Summer Sunshine: Trinity Alps and Whiskeytown

We headed east this weekend to catch some real summer weather and sunshine.

The Trinity Alps, a breathtaking area (500,000+ acres) of wilderness in North-central California and part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, are about 2-3 hours east of us off highway 299.  They are remote, with some areas only reached on foot, and I believe probably offer the best hiking in all of California, with hundreds of choices of trails of different lengths.

We chose to tackle the Lake Eleanor trail, a pleasant hike through some meadows and lots of manzanita trees!

 

(that's Lake Eleanor in the background)

 

Cooling off by a stream... (aka our "hot little pepper")

.... and in the shade

Creekside flora

View of Trinity Lake (California's third biggest lake) 

We actually didn't make it all the way to Shimmy Lake, our intended destination, as we couldn't track the trail very well and Pepper was getting overheated in the 90-degree heat.  We were very aware of our remote location-- we did not see a single other hiker on this 5 mile route!
 
This is what she looked like at the completion of our hike (the "baby pose"):

 

We overnighted in Redding, which has the famous Sundial Bridge which we love (and which has the closest Trader Joe's to us... YEAH!).

The Sacramento River Trail is a 16-mile network of trails along the river, which is well used by hikers, bikers, and dog-walkers (although I'm not sure how dogs can survive the 100-degree summer heat!). We braved it in the morning hours, but Pep started to tire out again and had to be carried part of the way. I think she's built for the coastal (Humboldt) climate!

We then headed to the Whiskeytown Recreation area.

Since it was so hot, we encouraged Pep to go for a swim (for the first time, we think, in a lake).
Enjoy this series:

Her doggie paddle is so cute!

We did one more hike, to Whiskeytown Falls.

 It was mostly in the shade, so Pep survived.

Can you spot the snake in this picture?

The falls at the end of the trail were well worth the walk!  Apparently, the falls were "rediscovered" in 2004 (having been lost to public knowledge for many years as the area was under private ownership), and they really are gorgeous!

We will be back to the area-- as there are lots of Alps still to tackle!

Clam Digging!

While Chamreun was in town this weekend (actually, during our rafting trip), he and Kelvin became interested in the activity of "clam-digging." I have never once in my life thought about digging for clams. I didn't, in fact, know that people dug for clams. Despite having a beach north of us called Clam Beach, I didn't know that you can get clams by digging in holes on the beaches in Humboldt County. 

However, K and I both were enlightened by reading such blog posts as this one and this one which chronicles the "sport" locally. Local clam varieties in Humboldt Bay include the Pacific Gaper Clam (or horse neck clam), Butter Clams, Pacific little neck clams, cockles, and Geoducks. Apparently the "clamming steps" include the following, which K and Chamreun went out to do on Sunday (while I hung out on call with Pep):

1.  Go to a local sport store for a fishing license, at $45/year (or $15 for a day pass)
2.  Read the restrictions on # of clams caught (something like 50)
3.  Get a shovel
4.  Find out the time of low-tide
5.  Put on some water shoes or waders
6.  Head to the beach at low-tide
7.  Find the clam siphons (dimples/holes in the mud with occasional squirts of water in the air) by tapping your foot on the sand or tapping your shovel
8.  When you spot one such siphon, DIG FAST (dig at least 6 inches from the hole, break the suction of the sand, then try to grab the clam, which will inevitably try to escape downward, with your hand).

I was not there, but here are some shots the boys took to chronicle the morning's activity:

Other beach activity:  (riders in the mist)

In summary,
Hours (the boys) spent in preparation: 2
Hours spent in clamming: 3
Total numbers of clams caught: 0

They said they enjoyed the experience, though. Maybe we'll have more luck abalone diving sometime!

Trinity Rafting

 We spent Saturday rafting on the Trinity River!  Chamreun came up to Arcata for about the third time in as many months (now THAT is a true friend; definitely gets frequent-flier points!) to join us and celebrate his birthday!

Doesn't he look eager?!

The company we went with was Six Rivers Rafting, a small and new (<1 year) startup business based in Willow Creek, about 45 minutes east of us.

Getting ready...

We had a really relaxing and fun day of rafting down mostly Class III (+) rapids, which definitely got us wet (while it was warm outside, the water still felt frigid to me!), but did not result in anyone falling out of the raft.

 Cham & me

K

Our guide, Patrick

We saw a group of deer mere feet from us, drinking water on the shoreline!

More glee...

?"Captain Morgan" pose?

The boys took a voluntary swim down some mini-rapids to cool off, but I wimped out because I thought it was too cold!

We enjoyed a break and a delicious sandwich lunch with organic veggies...

 

... and watched the other rafters go over "Hell Hole," which we looked forward to conquering after our meal.

They even made Chamreun a "birthday macaroon" with a candle!

After "Hell Hole," we hit some other fun rapids, including "Surprise," "Bad Sailor" (where Cham rode "rodeo,"), and definitely got wet!

I had some fun live, action video (with our new, waterproof camera lodged atop Chamreun's life vest), but it wasn't loading into blogger well. Sorry! You'll have to experience this with the still photos.

We'd love to go rafting again on the Trinity, or in another location nearby. Patrick stated that they can apparently raft year-round. Anyone in for a December trip? (I'm sure Chamreun will be back!)