Late Spring in Redding, CA

This past week I took a small road up to up Redding, CA. While it was a cool and wet, I was able to have an enjoyable time. From taking at small hike at Castle Crags, to checking out the Lake Shasta Caverns, to checking out Shasta Dam. While I was up there, I was able to see a friend who I have not seen in at least six years.

The drive to Redding is really easy, it is just over 2 hours north of Sacramento on Interstate 5. While there is not too much traffic, when you get to some of the larger towns there is a third lane that appears. Also, there is a good number of rest areas as well. Just like heading south on I-5 from Sacramento, when heading north, there are small towns that have fast food places as well as hotels for people traveling the interstate. What I thought was interesting as you go north, you slowly go up in elevation until you get to Anderson when you really notice the changes in elevation. It also seemed like once you get to the city limits of Redding, that is where the forest meets the grass lands of the valley. On the first day I continued north of Redding to get to Castle Crags State Park.

Castle Crags

Getting to Castle Crags was really easy, it was just off Interstate 5. It was really easy to get to. I was greeted by a friendly ranger who gave me a map of the park and took my day use fees of $8. The drive up from the ranger’s station up to the parking for the day use area was up a one lane road. It was kind of a steep road and happy that my truck has a v6 engine to get me up the road. Once parked, I took small trail up to the view area where I could see the Castle Crags. I took some pictures with both my digital camera and my iPhone. While I was there, I wanted to take a hike and get closer to the crags. Well since I did not sync my new phone to my camera before I left my trip, I was having trouble, and ended up taking a different trail from the one I wanted to take. Since I did have full cellphone service, I was able to figure about a mile in that I was on the wrong tail.  Since it was only partly cloudy, I thought it should not be a problem and that I would just take a longer hike to get the pictures I wanted. After getting to the Pacific Crest Trail and walking towards the trail I would take to see more of the crags, it started raining. At first it was really light and could not feel the rain as I was under a thick grove of trees. As the rain picked up and it got to the point, I thought I should head back to the truck. By the time I made it back to the truck, it was raining really hard and the outside of my jacket was soaked (but still dry on the inside). At first, I thought I would look to see what the side of the shower was on the radar on my phone, the shower was not showing up. Since it was getting into the evening at this point; I thought it would be best to get something to eat since I had only a small breakfast and no lunch. When I left, I told myself I would like to go back when it is not cloudy, and I can see all of the crags and know what trail to take for a hike. If planned right, I could go camping there or just go for the whole day.

Pictures from my Castle Crags Hike

After looking on the map on my phone, there was nothing close to Castle Crags for dinner. After looking around online and such, I decided I would drive up to the town of Mount Shasta since that is where the first Black Bear Dinner is at. It was only 20 minutes north on the freeway. It was going to be a drive back to Redding, I said to myself I might as well and go since I am this close. The drive-up Interstate 5 was not and got there quicker than I thought. I was kind of disappointed in the overall experience. I have been to the two Black Bear Dinners in Sacramento and one in Rohnert Park. The one in Mount Shasta much smaller. I think thing that did it was that the onion rings were cooked for too long. But overall it was a good burger I had and happy that I stopped.

Original Black Bear Dinner

The drive back to Redding was not too bad. There were sections of the freeway that were under construction so that made the drive a little interesting. Also, I was able to see some of the damage to the forest from a major fire they had up there last summer. It was amazing to see the level of destruction done to the forest. You could see where they had to work on the drainage on the side of the mountains were the freeway goes through to keep it from washing down on to the freeway. Also, they were working on the VFW Memorial Bridge that goes over the lower part of Lake Shasta.

Getting to the first hotel I was staying at, the Hampton Inn & Suites Redding, was fairly easy to get to. After getting checked in, I was to hang out with a friend who was in Redding on business. To read more about my stay, check out my review in titled Hampton Inn & Suites Redding.

Before getting the truck all packed the next morning, I called Lake Shasta Caverns to make sure they were still running tours because apart of the tour is taking a boat ride across the lake and I knew if the weather was too bad, they could not take us across the lake. I was in luck, even though there was the occasional rain shower and some wind they were still running tours. I got the truck packed and gassed up before heading out on the second day of my adventure.

My first stop of the day was to the Lake Shasta Caverns. The cavers on the east side of the McCloud arm of the lake. To get there you take Interstate 5 to Exit 695 and head east down a small two-lane road until you get to the gift shop for the Lake Shasta Caverns. It is there you get your tickets and board a patio boat. This boat takes you across the lake where you board a small bus that takes you about 800 feet in elevation to small visitor’s center and where there is a man-made entrance into the caverns. After a good walk into the side of the hill, you arrive at intersection of paths. You go first to the left where take you into a few different chambers. They talk about what some of the different formations are called and give you some good examples of them. You loop around come back to that first intersection. From there the tour takes you up to the rest of the chambers of the cavern system. Like a lot of the cavern tours I have done this year, the ground was wet from recent rains and the water was dripping in the caverns as the tour was going through the caverns. It was a neat way to see the caverns because this is when they are most alive. There was one chamber that did not have many formations and there was no water dripping down and was a prime example of a dead room of the caverns. Once we made it to the top of the cavern system, we exited though another man-made entrance to the cavern system. From the main level where we started to where we exited was about 100 steps up. And these were good size steps and was a real workout. All through the caverns and then down back to the visitor’s center was a very constructed walkway with metal hand rails on both sides. Once there, it was down the hill on the bus and back across the lake to the gift shop.

I would say if you are in the Redding / Lake Shasta area, this would be something to see. I liked the well-maintained walkways. There are many different kinds of formations to see the walk is relatively easy. What could be challenging for some people is going up the stairs in the second part of the tour. What helps out with his that there are places where our tour guide would stop and tell us about the area we are in and point out things for us to look at. This gives everyone in the group a chance to catch their breath. This is where a lot of the original exploration happened and you learn a lot more of the history of the caverns and how they were discovered. For me it was totally worth it to go see.

Since I had some time before seeing an old friend of mine, I went out to Shasta Dam. It is a big dam and is one of the more well-known dams in California. It was an easy drive from Interstate 5 on California 151. The highway ends right at the dam. The visitor’s center is free to get into. When I got there, they had a video going about the construction of the dam in the early 1940s just before World War II. When the video was over, there was a hallway that had pictures and such about the construction of the dam. They also had a model of the area and showed were the Sacramento, McCloud, and Pit Rivers drained into Lake Shasta. It also had the highways and major roads as a frame of reference. To get a real scale of the dam, I walked out on to the dam. I walked just past were the main gates are located. I took some pictures on both sides of the dam to get a sense of scale of how tall the dam really is. The one thing I did not get to do is take a tour of the dam. The tours were canceled because they were working on the elevators. I was kind of bummed out but will be a reason to go back up north.

Shasta Dam

The drive back to Redding from the dam was very short. From this time on I went to visit a friend I have not seen in a while. We talked for a while at his before going to getting dinner together. It was good to see him, and I think he was really happy got to see me. We have kept in touch via the internet, but it was really nice to get caught up on things. After that I checked into the second hotel I stayed at in Redding. To read more about my stay at the second hotel, check out my review in titled Holiday Inn Express & Suites Redding.

The second part of my trip took me back down to the northern part of the Bay Area. After getting all packed up and topping off my truck, it was time for me to drive home to see my parents. My mom had a small surprise birthday party for my dad. The drive was not too bad. I was thankful to have cruise control in my tuck since the drive is very constant on Interstate 5 and Interstate 505. Since I got to my parent’s place a few hours before the party, my mom and I went for a walk and then put the finishing touches on things for the party. My dad was surprised about the gathering and that I was there. We all had a great time. We did not stay up too late as my parents had to work the next day. Once I got up and cleaned up, I got on the road to head home. I decided since I was not in a rush to get home, I stopped at the winery where my mom works. We had lunch together and I did some wine tasting and had a fun afternoon. I only had a little traffic on Interstate 80 home, but it was not too bad.

In all, it was a great trip and I was happy to get out of town. I defiantly would like to back up to Redding since its just two hours up the freeway. I would like to back up when I can do the tour at Shasta Dam. I would also like to do more hiking at Castle Crags. There is also a lot that I would like to see that is with driving distance of Redding. Also, it would good to see my friend again. I know Redding is not the most glamorous place but there a lot of outdoor activities and natural beauty just outside of Redding. I am sure I will go up that way again to see a lot of the lesser known treasure in the area.

Until next time…