Almost Yollo

Nice clouds popping over the mountains fill the air with optimism at WSC. A fellow pilot challenges me to fly to the middle of the Yolla Bolly Wilderness and turn Yollo Peak, a little over 70 miles to the NNW. This is about 15 miles further North than I have ventured before, but with a good looking day and a nice ship, who knows? Off tow at Tree Farm I find a decent climb, bump to Goat and top at 9500.' With a nice start off the bat I get a good view of Lett's Lake towards St. John.

I fly over Snow Mountain and continue North in a sky filled with promise.
The clouds are running only over the high ground and far West from any bailout airport in the valley. Cloud base lowers to a borderline altitude, but provides consistent thermal markers which make for good progress North. I make it well into the Mendocino Mountains to the beautiful Black Butte.
A huge blue hole lies between Black Butte and the Yolla Bollys which happen to be wonderfully developed. This is an area of possible entrapment if low and I'm not exactly high to start with. But then, I see a small cloud form midway across the hole and my ego says GO FOR IT.
BAD MOVE, the cloud dries up before I get there, I find nothing but sink and my bailout airport is in Covelo. Not wanting to land a long way from home I turn around for the reliable lift back through the blue at Black Butte. I get way low and a ridge line now blocks off Covelo. I push towards Black and hook a desperately needed thermal. After I'm well established, climb above the ridge and start breathing again I snap a picture of the tree tops.
The motto for the rest of the flight is stay high and under the clouds. I hop over to Hull Mountian and get a good view Gravely Valley and Lake Pillsbury from behind Rattlesnake Canyon. My hang gliding instructor Wally, told me never to venture over here, he probably meant on my Pacific Airwave Pulse.
I continue to cloud hop South and eventually get a little thermalling over Lower Clear Lake.
I turn Rumsey and thankfully make it home. Even though my turn points clear 300 Km, I end up 12 miles short of my goal at Yollo. Moral is, I should never have been that close, low in the blue. After reviewing my flight with more experienced pilots we conclude my last chance option of exiting through drainages towards the East which leads to a dirt strip was a viable out and I was safer than my anxiety level led me to believe. I still don't like this option, so for the future ... good judgment negates good skill and good luck.