my best to think how I could start filling in the hole I was surely digging deeper each time I opened my mouth.

The sign sure didn’t help matters. One arrow pointed east saying “Dismal Swamp” the other arrow pointed west saying “Cave Lake” our destination. The bleached out steer head at the base of the post multiplied my predicament.

Finally I said “ Pretty neat log cabin we past just back a bit, can you imagine how it must have been to live way back here when that place was built?” (maneuver number one – change the subject)

More silence.

“Ok” I said, “yer absolutely, 100% right. This shortcut really wasn’t so short. I messed up and I should have listen to you, sorry honey” (maneuver number two – tell her she is right)

“But how was I to know? On the map ther’s two ways to go, one was a much longer winding, twisting red line on the map and the other was this much shorter light gray line.” I offered, but then realized the hole I was digging just got a foot deeper.

She finally said “Just keep driving, but remember, you owe me.”

Taking “short-cuts” while traveling is something I’ve done all my life. Many times I would say. “hey look here on the map, looks like this road is a shortcut.” Normally this was followed by a collective moan from the kids in the backseat and “The Look” from my wife. A healthy sense of adventure does not run in the family.

About an hour later we are slowly going down a steep grade and you can see Cave Lake off to the side.
Ok, so it was off and down a very steep side to be exact. The road at this point is exactly 3.4 inches wider then my truck, and is primarily composed of football size round cobblestones, and yes, we are in low range 4x4 and yet we are still sliding/rolling down the grade, and no, I am not totally out of control…………yet.

Finally we reach the bottom and pull into the campground, all 3 spaces. My lovely wife, being a bit over dramatic, jumps out of the truck and kisses the ground, all the while mumbling something. I did catch a few words, but this is a family orientated board so I can’t repeat them here.

There was one other person in the campground that had watch our descent and grand entrance. He came walking over, chuckling to himself. He walks up to my wife and says “ See you took the long way from Fort Bidwell, did you notice the pretty neat old log cabin.”

Worthwhile Short Cuts I have taken:

Quincy to La Porte (Note: Road is not passable after first snowfall)

Alleghany to Downieville via Forest

Likely to Eagleville via Blue Lake road

Yellow Creek to Chico via Humbug Summit Road.

Midpoint on the Willits Road (to Ft Bragg ), take the dirt turnoff just before McGuire’s Pond

Butte Valley Reservoir to Belden (Note: when you start down the grade, put a blindfold on your wife)

Chico to Magalia via Centerville

Chico to Bucks Lake via Berry Creek (Note: this road has since been paved so it no longer is considered a shortcut)

Shortcuts on my list, but not yet taken

Chico to Ft. Bragg, via Round Valley

Chico to Bucks Lake via Four Trees Road (off Hwy 70)

Now remember, these are only shortcuts in Northern California.
Feel free to add to the list.

Paul

Paul the trouble with short cuts is you may never get where you're going. I like to take them on the way out...with my luck that may mean a couple extra bonus days trying to find my way.

there's a short cut to cave lake? where i live there is no shortening a ten hour drive

is this the log cabin?


if you saw cave lake driving down hill you came in from the east side didn't you?

did you spend any time in the swamp?

Ferndale to Petrolia

Bootjack to Wawona via Jerseydale

Los Gatos to Loch Lomand via Bear Creek and Zayante Roads

Somehow I remember a feature on this some time ago.

I'm sure we could talk to the Board Manager and set up a page for this feature!

Phil,

You remember correctly except Carpy's Corner appeared on the FlyFishNorCal not here. Although I would not be suprised to see it brought back here since this site is slowly emulating my site.

Ben

my wife to dismal swamp???



We left Ft. Bidwell. The road over the ridge was shorter,,,,

in miles only.

Paul

looking over my hard drive for stuff to delete..Thought some of the new folks would enjoy it.

sips his rootbeer

dang,,I think I need a water chaser!!

Paul

I know what you mean there Carpbreath. I have the habit of seeing roads and places on a map, just to think to myself "oh, %#*@" when I'm about an hour or more into it and nowhere to turn around. I even took a few "huff & puff" hikes only to find a road at the top! Thank goodness I've mostly been alone when it happens so no one to give me "the look".

Beerfly

A few years back I was takin' my Mother to Montana to visit her Brother and his wife. This would also allow me some prime Cutthroat fishin' in their irrigation ditches in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains...Headin' east on I-84 about halfway between Boise and Mountain Home we ran into a plugged up Freeway, traffic stopped cold, in a line over the horizon. As it happend I could make a right turn and get to the nearby off ramp. Got off the Freeway and took a look at the map and found a grey road that went south then east and connected to another grey road that went back north to I-85 at Mountain Home..."Great! Mom we can get around this mess...Lets go." So off we went after about a half hour of drivn' on dirt we see a sign sayin' "Entering Mountain Home AF Base".. I started thinkin' "oops!" maybe we won't get there from here. Kept going anyway..after another 20 minutes or so I could see a bunch of Humvees and APC's off in the distance with some "Troops" runnin' around...Next thing I saw was a "Caution Live Fire Zone Ahead"..UH, OH ! Now what!?? About that time a Humvee came over the hill and pulled up.. the driver kinda' gave me a "look".. so I asked them whether or not I could get where I wanted to go...The somewhat terse answer was "Yeah but probably not in one piece!" With that, I turned around and beat it back to the freeway which, by the time we got back to it, was free flowing traffic again. It was a "nice drive" and beat sittin' on the freeway for about two hours. Sometime those "grey roads" can lead you astray! Never did find out what held up the traffic..Maybe "live fire" ?? Ha!

Mike

to the point that my son started saying, "Dad, are we taking the long-cut?"

There is a right turn going through Burney (I think its around the Round Table Pizza). The road is nice and paved and quickly devolves into a rough dirt road (perhaps not rough enough for 4X4 only). It ends up on Hwy 89 south, just a little bit north of the turnoff to Rising River and Cassel.

this thread was a classic.

Neal