January Swaps with March

My previous post had some pics along the stretch of Highway 299 from Redding to Eureka. I repeated the trip a few days ago. Since we sometimes fly in and out of ports, we offshore helicopter pilots are now required to carry a Transportation Worker Indentification Credential, a "TWIC card." It requires not one, but two trips to the closest TWIC office to complete the process. The second trip is required to actually pick up the card; the feds won't mail it. Thus, 135 bucks, 640 miles of driving, and I now have a federal I.D. card, issued by the TSA, that according to the TSA, cannot be used as as a means of identification when going through TSA-staffed airport security. Did you get that? Ah yes, our tax dollars at work.

Enough of that. I took a few pics again while driving 299. When I drove to Eureka in late January, conditions were spring-like, with snow only seen on the tops of peaks. It was a little different this time.

Here's a shot taken from a vista point in late January.

The same vista point in early March. It's common to see such a scene from here in January, but not so much in March.

The ghost town of Helena, California. It's only 1/4 mile off off 299. According to this web page, Helena was settled around 1849 by French-Canadian prospectors from Oregon. The community, at its peak, had many acres of orchards, two hotels, a butcher shop, a brewery, a blacksmith, and a sawmill.

The butcher shop, maybe?

I saw a lot of snow during my trip, but I didn't have to drive through any until almost home. Here, I'm on the section of 299 passing by Whiskeytown Lake. Snow here in March is really unusual.