Liberty Art for the 4th of July

Liberty Arts in Yreka has put together a show for the Independence Day celebration titled Liberty. The call to Siskiyou County artists asked for work in all mediums in response to the theme of liberty. “The ‘liberty’ exhibit hopes to draw artworks from a wide range of viewpoints – from our Founding Fathers’ notions of Liberty to the current debates in our nation today that draw attention to the interpretation of Liberty and how it is expressed/experienced or potentially denied.” That’s quite a call.

This new contemporary gallery on Yreka’s historic Miner Street looks to be shaking things up. Take a look at the show just coming down, at the Liberty Arts website.  There are certainly some intriguing explorations of shape and form in that show. The Liberty show opens July 3rd, with a reception from 5-8pm. If you’re quick you might be able to squeak in to see the current show before it comes down. The Liberty show will be up to July 26th, so you’ve got time to experience Siskiyou’s take on the theme.

Poets tonight!

The Mt. Shasta Writers Series is hosting author Pete Fromm and local poet Cat Ruiz tonight at Native Grounds Nursery in Mt. Shasta. Prior to the reading by the guest writers, local poets can share their work at the open mic. Fromm is an award winning Pacific Northwest writer who has tried his hand at novels, a story collection and a memior, earning four Pacific Northwest Booksellers Literary Awards. He will read at 8pm.

Ruiz, an instructor at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, released her first volume of poetry this March, Stirring up the Water, which won the Native Writers Circle of the Americas First Book Award in Poetry. She will be reading at 7:15.

The reading should be fun, set at Native Grounds at 1172 S. Mount Shasta Blvd. Be sure to check out their beautiful pond that’s stocked with trout. I believe a donation is suggested. For more info, go to www.mtshastawriters.com

Lazy summer on the river

Oh, the lazy days of summer on the river: the heat of the air pushing to jump into the water to cool down, the gentle sunsets in the canyon, the splash of rapids. This is the time of year for family rafting, whether you take a one-day float down the Gentle Klamath outside of Yreka or opt for the 3 or 4 day trip out of Happy Camp, the Klamath River is the place to be. Being on the water is a great way to get your mind off to-do lists, your inbox, and all of the other things that crowd your mental space. On the river your mind can drift away, mesmerized by the drift of the great blue heron or the play of light on the water. On a multi-day trip other worries fall away as well, with guides cooking for you and your day filled with the activity of simply soaking it all in.

I love the river for a number of reasons, and everyone who spends time on the river develops a special relationship with it. In summer that river is the Klamath, where ducks scuttle across the water, the twisting canyon shapes your day and the refreshing water takes you to a different place. Go to the river, feel your connection, enjoy those lazy days.

Guide Services in Siskiyou:

• Turtle River Rafting: 800.726.3223, www.turtleriver.com
• River Dancers: 800-926-5002, www.riverdancers.com
• Living Waters Recreation: 800-994-7238, www.livingwatersrec.com

goodies & history in Yreka

Took a stroll through Yreka’s historic downtown last week to check out shops and goodies. This two-block section of town is home to the 1850s-era buildings that didn’t burn down in the Gold Rush period. Just looking at these old beauties is kind of fun, but then there are also the shops and restaurants to check out as well. I was excited to see that at the Tasty Q, which also home to the Visitors Center, they sell locally made products: sweet treats, sauces, and other goodies. You can get an ice cream cone there and sit out across the street in the City Plaza before heading into the newly opened Liberty Arts Gallery. We passed on the ice cream and stopped in at the Village Grind, where the scrumptious coffee cake and fruit smoothie were quite tasty.

Just a bit beyond those historic blocks, on the other side of the freeway, is the depot for the Blue Goose Steam Train. You can ride the train out to the old cow town of Montague on the railroad that was built in 1889 and has been in operation ever since. One of the volunteers has posted videos on YouTube – look for videos of Yreka Western Railroad by traindude109. Yreka Western Railroad host special events (like the hobo moonlight picnic in August) through the summer – go to the website for more info.

While on the tour of Yreka’s historic treasures we cruised through both the indoor and outdoor exhibits at the Siskiyou County Museum on Main Street. I got a kick out of looking into the restored buildings in the outdoor exhibit. The potatoes and gravy in the old homestead looked pretty ancient!

We finished off our tour of Yreka by taking yet another walk at Greenhorn Park, which is named after the inexperienced gold miner who made the first big strike in the area. Greenhorn is undergoing some construction right now, so you’ve got to go to the lower park to use the sweeping lawns. At the upper park you can take the trail through a short section of historic buildings and mining implements then continue walking the path down to Lower Greenhorn Park. It’s kind of fun to watch the ducks and geese who are so used to people feeding them that they always check out walkers to see what you’ve got.

You can find more about things to do on the VisitSiskiyou.org website, as well as a calendar of events that includes the Yreka and Montague area. To learn more about Yreka’s history, check out Yreka History.

Siskiyou County Museum

Upper Greenhorn Park

Klamath Basin/Lava Beds activities

For a great travel report on the activities of the Klamath Basin, check out the post from Travel Adventures with Lance and Erin, who recently visited the Tulelake and Lava Beds area.  They spent a few days in the Basin and wrote a great piece on the history of the area as they toured the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges and the Lava Beds National Monument.

The Lava Beds’ summer programs are in full swing, from now through Labor Day weekend. Ranger guided cave tours leave the Visitor Center at 3:00 PM, and range in difficulty from an easy walk through Sentinel or Valentine Cave to challenging excursions into Juniper or Catacombs Caves. The Park Service says, no matter what the weather is outside, visitors should come prepared to “Cave Safely, Cave Softly” with long pants, long-sleeved shirts, closedtoed shoes, head protection, and a flashlight for each person. Flashlights may be borrowed from the Visitor Center during open hours, and a selection of hardhats, kneepads, gloves, and cave maps are available for sale.

Evening slide shows are presented in the Indian Wells Campground amphitheater, and begin at 9:00 PM. In-depth discussions of the Lava Beds backcountry, Modoc cultural history, and climate change in national parks as well as viewing the night sky through a telescope will be among the programs offered. Special Junior Firefighter programs are conducted at the Visitor Center several times during the summer season, giving kids the chance to explore Lava Beds’ fire engines and other firefighting gear up close and personal. Lava Beds is also pleased to offer a Junior Ranger badge to children ages five through thirteen who complete a workbook available at the Visitor Center. Young people can also earn a Junior Firefighter award by hiking to the Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout and completing activities with the lookout ranger.
Additionally, short interpretive talks or ranger-guided walks will be offered many summer mornings at 11:00 AM. Join a ranger to learn about bats or meet a living history character from Lava Beds’ past near the Visitor Center, view a geology slide show in Mushpot Cave, or enjoy a talk at Petroglyph Point, Merrill Ice Cave, or a Modoc War site. For those interested in camping, Lava Beds’ 43 individual campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and typically fill only on holiday weekends.

Alpine lakes are open, wildflowers are blooming

This weekend was a great time for fishing, whether you went to the kids fishing day at the Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery or headed up high for some alpine lake fishing. When we stopped in at Gumboot Lake about mid afternoon the fish were jumping, and plenty of fisherman were plying the waters (pictured right).

The great news is that the high roads around the Mt. Shasta area are generally open now. The road up South Fork is clear well beyond the Gumboot summit, so you can go to Gumboot and Toad Lakes, hike the Pacific Crest Trail both north and south bound and view the early summer wildflowers. As we headed home from Toad Lake at dusk, enjoying the glimpses of the mountain, we saw a young bear leap from a tree and quickly disappear in the undergrowth. It’s a great time of year to get out in the wilderness – still fairly cool at night if you’re camping, but not too warm during the day.

Check with the Mt. Shasta Ranger Station about what roads and lakes are open. Be sure to ask at the front counter, as sometimes the information board out front hasn’t been recently updated. The road up South Fork and the road to Castle Lake are clear, although there is still some ice on Castle Lake as of mid-June. The Parks Creek road is the last to clear due to the snow drift, but you can park at the drift and hike into the lakes (it can add another mile or so each way to your hike, depending on where the drift is). Be aware that the trail to Deadfall Lakes does hold some snow into June, so you’re going to get your feet a bit wet.

It’s a great time to see the California pitcher plants coming up, along with bear grass blossoms and a host of delicate wildflowers along creeks, bogs and meadows.

Kids Fishing Day at Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery

The Kids’ Fishing Day at the Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery on Saturday, June 14th was a riot. Kids were reelin’ in fish everywhere, sometimes the fish were nearly as big as the little guys & girls who caught them. Parents were having a good time, too: baiting hooks, showing their kids how to cast and netting the fish as their son or daughter worked to bring them in. It was fun to watch.

According to Dept. of Fish & Game volunteers, the Kids Fishing Days of summer are wildly popular, with the event last August drawing in over 1,000 kids. The Fishing Day is open from 9am-3:30pm, and by 1pm on Saturday nearly 700 kids, plus their parents, had come to fish. There is a two-fish limit per kid, and kids up to 15 years old are allowed to fish. Plenty of family members joined the little ones, offering support and providing snacks. The DFG did a lot to make the day fun and fruitful for these budding young fishermen. Volunteers were on hand at the three ponds to help bait hooks, instruct on how to cast and bring a fish in, and to offer general encouragement. Once a family had caught its limit they’d take their big, shiny trout up to the volunteer center where they were packed in ice for the trip home.

Some families come year after year on at least one of the three fishing days per summer. Folks from as far away as Gilroy, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Fairfield and even Moscow, Idaho headed out to the Hatcheries’ ponds to try their luck.

“People say, we’ve been fishing down at the lake and we haven’t caught anything. Do you think we’ll catch anything here? And we say, well, take the children down to the ponds and see,” said DFG volunteer Ruth Kindle. “They come back up with a big fish and they’re all smiles.”

Take a look at the following photos to see just how big those fish were, really. There are photos to prove it.

July 19th and August 16th are the remaining fishing days for this summer. Registration is open from 8:45am-2:30pm, with fishing open til 3pm. If you don’t have tackle the DFG has some to loan out, and they also provide free bait. The Kids Fishing Days are held at the Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery, just west of the freeway at the 4-way stop as you follow Lake Street out of town. To learn more, call Monty Currier at the Dept. of Fish and Game at 530.225.2368.

tasty breakfast at Cornerstone

We had a wonderful breakfast this morning at Cornerstone in Dunsmuir. This is a must-stop place for breakfast or lunch when you’re in Dunsmuir. Spring is bursting down in the Sacramento River canyon: wild sweet peas are blooming, the canyon is dappled in shape and things are taking off at the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens. It’s also that time of year when the fishing guides are taking anglers out on the Upper Sac to ply the waters. If you’re planning a trip to Dunsmuir, you’ll find info about area businesses on the Visit Siskiyou website and more about fishing at Visit Siskiyou’s fishing page.

Squaw Creek Trail completed

The Squaw Valley Creek Trail outside of McCloud has been completed to offer an 8-mile loop to hikers and runners. The Mt. Shasta Trail Association held a celebration June 7th to commemorate the trail that follows this beautiful creek. The trail heads downstream for appx 5 miles, passing through lush, shady forest and the gurgling creek with its occasional waterfalls. It crosses an intersection of the Pacific Crest Trail, where hikers can access any number of miles of trail. To do the loop you’ll need to spend several miles on FS Road 38N82, which by all accounts is quite steep (so it might be that an out-and-back is the way to go). You can download a basic topo map here. You can also find info about the trail at the Mt. Shasta Trail Association website.

While out on the trail you’ll see tempting swimming holes, delicate wildflowers, potential fishing spots and – watch out – poison oak. We even spotted a great big moth along the trail on one of our hikes. Birds in the trees, squirrels dancing from forest floor to tree limb and the constant babble of the stream accompany you as you stroll the trail. You’ll cross small side creeks, possibly crawl over a log or two and thoroughly enjoy your journey through this quiet, remote old forest.

Directions to Trailhead: From Mt. Shasta take Highway 89 to the Central Mc Cloud exit and turn south(right) onto Squaw Creek Road. Drive 5.9 miles and then turn right onto an unpaved road marked for Squaw Valley Creek and the Pacific Crest Trail. Go three miles and park in the lot just beyond the concrete bridge spanning Squaw Valley Creek.

Grateful for farmers market

The Monday Farmers Market has started up in Mt. Shasta, and folks are so grateful for the fresh, local food. We’ve had musicians play both weeks since the market started up, which really adds to to the friendly ambiance. People take the time to chat at these early markets, since they don’t have to worry about being first in line to get the brandywine tomatoes. There are delectable treats to be had, namely the asparagus from Pierce Family Farm. Strawberries, enormous heads of lettuce, and fava beans are a few more special treats. Then there are the regulars for this time of year: crisp and tasty chard, kale, and spinach; the sweet, petite carrots we’ve all been waiting for, the occasional broccoli and cabbage. We’ve also been enjoying honey from Mowat Apiaries, baked goods from The Oven Bakery, the lavender-scented body care products from Windy Ridge Farm and the goodies from Hunter Orchard: almonds, jams, garlic and fall apples, right now.

Farmers markets are such a great way to connect with your community. You see a wonderful cross section of residents and a few visitors, and you get to see what folks in your greater community are growing and making. It’s wonderful.

Mt. Shasta’s Farmers Market – Monday, from 3:30-6:00pm on MS Blvd. The Thursday evening market will begin after the 4th of July week.

Dunsmuir Farmers Market – Saturdays beginning in July