Over the New Year's long weekend, Kim and I decided to head upstate to Red Bluff, some place neither of us had ever been. We talk about one day buying some land out in the countryside somewhere, a place where we could camp or eventually build a cabin, and we wanted to check out the Red Bluff area as a potential location. Located about 30 miles south of Redding, with the Trinity Alps, Mt. Shasta and Lassen ringing in this northern end of California's central valley, Red Bluff is a wild, beautiful spot.
We stayed at the Motel 6 and spent one day driving in each direction. We went up to Lassen, which was mostly snowed in; on our way back we turned off the 36 and went for a short walk in the woods outside Red Bluff. We tried to drive back into town on Hogsback Road, but had to turn back when the fog rolled in and darkness fell. The road started out as a typical backcountry gravel road (except for the red-rock gravel) but soon declined into more of a volcanic rock-studded groove than a road. Kim's Subaru, which like all Subarus is a four-wheel drive, nevertheless lacked the clearance to reliably make the trip.
Another day we cruised up to Redding to see the Whiskeytown area and Lake Shasta - I'll write a follow-up post about the dam there. We saw the
Sundial Bridge and strolled around the Turtle Bay Park a bit. Our third day trip took us west of Red Bluff out along the 36, into the stunning countryside where we hope to find a patch of property someday. Rolling hills, broad meadows and a network of rivers and streams, with snow-capped mountains on the horizon in three directions. It was some kind of dream of the West, an old and peaceful landscape.
We stayed at the Motel 6 and spent one day driving in each direction. We went up to Lassen, which was mostly snowed in; on our way back we turned off the 36 and went for a short walk in the woods outside Red Bluff. We tried to drive back into town on Hogsback Road, but had to turn back when the fog rolled in and darkness fell. The road started out as a typical backcountry gravel road (except for the red-rock gravel) but soon declined into more of a volcanic rock-studded groove than a road. Kim's Subaru, which like all Subarus is a four-wheel drive, nevertheless lacked the clearance to reliably make the trip.
Another day we cruised up to Redding to see the Whiskeytown area and Lake Shasta - I'll write a follow-up post about the dam there. We saw the Sundial Bridge and strolled around the Turtle Bay Park a bit. Our third day trip took us west of Red Bluff out along the 36, into the stunning countryside where we hope to find a patch of property someday. Rolling hills, broad meadows and a network of rivers and streams, with snow-capped mountains on the horizon in three directions. It was some kind of dream of the West, an old and peaceful landscape.
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