Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Dunnigan to Orland to Black Butte Reservoir

Black Butte Reservoir, CA

    After spending the night at the Happy Time RV Park at Road 8 and former Highway 99W[est], where I only paid $10 for parking my 3/4-ton truck and camper in a tent site, I drove north on I-5 to Orland to use the Orland Free Library.
    While the library has free WiFi they change their passcode from time to time on their secured network; because of that I had to delete the entry made by my laptop's operating system (Vista) last December in order to enter a new passcode. [Incidentally, while I do sometimes park in front of McDonalds or Starbucks outlets to use their WiFi's from the cab of my pickup, I prefer libraries since most of them allow one to plug the laptop's power cord into an AC outlet.]

    As I was catching up on e-mail after a day off-line [except to check driving directions at a Suisun City McDonalds] I learned that the current Orland Community Center was originally a Carnegie Grant Library opened in 1920 and designed by William H. Weeks, a longtime resident of Watsonville in Santa Cruz County.

 

 

    After taking 3 photos of Orland's earlier Carnegie Library I drove west to Black Butte Revervoir, a Corps of Engineers project constructed from 1959 to 1963.

 

 

    Here's a view from the overlook area to the left of the dam looking east toward Orland. To the southeast about 30 minutes prior to the time this photo was taken a tornado touched down north of Yuba City.

 

 

 

 

    A shot of the measuring station at the reservoir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    A small butte near one of the many arms of the reservoir.

 

 

 

 

 

    In addition to camping areas for RVs, truck campers like mine, and tents, there are also day-use areas for which the fee is $4. [Incidentally, becuase I have a Golden Age Pass, the $14 fee was cut in half to $7, the 2nd-lowest price I've paid to dry-camp; the posted price is $18 before such discounts. I stayed at the Buckhorn Campground.]

 

 

    The back or western side of the bigger (southernmost) of the two buttes; also called Orland Buttes. [Click 1 or 2 times to zoom in on the antenna.] The northernmost butte near the dam is the basis for the name of the reservoir.
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Links:

T 31 May Actual Route: Lathrop - Manteca - Stockton - Rio Vista -Suisun City - Vacaville - Dunnigan

W 1 Jun Actual Route: Dunnigan - Orland - Black Butte Reservoir

Th 2 Jun Actual Route: Black Butte Reservoir - Orland - Sacto Riv RV Pk

F 3 Jun Route: Sacto Riv RV Pk - Redding - Shingletown

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