Spring Break at Last! --in September!
In early March I was planning to spend a few days with my friend Deb in Redding, and then Steve was going to meet me for a weekend retreat near Shasta --- way way Northern California for the East Coasters in my audience.
But then the Bay Area shut down very suddenly for the pandemic, and the rest of California soon followed suit. Spring Break plans were foiled. Most of my adventures since March have been trail running treks from my door. --or masked social distance hikes with a friend within a 15 minute drive. I typically left the camera at home to soak up my limited social interaction.
Now, however, seemed a good time to finally take that long-awaited spring break escape! Yes, after a month of dangerously unhealthy air quality, it was a little smoky still, but we hit it on the best days possible given winds from the ocean finally clearing the particulates a bit.
I am virus-paranoid as an athlete who doesn't want myocarditis, and Steve's career right now is applying his Physics PhD towards data modeling for the pandemic; so we had strict criteria on how to make a getaway as safe as possible. We selected a unique strategy for socially distancing: staying in a rail road resort!
At the Railroad Resort in Dunsmuir, railroad cars and antique offices have been renovated into cabins, and these cabins are spread out through a big car yard. Staying in a caboose has the appeal of being extra fun, but we chose an "office" cabin because those have full kitchens. (Turned out they also have the better views!) We took all our own food to cook so we didn't have to even go to a store or take-out counter, a scary prospect in a "mixed" area of the state. I.e. coming from a part of the state where Fox is a four letter word (those staggering CA covid data stats you see are for SOUTHERN California, where "Fox" is only three letters) ...
...we knew we might be entering the Land of Anti-Science No Maskers with some sort of point to prove. --but we also knew we could distance easily with lots of space to avoid them.
Instead of doing long day hikes, we took the "mezze sampler platter" approach to exploring -- an hour hike here, an hour hike there, and we fit a lot of exploring into two days!
First hike we took Saturday morning, right from our cabin: this smoky cell phone shot is on that 43-mile logging road trail:
Then after lunch we went to McCloud Falls in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. So beautiful!
[click images to see larger]
Steve! :)
We also briefly explored the town of Shasta, known for all its crystal shops, healing retreat centers, and a big beautiful volcano. Though we did not venture into any indoor spaces, all shops there were mask-adamant, and it is an empathy-oriented population; so next time we know we can safely get groceries there if we feel too rushed to pack all our food! ;)
For our last stop for Saturday, we explored Lake Siskiyou. I left my good camera in the car because I was not expecting such splendor, but here are a couple cell phone pics. I think I had a bit of moisturizer--or maybe sweat--from my hands on my lens, but it made for a nice sfumato effect!
On Sunday we took a very short waterfall hike right near our camp, then headed south. We went to Redding to see the Sundial Bridge and some of the urban park trails near the Turtle Bay science center. This was definitely the most anti-mask--with belligerent attitude--crowd of the weekend. Clearly these are people who only go INTO the science center for the air conditioning. (And yes, it was open, weeks ahead of any indoor spaces being open in SF.)
Whereas the areas near Shasta have more of a hippy-empath vibe, Redding has more of a tough guy/gal Central Valley feel culturally. --the sort of people who don't recognize that gentle coastal Priuses perform quite well in crash tests, whereas driving a heavy old gas-guzzling truck that makes you FEEL like you can dominate everyone on the road...doesn't mean that you actually can.
Next we went to Wiskeytown National Recreation Area, just outside of Redding. We had planned on hiking around Lake Berryessa further south, but it is still closed from wildfires. Whiskeytown was pretty, too, but very different than Shasta since it sits at a lower elevation. Whereas Shasta has a pine-y mountain feel, Wiskeytown has a hot-dry (currently tinder) "Out West" feeling. I like the way it smelled--like hot dry tree sap. :)
(more sfumato cell phone pics)
This is where we stayed! Railroad Park Resort. We both loved it!!! They have a fantastic tent/rv campground with lots of privacy, too. The light was really bright and sharp, not the best conditions for taking photos, sorry. But check out was at 11 am, so I couldn't wait for the Golden Hour. ;)
Steve patiently relaxing while I did my quick posterity photo run around the resort.
If it were not for the high fire risk in this area getting higher every year, this would be a great place to live. It is one of the few areas of NoCal that hasn't been overrun by entitled young techies who just come to mine the area for exorbitant salaries, drive up the real estate costs, relegate the rest of us to 3 hour commutes, and trash our home along the way. Dunsmuir, Shasta feel so relaxed and "real," not all hyper-competitive. And even with the smoke, the air felt better because it was JUST smoke, not smog. Steve grew up not too far away from here, so clearly this region of NoCal turns out some gems. ;)
