Bucks Lake

Twenty miles west of Quincy, and nearly 2,000 feet higher elevation, lies Bucks Lake, 1,800 acre reservoir surrounded by forests, a few homes, and pristine air. 

 

And the occasional lake user….a few boats, a few sunbathers, but it was Tuesday, I am sure the weekends draw many more people.

We drove the east, south and west side of the lake.  There are a few campgrounds, but no hookups other than spigots to fill up your water tank, and dump station when you want to leave.  Oh, another thing you need to leave is $23 per night, $25 if it is a “lakeside” slot.  There are camp hosts at each park, and although they each has class A motorhomes, mostly what we saw where trailers and small 5th wheels and small class Cs. 

On the West side of the lake is the dam (above), on the other side of the dam the water is released through the hydroelectric turbine (bottom left) and runs down Bucks Creek….

  

…Into Lower Bucks Lake (below).  Lower Bucks lake is a pleasant surprise, but you can only get a glimps of it through the trees unless you go down dirt forest road, something we try not to do very often with the HHR, especially when it is really “down” as in “down hill”.

Oh yes, the other bonus to it all….while it was around 88 in Quincy, it was only 76 up around Bucks Lake, and this was at 4:00 pm.  There are many lakes up in the Sierras, many of which requires one to backpack in, but others are like Bucks Lake, an easy drive with camping locations near the lake.  The higher up in elevation you go, the cooler the temperatures are.  Although these campgrounds, run by PG&E, are just way to many $$$$ for just a place to put up your tent or park your trailer/camper, there are other parks which are National Forest parks which typically run from free to $12….but we only saw one National Forest Camp Ground near Bucks Lake.  A quick search into Dispersed Camping opportunities in the area shows some free campgrounds further west of Bucks Lake, and Plumas National Forest website on Dispersed Camping.

Tomorrow we head back down to the hot valley, and it is going to be back in the 100’s very quick.  Another week at the Loomis RV park, and then hopefully at my sister’s house until we take off for another adventure.