Trinity Alps Wilderness
Saturday-Monday 30 July - 2 August, 2022
Whiskeytown Falls.
31 years have passed since we stood together at the altar, with Keren, Ellen, Rich, Brian, Norm, Joe, and our dearly-departed Mark beside us, saying our vows, exchanging our rings, and publicly solemnizing our relationship. We have seen good times and bad, but are still celebrating that historic date when we committed ourselves to each other.
Young, naive, and northeastern, we planned our wedding without a thought as to how it would be, 31 years later, in fire-stricken California, to make anniversary getaways in late July. Several of our more recent celebrations have been marred by fire and smoke. This year, rather than consulting Lucy Poshek's "Offbeat Overnights in California" back in March and reserving a room at some unspeakably romantic and charming inn, we made no plans until the Tuesday evening before our celebratory 3-day weekend, at which point the resources to which we turned was the CalFire map. The Sierra was out. Crater Lake was a possibility, although southern Oregon was under a heat advisory that could lead to fire any day. But when I tried to reserve the boat trip, I discovered that the boats were still not running due to COVID-19. Even our conservative COVID protocols would have allowed us to ride an open-air boat, perhaps masked if it were crowded. But, alas, 2022 is not going to be the year that we finally make it to Wizard Island. At some point in the Beforetimes, browsing in a brick-and-mortar bookstore, I had purchased a small volume entitled "Day Hiking Mount Shasta, Lassen & Trinity Alps Regions" by John Soares, a wonderful guide complete with detailed trail descriptions, topographic maps, and GPS coordinates. The book promised that the scenery in the Trinity Alps "definitely rival[ed] that of the High Sierra." On this impressive recommendation, Eric reserved Ripple Creek Cabins, a comfortable and relaxing resort in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the wilderness. We headed north.
The remote and sparsely-populated Trinity Alps are part of the Klamath Block of mountains. The resemblance between the Klamath Block and the northern Sierra Nevada is immediately apparent on observation even to a non-geologist. Geologists know that these mountains were connected to the Sierra at some point during the Mesozoic Era, but split off and moved 100 km/60 mi east. David Alt and Donald W. Hyndman, in "Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California," explain that they believe that the Klamath Block probably split off during the Jurassic Period. How a giant chunk of granite leaped so far from its point of origin remains a geologic mystery. But geologic mysteries make great places for exploration.
So, after dinner on Friday, I drove Mather through northern part of the Central Valley, hotter even than usual in the current heat spell, while Eric participated in his Pathfinder campaign from the passenger seat. When he finished with the session around 21:00, we started listening to James Michener's "Alaska," a 57-hour drama that will perhaps take us years to finish. It somehow manages to be longer than "Centennial" (which I recently finished), even though it starts a bit later, at the formation of North America (as opposed to at the beginning of the last rock cycle). Ominously, as we neared our old standby, the Super 8 in Red Bluff, we passed a phalanx of highly-reflective CalFire vehicles. Fortunately, while we had some haze in the sky, we did not suffer from fires as we have on some past anniversary trips.
Our cabin. Photo by Eric.
The small kitchen had table with fresh flowers by a large window. Photo by Eric.
The kitchen window overlooked a shady picnic area with a charcoal grill. Photo by Eric.
Beyond the grassy area was Ripple Creek, with a swimming hole that, of course, we did not discover until we were packed up and preparing to depart.
Clearly, more planning in cabin design had been devoted to shelter from winter cold than from summer heat, as it featured a warm quilt, this cast iron wood stove, and a more modern heating system, but no air conditioning or even a ceiling fan. Our first night was very hot. But the beauty and isolation of the place were quite romantic. Photo by Eric.
While this anniversary trip destination was not as glamorous as other California hotspots as Big Sur, the Haight, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, or even Bodega Bay or Mono Lake, it was full of beauty while still being wonderfully low-key and relaxing. We would go back, perhaps even for winter snowshoeing. California has so much!
Links to the pages with the pictures and stories of our adventures are here:
- Tall Whiskeytown Falls
- Sierra-like Boulder Lakes
- Ghost Town Shasta State Historic Park and Bidwell Park
Map of our anniversary excursion.
