Humboldt County in California is full of wonders and wonderful places to explore. Prairie Creek. Fern Canyon. And all the surf checks (and surfing) at the lagoons. Big Lagoon. Stone Lagoon. Freshwater Lagoon.
This week we drove out to Blue Lake. On the 101, we headed out to Orick (and saw Betty’s store had closed) and into Yurok country. The valley was enveloped in smoke, from the fires that still continue to rage on in California. The air was so fresh at the top of the mountain, where we passed Skookum Prairie. And so beautiful. The fall colours were beginning to show; the last time we came up it was hot and we were heading out to the Trinity River for the afternoon.
It took more than two hours with the narrow single-lane windy road. Thankfully Blue Lake, at over 1700 feet elevation, was above the smoke. We parked by the wooden fence and started off on a short hike around Blue Lake.
This place is not well-marked and you can easily miss it. You probably either grew up in the area or heard about it from locals. Blue Lake is quiet – I don’t remember hearing any birds.
I’m told that on a sunny day, the lake looks blue. Not on the day we went. Even under the brilliant sun, it can be spooky to swim in. You can’t see the bottom. That’s what Wade told me, when we had already walked out into the lake on fallen trees. It did feel eery! Like we were being watched, from the trees, and from beneath. We were sure we were.
Plus… so the story goes that every so often the whole lake drains, through some sink hole. And people have been found all the way out in rivers far from the lake. Yeah…
The other thing about Blue Lake… it’s past Weitchpec on Route 96, aka “Bigfoot Scenic Byway”. It’s very close to where the Patterson–Gimlin film was taken. Yep, Sasquatch country.
The afternoon we went, it was completely empty. The weird/funny thing is, I don’t remember hearing any birds, even though we must have seen a dozen grey squirrels and birds fluttering in the bushes on the way there and back.
It was a very interesting experience, shall we say?
We walked out on a tree that had fallen. He said that one time, there were several trees and they walked all the way out to the middle of the lake. In hindsight, leaving my backpack and my camera gear before venturing out on the log would have been easier. I asked him to go all the way to the end for some photos while I got about 3/4 way out. Taking off my flip flops and walking back barefoot with my grippy toes was the key!
Have you been to Blue Lake? What was your experience? What about other similar places? I’ve definitively travelled to natural and man-made places that there was a certain palpable energy.