Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area

Yesterday, March 31st, I was able to drive over to Whiskeytown National Rec Area and get a beautiful photograph of Whiskeytown Lake and I look down on it from the mountains above.  In 1965, Congress authorized 42,000 acres as Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.  Isn't it breathtaking?

Sparkling Water.  Cool Forests.  Wildlife.  Gold!  Whiskeytown is nestled among the hills and valleys of the Klamath Mountains in Northern California.  Over 1,100 plant and animal species live there!  Can you imagine?  Some include the Gray Pine, Blue Oak, Black Bear, Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass, Purple Finch and Yellow Warbler.  Lots of people also try to pan for gold in them thar streams, too!  According to the NPS, back in 1850 Charles Camden and Levi Tower became friends and partners in San Francisco.  They sailed in search of Trinity River's mouth, then over to Whiskeytown northern side.  Camden built a one-room cabin and a mining operation, saw mill and water ditch...later a toll road and bridge.  Finally he built a larger home (still standing) where you can do gold mining activities today.  Tower made his living by providing food and shelter to miners.  He built, with his profits, a 21-room Tower House luxury hotel, gardens and orchards, but the hotel burned to the ground in 1920.  In 1935 construction began on the Central Valley Project - a project to move water from northern California to drier areas farther south.  At Whiskeytown, engineers blasted a 10.5 miles long, 17.5 foot diameter tunnel through solid granite to divert water from the Trinity to the Sacramento River system.  The resulting lake you see above brought many benefits like recreational opportunities, flood control, hydroelectric power and a dependable water supply.  When the watershed is healthy, the ground is like a sponge and absorbs winter's heavy rain and snow...occasionally mudslides happen if too much water happens at one time.

Whiskeytown come to this 36 mile shoreline and 3,200 acres of reservoir for lake activities for boating, sailing, kayaking, fishing, scuba, swimming, wading, paddleboarding, wakeboarding and windsurfing.  On the land, 39,000 acres surround the lake with mountain trails.  There is also birdwatching, camping, hiking, gold panning, horseback riding, mountain biking, nature study, photography, picnicking, sightseeing and wildlife viewing.  Whew!  So much for one small area.  Be sure to check out their website for relative info before going to Whiskeytown and there are a couple of campgrounds as well...Be sure to stop in at the Visitor's Center on Kennedy Memorial Drive and drive around the Kennedy Drive down to Brandy Creek.  There's plenty of things to do.

The Visitor's Center is small but very nicely done.  It's about 30 miles east of Redding, California so if you're heading up or down I-5, take a side trip over.  There is no address that I could find for the GPS, but it's right after the old historic ghost town of Shasta - not to be mistaken for Mt. Shasta city.  Shasta has some pretty cool historic stuff there - don't forget to stop, but to save time, here are photos and the story on their website.

After I left Whiskeytown, I headed up I-5 toward Mt. Shasta.  We were supposed to spend the night there, but we found out we couldn't sleep overnight in the rest areas in California.  I still stopped along my route to take photos of Mt. Shasta covered with now at a scenic viewing area with the girls as Scott took the RV and went ahead of me when I went to Whiskeytown.  It was a warm 75 degree day, so it was very enjoyable.  Once I met up with Scott, I got the bottom photos looking southeast of Mt. Shasta from the Weed Rest Stop - about 5 miles north of the City of Weed.  Such a beautiful day with blue skies, and snow capped mountain with green pines and daffodils.  This is a super great place - either locations - to take the family for some camping and enjoy nature.

Taken at a Viewing Area looking north to Shasta

At the Weed Rest Stop

Easter Daffodils at the Weed Rest Stop

But, we had to push onward and we ended up spending the night at the rest stop in Talent, Oregon since you are not allowed to spend the night in California at a rest stop.  The Talent Rest Spot is located at mile marker 22 on the South side of the road.  We just went one exit past it and then crossed over the freeway and back down to the rest area.  It was wonderful!  VERY clean, convenient with multiple bathrooms and lots of parking for both car and truck or RV.  We parked on the last site so we could open the slides without disturbing the truckers.  I was going to photograph it but totally forgot.  Sorry.  However, here is a nice website off all rest stops along I-5.  It is actually the site for ALL rest stops in the US, so this is a good one to keep handy if you're traveling.