Drive to Whiskeytown Lake

April 28, 2015

Yesterday we began our journey from Eureka to Whiskeytown Lake which is not far outside of Redding, CA. We took Hwy #299 east which was a pleasant – if not twisty – drive through some beautiful forested areas.

Along the way we began to see some camping sites in some National Forest areas. Not knowing if they were simply tent sites or if they were empty or full, we passed most of them by. It’s too difficult driving the mo-ho into a spot only to find out you’re stuck and can’t turn around. That means detaching the car, turning around if you can, then reattaching the car. So we don’t do that often.

Campsite

But this one campsite was visible from the highway and we could see it was pretty empty, had room for RV’s … and was right on the Trinity River! Screech! Around we turned and drove in.

We found a great spot right next to the river and settled in. Bruce had a look at the river and saw it had a great little surf wave, so off he went. I stayed behind taking photos of him, then had a nice quiet time reading my book at the RV.

Later, a dinner of burgers & leftover Greek Salad, then sitting outside with the campfire-in-a-can drinking scotch till dark. Lovely! Even though we were close to the road, Highway #299 isn’t heavily traveled so it was quiet and peaceful!

April 29, 2015

This morning we got up early and Bruce headed back out to the surfing wave while I hiked over rocks along the river to get some good photos & video of him (see video below).

Bruce surfing on the Trinity River

Surfing a wave on the Trinity River

Once done we packed up and headed out. A nice drive through some beautiful areas and through a very cool town called Weaverville. Lots of old buildings and a great coffee shop. Kind of a funky town!

Weaverville

Stagecoach Pizzeria & Cafe,Weaverville

We reached Whiskeytown Lake around noon, after many delays on the highway. They’re doing some major re-aligning of the road which we remember they were doing 2 years ago when we went through last time. A big job!

We’re camped at the ‘self-contained RV’ section of the lake which is basically an asphalt parking lot backed up to the trees. We scooped a good spot on the end so are looking at trees and not parking lot.

We headed out quickly on a hike to one of their 4 waterfalls. The drive to the starting point was 3 miles of VERY nasty gravel … I really need to work on getting a jeep! Once at the head of the trail we started off. It was only a 1 ½ mile walk one-way – but it was ALL up-hill. Steep up-hill. To make matters worse I wore some water/hiking sandals to keep my feet cool (it was in the 80’s) but within the first mile I had some lovely blooming bunion blisters that hurt like the devil. We band-aided them up, but I chose to head back down and Bruce headed up to the waterfall. I knew better, but I thought the sandals would be ok. Dumb.

Too windy to put the boats in the water … maybe tomorrow! For now a nice, relaxing day reading in the shade!

Whiskeytown Lake

April 30, 2015

We went for a great hike early this morning (me with better shoes this time!) up to another of the 4 waterfalls – Whisktown Falls. A great 4 mile hike (up-hill both ways … LOL!) up to a beautiful series of waterfalls. Very enjoyable … and we got it done before it got too hot. The weather is unseasonably hot this year … and quite windy everywhere. Not great for things like paddling etc. So this afternoon, Bruce went out for a bike ride (dirt biking – not my thing!) and I did some more relaxing. Life is tough!

Hike to Whiskeytown Falls

Whiskeytown Falls

This afternoon … around 4-ish … the wind died off and we hastily put the boats in the water. We had a nice paddle around the lake before heading back to start supper.