Snake Bit

California seems snake bit. With the state reeling from forest closures to accommodate wildfire management, sunsets in which red balls drop through haze toward shimmering horizons and Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, we’re exhausted, fed up and looking for escape.

Meadow Valley color spotter Michael Beatley returned to his Plumas County home, after a 5-day mandatory evacuation, to find the smoke had cleared, though a lingering haze remained. The northern Sierra’s Bear fire had been held just short of nearby Bucks Lake.

So, Michael did what many of us seek to do. He sought refuge in one of his favorite places, Snake Lake, six miles west of Quincy and just a short drive off Bucks Lake Rd from Meadow Valley.

There, he found the lake carpeted with lily pads called Water Shields.  They are a perennial herb, prized for salad greens by the Japanese.  These magical discs, the kind children’s fairtytale books depict as landing pads for enchanted frogs and fairies, will soon transform to beautiful shades of red, maroon, orange, yellow and green.   In springtime, more magic happens when they produce white flowers. Imagine drifting across this waterscape in a canoe.

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Not far from the bigleaf maple, alder and dogwood lining the lake’s banks, beaver, white pelicans, great blue herons, sandhill crane, egrets and flocks of migratory birds flourish at Snake Lake.

This watery wonderland may have a biting name, but the picture Beatley portrays is one of seclusion that seems a natural balm for what is ailing us, right now.

• Snake Lake, Plumas County (3,950′) – Patchy (10-50%)