A Month in Cobb
We’re spending a few relaxing weeks in the small community of Cobb, California. It’s in the Mayacmas Mountain Range, in Lake County, just south of Clear Lake. San Francisco is about 100 miles south of us, and the Napa and Sonoma Valleys lie in between.
Our home in Cobb is a house on the slopes of Cobb Mountain (elevation 4,720 feet). The windows in our enormous great room provide sweeping views of the mountain. There’s spacious, well-equipped kitchen, a big table for my jigsaw puzzles, plenty of books and games, and even a grand piano.
It’s quiet here, except for the woodpeckers that wake us on some mornings. From the wraparound deck, we can enjoy the view and the wildlife - soaring buzzards and colorful jays and orioles. We’ve enjoyed frequent visits from a doe and her two fawns. Sunrises are a soft pink, and sunsets are varying hues of orange and pink.
We went hiking at nearby Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest. it was established by Cal-Fire on a clearcut site in 1950, to showcase best practices in forest restoration and management. In 2015, a wildfire destroyed 80% of the trees here, so restoration is underway once again. There were some nice views from the trail; I liked the contrast of the young, bright green ponderosa pines and the lifeless skeletons of taller trees still standing after the fire.
We took a day trip to nearby Calistoga, where we learned about the history of the area and did a little wine tasting. Read about it HERE.
We also spent a day in Dry Creek Valley, on the other side of the Mayacmas mountains, with our friends Scott and Tina. We walked through a family vineyard, visited downtown Healdsburg, and had our own little wine tasting. It was wonderful to hang out with our friends! Read about it HERE.
I’ve experienced more earthquakes in a few weeks here than I did in more than three years in San Francisco! I felt six of them, ranging from 2.9 - 4.3 in magnitude. (My Quakefeed app says there have been dozens of earthquakes greater than 2.0 since we arrived.) We’re in the land of The Geysers, the largest complex of geothermal power plants in the world. These minor earthquakes are probably triggered as super-heated steam is withdrawn from the ground to generate electricity. There is no geological fault here, so it’s unlikely that there would be any earthquakes strong enough to cause damage. I am unfazed by the mild vibrations and the cracking sounds the house makes. I feel like a Californian!
