From Susanville, our route took us into higher and drier country, routes 139 and then mostly 395, sparser vegetation and water features, but still great scenery if you have a taste for desert landscapes, as the fella* says. The most stunning aspect of all this, as we entered Oregon, was Lake Abert (the former ancient Lake Chewaucan; said to have been the size of San Francisco Bay at one time), and, towering above it, the Abert Rim or escarpment, one of the largest in North America. Our days of driving, so far, have been typical Western basin and range, many of the basins featuring dry or drying lakes like Abert. But Abert is hanging in there, too salty for anything but brine shrimp, good eating for a variety of birds, not least migrating Canada geese. We stopped for some pix and then carried on to a nice, brand new rest area on route 20, a few miles east of Riley.
Camping savage, as the French say. As usual, we were not alone.
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| The road going ever on, by lake and rim |
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| Abert Lake |
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| The opportunity for one of those reflection in the lake pix was irresistible |
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A bit of the 30 mile long Abert Rim; and terrain; ranges from 1,000 to 2,500
feet above the lake; so the sign said; seen bigger ones in Namibia |
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| And the road went ever on |
*Willard van Orman Quine
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