Septermber 14th - WOW!!

I left on Tuesday September 12th from Toyota Headquarters in Torrance and drove north towards Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Whiskeytown sits to the east of Redding, California which is located in a valley near Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Shasta Mountains.

After a quick stay in Redding, I drove the 15 minutes east to arrive to my destination. I met Jim Milestone, Superindendant of Whisekytown along with about 20 members of The Friends of Whiskeytown organization. We were to meet so I can both deliver $1,000 check to 'Friends' and to explore the newly discovered waterfall known now as Whiskeytown Waterfall with Jim and this group. The $1,000 grant from Toyota is to help build supplies for the trail which is about a 1.7 miles mostly upward trek with a few great views along the way with a great reward at the end (the waterfall!). Trail maintenace crew were out working while we were hiking.

After climbing up the trail for about an hour, we heard the rumbling of water and then, through the trees, our group saw it. You can tell how this went undiscovered for so long. The forest is so dense with pine, you really couldn't tell until you were sitting right under it. It was like nature was keeping a beautiful secret from us for years.

The falls themselves are about 360 feet tall and although I tried, could not capture them in their entirety with my camera. I looked up and then looked up some more and figured "wow" this is huge then Jim comes and tells me it keeps on going beyond where we can see! Humbling indeed.
As we made our way down, Jim told me his plans for this trail and some of his other ideas for his area as well. It was great speaking with him and visiting the waterfall. I'm sure it will be a big attraction in the years to follow.

Although I wish I could have stayed longer, I needed to head south towards San Francisco. Many of my fellow hikiers told me I "had to go west on 299 then south for the drive." Although it was a LONG drive (about 9 hours), it was spectacular. After driving through the Trinity Alps from Whiskeytown, I pulled south at Arcata and Eureka and headed towards Humboldt Redwoods National Park to stop and gaze at the mammoth trees. I continued south and dodged souvineer stands selling bigfoots carved out of wood and managed to miss Drive Your Car Through the Tree State Park. Darn! I jumped onto CA Route 1 and wove through more pine forests before jumping out onto Shoreline Highway. Along the entire way is a beavy of parks, federal forests, and state land. It was quite an excellent trip and I was amazed at the scenary. I'm only sad that I didn't get to drive the Toyota Prius through a tree!



I learned a lot from hiking with Jim as he is an obvious expert of Whiskeytown. If anybody ever gets the chance to go on ranger led interpretive hikes, do it!