Thursday 8 August – Well we left to go to Lake Tahoe because everyone we met says it’s beautiful there. It took about three hours to get to the bottom of the hill going up to Lake Tahoe. We made it up 2700 ft. It’s the longest, most continual, steepest road ever. Poor Ramsey, our truck, was feeling poorly………we had to pull over as water was pouring out of the radiator. A state trooper stopped to check on us and told us we had another 2700 feet to go, straight up. We decided to turn around. It was disappointing but what are you going to do? There were a couple of other cars and trucks pulled off also.
We went to the next exit and turned around and went back. We had to go back almost to where we started and then we headed north to Redding to the Redding RV Park. We booked 3 nights there. I did care for it, all tiered sites and when you stepped of the last step at our door, it was literally downhill and you couldn’t even put chairs out.
Friday 9 August – Well fun times……………..we sat at Robs Radiators until 1230- 1 o’clock. We talked to Tara, the young girl that worked there and her mom. Her mom had her little dogs Benny and Isabel there. They were little Yorkies and so cute.
After they fixed the radiator, we went to Woody’s brewery and had a taster tray. It was okay beer, we had lunch there and the food was okay also but nothing great.
Then we went to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, located at the juncture of the Klamath Mountain range and the northern edge of the Sacramento Valley. The park features Whiskeytown Lake. , which is where we were headed. In July 2018, 280,000 acres were burned in this area. It started by a guy pulling his trailer. I believe it was something from his trailer dragging on the ground that caused sparks and then caused the dry trees to burn down. We drove all around that area and it was really nice even with the burnt trees. You can see life coming back to the park.
Then we stopped at Shasta State Historical Park and it was all old buildings, an old mining town. It was right on the Hwy. We walked up and down and looked at the buildings.
Then we went back into town to find the Sundial Bridge. We parked at Turtle Bay Exploration Park and we walked all the gardens and across the bridge. This is a 300 acre park and they have a museum, exhibits, and more. They have gardens which we walked through. The gardens are 20 acres and have a variety of gardens; medicinal garden, children’s garden, Mediterranean climate display garden and more. So much to see here.
Afterwards we stopped in Green Acres RV to book 3 more nights as had to leave the other park and we wanted to be able to sit outside. We are staying longer in this area because we have to get some work done on Ramsey (our truck). I tried to call Green Acres but because our phone is Canadian we couldn’t access the one 800 number for Green Acres. Apparently you have to pay more for an 800 Canadian line so a lot of campgrounds and other business don’t bother. Something to remember in the future.
Saturday 10 August – We stayed home all morning making phone calls and looking at maps. It rained all night and on and off today. We went to Campers World and Gander RV to look around. And we headed to Final Draft Brewery and sat at the bar sharing a sampler tray. We ended up playing corn hole, they had the games set up inside the bar area, it’s a big place. We talked to lots of people and we talked a lot to the young bartender, he was probably 24 but look 16. He was a really good bartender and very friendly.
We asked him about the Indian restaurant across the street and he said it was good. We walked across the street and had dinner there. It was called the Royal Indian Cuisine Restaurant and very good food.
Sunday 11 August – sunny. Left for Green Acres RV Park in Redding and we had site 25. Much nicer park. The woman that runs it is pretty controlling, she is the type that is watching everyone’s every move. When we got to our site, she had to back you in, she wouldn’t let me do it. We’ve only done this a 1000 times. She also gave Clint a little talking to as she said he exceeded the speed limit of 5 mph when we drove in, he did not. He bit his tongue and let her vent. It is a very nice park though.
But we set up and ignored her and then headed to a restaurant called Sweeties at 10:15 for breakfast. Lots of people and lots of cars there, it’s a busy place.
Then we drove Highway 299 to Weaverville and it was up, up and up into the mountains. It was a really nice drive and we ended up at the Joss Temple. We took the 1 PM tour and it was just Clint, myself and the tour guide. Very interesting place we really enjoyed it, oh yes, it was four dollars each to get in. The temple was built in 1874 and is still used.
There was also a museum in the town called the Town Museum and it was two dollars each to get in and consisted of two floors. Lots of old stuff, it was pretty interesting. I find it fascinating in this area that there is so much to see and do. There are not big cities and very few people and yet it’s a great area to tour.
When we left we took the same drive and then drove down Steinflat road to Douglas City. We drove through a couple of campgrounds and then we walked to the Trinity River. Clint walked into the water and said it was super cold. I felt like we were way back in the sticks and if anything happened to us we could die there and no one would find our bodies for ages. No people out this way, that’s for sure. But we lived to tell the tale! There are a couple of rustic campsites out this way and there were a couple of people camping. It’s a beautiful area.
We spotted a small sign for winery and it was called One Maple Winery. The owners told us that they had brought about 50 Maple tree seedlings from Maine over 20 years ago and planted them on their property, but only one survived. It’s a really nice spot and on the way to the winery, we saw 8 Quail babies running across road. So cute. The winery, which was also really cute, had a couple of wines and a late harvest. Clint bought a bottle for $18 which was a reasonable price. It just seemed odd in the middle of nowhere to see grapes and a winery. They also had a winery dog and a cat. My kind of place.
We ended up back in Redding at Falls River Brewery and did some tastings and then we played two games of Corn hole. And we got to relax in 2 Adirondack chairs. The Brewery was in a building like a huge big airplane hangar and they had tons of room for chairs, games, etc.
Monday 12 August – sunny and 35 Celsius. Today we are sitting at a garage getting the brakes done on Ramsey. We got out of there by 10 o’clock and now we are on our way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. It’s about an hour and 15 minute drive to get there. It costs $30 to get in but we have a National Parks pass, so it was free. Did I mention that before? lol
The highest point here is 8511 feet and it is 18 Celsius. At the bottom of the mountain it is 36 Celsius. We stopped at the Visitor Center and wandered around and then we drove through the whole park stopping quite frequently. It is so pretty here, we really enjoyed it.
We stopped to walk the half-mile trail called the Devastated Area Interpretive trail and then we went to the Kings Falls trail.
Kings Falls trail was supposed to be a 3 mile round-trip. It’s a nice trail to start with, lots of ups and downs and as we got closer, mostly all downhill to the falls. The Falls were a bit anti-climatic. They are very small and there was a river with cascades. To get back to the Trail Head, you could go back the way you came or do a loop. Back the way we came was 1.2 miles and the loop was .9 miles. We decided to do the loop but about .3 miles of the loop was narrow rock stairs that went straight up. I didn’t think I was going to make it! Once again I stared into the face of death and survived. haha Clint will no doubt roll his eyes when he reads this. It was so hot and everything was uphill. The whole walk took about 2 ½ hours.
Above photo is the start of the climb back out of the gorge or valley.
We left there and went to the other Visitor Center and on the way we spotted these birds kinda like Blue Jays. I found out later they are called Stellar Jays, beautiful birds.
The drive was really nice. We stopped in Red Bluff on the way home and had a beer at Cedar Chests Brewery. It was right downtown. Meh – not so great. Returned to Redding and went to the Shasta pizza place in town. We got a medium vegetarian and it was pretty good.
Tuesday, 13 August – 36 Celsius and sunny. We got a late start but we headed to McArthur Burney Falls State Park. It was $10 to get in. We drove around and stopped at the Visitor Center and went inside and they had a small theatre. We sat there and watched a movie. A squirrel kept running in and out of the theatre while we were watching the movie. Pretty funny.
We had brought our lunch so we took it and ate by the water.
We spotted a Woodpecker and one of those Stellar Jays so we got out and decided to take some pictures. We found out the woodpecker was a White Headed Woodpecker. We did the waterfall loop which was about 1 ½ miles and it was a nice walk and the falls are really nice.
Tomorrow we are off to Oregon, specifically………..Grant’s Pass.
Trums Travels 