Big Bald Rock

DATE: Sunday, May 3, 2020
DISTANCE: 2.4 km / 1.5 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 109m / 358 ft.
TIME: 1:06
SUMMIT: Big Bald Rock: 998m / 3274 ft.
PLUMAS NATIONAL FOREST
BUTTE COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Rush: I Think I'm Going Bald

PHOTO ALBUM
MAP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Bald Rock is part of a granitic pluton that, in a few places near Berry Creek, breaks through the dirt and pines, the most notable of these being Bald Rock Dome towering over the Feather River canyon. More on that HERE, if you can't wait.  Big Bald Rock is a pretty minor granite outcropping compared to other places in the Sierra Nevada, but a fun place to visit if you're in the area.

A Covid-19 pandemic, my job job dissolved, collecting unemployment, all the time in the world to go hiking and camping. The hiking has been flowing freely and generously, as you've seen in recent posts, but camping is a little harder to come by, as almost every campground in the state is closed. The solution? Know someone who owns a piece of land, and camp on that. And it was with this in mind that Amber picked me up in Oakland on Sunday morning, and hauled us to the unlikely location of Berry Creek, California, just up the hill from Oroville, where an old friend of hers not only owns lands with a house on it, but has also built, to my delight, an epic treehouse there, which I climbed later, of course. Having sussed out the area around Berry Creek beforehand, in anticipation of the trip, I knew that Big Bald Rock was just up the road from there, and would make a good, short, afternoon hike. 

So, after camp had been established in the field across from the house in Berry Creek, we were off to spend the late afternoon on Big Bald Rock, just a short distance up Bald Rock Road. The trail from the parking lot, through the trees, to the exposed granite area was just a few minutes walk, and though there were people around, they were dispersed, and social distancing was no problem. It had actually been awhile since I had feasted my senses on such a display of open granite, and I was mentally teleported back to my childhood days at Shealor Lake. I walked around the area, giving in the the compulsion to scramble. I got up to the high point of the dome with some gratuitous class three. I climbed a crack, saw a cool broken tablet looking thing, then up at the top, I found the benchmark, and frolicked amongst the boulders improbably stacked on top. Real high point is not the benchmark. There were fine views out into the Sacramento Valley, of the Sutter Buttes, and as far as (what I later determined to be) Bald Eagle Mountain in the east, and Pike County Peak in the south. My hopes of seeing Mount Lassen were not met. I could have stayed and played around for hours, but the end of the day was coming soon, stomachs were growling, and there was a longing for the enjoyments of camp. I bid farewell to the grand granite playground, and transitioned to the next adventure, the tree house. Then the next adventure, drinking lots of whiskey by the fire pit and somehow losing my favorite hat.

...to be continued. 

FURTHER READING
•Only In Your State: Description and good photographs
•Alltrails: Big Bald Rock Extended Loop
•Forest Service Page