June 18-20th you can visit the Mt. Shasta area and get some local, environmental education while you’re at it. “Environment Matters: An Environmental Summit” is being offered by the College of the Siskiyous June 18, 19, 20 and 21st as a forum for discussing environmental issues, particularly how they pertain to this region. Field trips on Friday and Saturday will take students to gorgeous locations, like Castle, Gumboot and Cedar Lakes as local experts help students explore the four components of the forest ecosystem: fire, water, earth and air.
The event kicks off Thursday evening with check-in and a reception with hors d’oeurves followed by an opening lecture and overview of the field trips. On Friday you get into the meat of the workshop with two half-day outings to visit a destination and discuss one of the elements at each of the 1/2 day meetings. This means that in two days of field trips you’ll get to experience all four elements. Following the Friday field trips, students are invited to a catered dinner at the Mt. Shasta Brewing Company pub (home of Weed Ale) – just down the street from the College’s forested campus.
Sunday wraps up with a tasty brunch at the Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm where you’ll be treated to fabulous views of Mount Shasta amidst acres of blooming lavender while attending the closing lecture.
Environment Matters’ field trips and lectures will be given by a handful of long-time locals who are well-versed in the flora and fauna and issues of this area. For those of you familiar with the wildflower hikes offered by Shasta Mountain Guides and led by Penn Martin, you’ll meet him again as one of the trip leaders. Dr. Rene Henery, who directs the Castle Lake Research Program, Dr. Sudeep Chandra, who also works on the Castle Lake project, research geographer Carl Skinner, geologist Don Elder, and Mt. Shasta environmental planner Tom Hesseldenz complete the roster of educators.
This is a great opportunity to visit these wonderful sites around Mt. Shasta with the huge bonus that you get to deepen your awareness of forest issues at the same time. The College is excited to offer this program and looking forward to enthusiastic participation. You’ll need to enroll soon for course ENVR 51. Download the brochure, call the Weed campus at 530.938.5555 or register online at www.siskiyous.edu. If you’d like more information, contact Li Collier, the director of Instructional Services, at 530.938.5336.
The McCloud Mushroom, Music and Wine Faire, set for Memorial Day weekend, is a celebration of good food and a local tradition. Local mushroom hunters hit the woods in May, hunting for morel and boleta mushrooms, and the forests around McCloud are a hot spot for mushroom lovers. The two-day Faire sports a $100 cash prize for largest mushroom found locally. The street fair brings in a host of chefs specializing in mushroom delicacies, regional olive and olive oil vendors, wineries, local organic plant starts, herbal body care products and more food booths.
Things kickoff Friday night, with the wine tasting party, featuring Shasta View Vineyards and Alpen Cellars, from 6-8pm in the Great Room at the McCloud Mercantile. Saturday Main Street hosts the street fair, followed by a community BBQ at Pan Exotic Mushrooms on Squaw Valley Road. Live music is scheduled throughout the street fair (10am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday). There will also be a ballroom dancing demonstration and a display of mushrooms found in Siskiyou County.
If you come out for the Mushroom Fair be sure to fully check out the shops and the Museum in historic McCloud. If you’ve still got time on your hands (especially if it’s hot), head out to the McCloud River waterfalls, about 8 miles east of town on Highway 89) for a dip in the really chilly waters (or you can just enjoy the view). Either way, it’s a great time to enjoy the folks and natural attractions of McCloud.
We just received this schedule of the guided tours being offered during the Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival on May 16th. You should definitely check it out.
MAY 16th BIRD FESTIVAL FEATURES REFUGE TOURS
At the May 16th Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival the public will have a chance to join local wildlife experts and historians on tours to Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. Bus transportation will be provided from the Refuge visitor center near Tulelake, California for most tours. All festival events are free of charge but space on tours is limited so participants should call (530) 667-2231 for reservations as soon as possible. Tours are scheduled at the following times:
MIST NETTING AND BANDING BIRDS – 7: 30 – 11:00
This activity will take place throughout the morning at the Tule Lake Refuge visitor center. Lava Beds National Monument, Wildlife Biologist, David Larson will demonstrate a technique of capturing small birds known as “mist netting.” Captured birds are then fitted with a small aluminum leg band which then helps document the life histories of each bird species.
BALD EAGLE NEST OBSERVATION – 9:00 – 2:30
Join raptor expert, Charlotte Kisling, for a rare opportunity to view an active bald eagle nest and identify many marsh birds found on two large marsh units on Lower Klamath Refuge. Maps to the viewing location will be provided at the Festival site.
LOWER KLAMATH REFUGE WILDLIFE TOUR – 9:30 – 11:30
Klamath Basin birding expert, Kevin Spencer, will lead this bus trip to view refuge habitats and birdlife. This is your chance to experience this world-famous birding area and view a host of waterfowl and other marsh birds.
WALKING WETLANDS TOUR – 1:00 – 2:30
Join Refuge managers and wildlife biologists to see how wildlife benefits from rotating wetlands and farm lands both on and off the refuge. In the last decade, this technique known as Walking Wetlands has been pioneered in the Klamath Basin.
HISTORIC CCC CAMP TOUR – 1:30 TO 2:30 AND 2:45 TO 3:45
Join Lava Beds Park Ranger, Angela Buckley, to tour a recently stabilized building at the 1930’s Civilian Conservation Corps Camp on Tule Lake Refuge. This area was recently designated part of a newly established World War II National Monument.
Other events and opportunities at this Saturday’s festival will include airboat rides through Tule Lake Marsh, children’s activities, food booths, music and a variety of free wildlife information. The annual Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival will be held at the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge visitor center on Hill Road from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Airboat rides through Tule Lake Marsh, wild bird banding, children’s wildlife activities and guided bus trips to local wildlife refuges are just a few of the free family events featured at the Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival on May 16th. The 8th annual Tule Lake Bird Festival will be held at the Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuges visitor center from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. The center is located 5 miles west of Tulelake, California on Hill Road.
As in previous years, free airboat tours of Tule lake Marsh are expected to be the most popular event at the festival. Call early for reservations at (530) 667-2231. Other featured events include bird banding demonstrations, educational programs with live hawks and owls, children’s wildlife art instruction, bird mask making, and wildlife crafts and games. The Klamath Blues Society will provide live music through the lunch hour.
Events requiring advanced reservations include:
? Airboat rides through Tule Lake Marsh – Conducted between 10:00 and 2:30 at half hour intervals
? Lower Klamath Refuge guided wildlife discovery bus tour – 9:30 to 11:30
? Tule Lake Refuge historic CCC camp tours – 1:30 to 2:30 and 2:45 to 3:45
? Tule Lake Walking Wetlands Tour with Refuge Manager Ron Cole 1:00 to 2:30.
Festival vendors will offer handmade crafts as well as variety of wildlife art and photography. Snacks, drinks, and both breakfast and lunch entrees will be sold at a nominal cost.
Live entertainment will be provided before and after lunch. For additional information on this event visit the web site www.fws.gov/klamathbasinrefuges, or call the Visitor Center at 530-667-2231.
The traditional event to honor veterans in Siskiyou County is the Memorial Day service at the Hot LZ Wall at the Living Memorial Sculpture Gardens, outside of Weed. But this year a new event, the Siskiyou County Veterans Appreciation Day, held on Armed Forces Day (May 16th), will be held to help living veterans to understand their benefits and available services. The event will also include a bit of show: the American Legion Post #260 of Etna will do colors, and the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors will be at the opening ceremony. The Young Marines of Northern Calif. and Southern Oregon will do the Pledge of Allegiance and a drill team presentation, to be followed by a seven-man rifle volley and the echo playing of Taps. There may even be a fly-over as Taps is playing. Barbara Ward, Deputy Director of the Women’s Veteran’s Affairs of California, will be the keynote speaker and Marge Wheeler of Mount Shasta, a Vietnam veteran and nurse, will provide musical entertainment along with the local band Rockit, who will also be performing at lunch and to end the day’s events.
The City of Yreka, Human Services, UC Davis, VA Northern California Health Care, Siskiyou Ministerial Association, Siskiyou VFW Posts and Madrone Hospice are participating in the event, and there will be informational booths from various veteran and service organizations that offer things like healthcare options and help with heating costs. One booth, called Horses for Heroes, offering horse therapy for vets, will include someone in the booth to explain their program. The Redding Outpatient Clinic/VA Clinic of Northern California will have a doctor on hand to talk to vets about a new clinic that will be opening in Yreka in the near future, and the VA in White City, Ore., will also have a booth to answer eligibility and other questions for local vets.
The Armed Forces Day event will be held at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds in Yreka. A breakfast, free to vets and $3 otherwise, is from 8-10am. The music and resource fair is from 9am to noon with the appreciation ceremony at noon. Lunch is from 1-2pm with the closing at 2pm.
The Memorial Day service at the Hot LZ Wall at the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden is set for 2pm on May 24th and will include the reading of names of new veterans to be added to the Wall, a color guard, Taps and a gun salatue (bring a chair if you need to be seated). The Hot LZ Wall is part of the sculpture garden, which features poingnant sculptures created by a Vietnam vet, and can be toured on foot or by car (don’t miss this!). The Living Memorial Sculpture Garden is located just off Highway 97 13 miles north of Weed.
It looks like the weather is going to be nice for Mother’s Day here in Siskiyou County. You’ve got plenty of brunch spots to choose from for a family outing, as well as spring flowers to admire while you’re out on a post-brunch stroll. Enjoy the company of your loved ones and the beautiful blue skies.
In Dunsmuir –
The Brown Trout Cafe is offering Mother’s Day brunch Sunday from 10am-2pm, with discounts in the Brown Trout Gallery. A Wild Thyme Cafe and Cornerstone Cafe are wonderful choices for brunch, and the Cornerstone always offers delicious specials. If you’re gathering later in the day, consider an early dinner at Cafe Maddelena, where the cuisine is always top notch. After you’ve eaten you can ease off your meal by walking around downtown Dunsmuir (keeping an eye out for the dogwoods mentioned in Joanne’s recent post). Or you can head to the river: both the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens and Taulindauli Park have trails that take you close to the water. They also have spring flowers in bloom, which makes a Mother’s Day stroll especially nice.
In Mt. Shasta –
The Mount Shasta Resort and Wayside Inn are offering Mother’s Day brunches, and there are a number of restaurants in town to choose from. Not far from the Mount Shasta Resort, the Lake Siskiyou trail provides a beautiful site for a walk. The North Shore trail is quite sunny with a good view of the lake, and the trail across from the Castle Lake road it full of blooming dogwoods right now. If you’re in town, cut up Castle Street to the Sisson Meadow boardwalk for fabulous views and benches where you can chat and enjoy the spring weather. If you’ve got little ones with you, go to the Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery (on the west side of I-5) where the kids can feed the fish and a short connector trail will take you to the Elsa Rupp Nature Trail across Old Stage Road.
In Yreka –
For Mother’s Day, Yreka’s got two great events: the Red Scaft Society’s “Music in the Air” performance and the 16th Annual Wildflower Show at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds. In conjunction with the Wildflower show, there is a tour of the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area (outside of Montague) on May 9th. “Music in the Air” begins at 3pm at the Yreka Community Theater, and the Wildflower Show is from 1oam-4pm at the Fairgrounds. If you’re in Yreka and looking to get outside for a post-brunch walk, head to Greenhorn Park, where a trail will take you around the pond to explore the Upper and Lower Parks. Be sure to bring some bread crumbs with you, as the geese and ducks at the pond expect more goodies on Mother’s Day (they’re moms too, don’t ya know). For a Mother’s Day meal, check out Nature’s Kitchen, Grandma’s House or get festival at Casa Ramos or Lalo’s.
In Montague –
Ms. Lynn’s Tea has two events planned for the weekend: “Wonder fo the Mother”, Saturday at 1pm accompanied by a dessert tea, and all day Sunday you can stop in for a Queen’s Tea with musical accompaniment. Ms. Lynn’s is lots of fun – you can dress up for tea with props provided at the tea house, or come in your own fine garb.
Another post from Joanne –
I’m online this morning looking at ticket sales, hotel prices etc. for my summer trip to San Francisco to see the King Tut exhibit at the DeYoung Museum. After my winter trip to Egypt, I’m so excited!
A good friend who lives in the Bay Area asked, “Why ever are you coming HERE when you live in paradise! We work all year to come up to Mount Shasta.”
…and then I opened an email with a quote that explains it all:
Well known travel writer Pico Iyer suggests that we travel “…initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.”
We in Siskiyou County are proud and delighted to be a part of “slowing your time down” and helping you to “fall in love once more”.
Hope we’ll see you this summer.
Joanne Steele
Siskiyou County Tourism Director
A post from our friend Joanne (a Dunsmuir resident):
It’s the dogwood blooming season, and well worth a tour of the little town of Dunsmuir to see. The riot of pinks and whites against a dozen shades of spring greens is dressing dozens of yards from the river roads of South Dunsmuir to the quiet streets of north Dunsmuir.
Take a minute to go to Google Maps, type in “Dunsmuir, CA 96025 and get a map of the town. Starting at the south end of town, keep your eyes open for color along Dunsmuir Ave. Then, when you reach Branstetter Ave., turn up the hill to Elinore and turn left. This street has some of the most spectacular Dogwoods in town. Cross the river on Bridge St. and drive South 1st and 2nd, then take Sacramento Ave. back through town. There are several beauties right next to the Brown Trout – a great lunch and coffee stop.
From here, you’re on your own. Keep your eyes open for the startling white against the deep green of the pine forest and the lovely shades of pink gracing huge trees and enchanting tiny specimens taking center stage in beautiful gardens. Don’t miss the trees on Upper Soda and Masson just after you cross the big bridge into North Dunsmuir. And continue further past Cave Springs to Wells and Gleaves watching for the tree with both white and pink flowers. The northern most stop is Patricia Way, with some real beauties right at the end of the street.
The season for dogwoods is short, so plan a nice Mother’s Day drive this weekend, with brunch at Cornerstone or A Wild Thyme, or dinner at Sengthong’s or Café Maddalena.
Yreka, Happy Camp and the Klamath River got recognition recently in San Francisco Magazine’s “Es(CA)pes – 20 bright new destianation that have it all” piece in May. The area got the nod in the Wet and Wild section for family fun trips on the Klamath River, specifically for multi-day trips departing from Happy Camp. The story featured the more mellow summer trips out of Happy Camp, rather than the truly wet and WILD spring rafting that is happening right now.
The Upper Sacramento River, Scott and Cal Salmon are all flowing big right now (early May) and that makes for blood-pumping class III (the Sac) and class IV & V (the Scott and Salmon) rafting for thrill junkies. Plus you get to enjoy spring flowers blooming and tiny waterfalls tinkling down the sides of the river canyons (beautiful, let me tell ya). Rafting companies will start doing family trips on the Klamath in May too, although the weather and the water aren’t as warm as they will be come June and July. To learn more about your rafting options here in Siskiyou County and to get a list of guide services, see our rafting page.
As you’re doing your research, have a look at surrounding towns. As the Es(CA)pes article pointed out, Yreka is a great stop once you’ve finished a trip on the Klamath. You can stop for a meal and explore the Gold Rush history of the town at the Siskiyou County Museum, Greenhorn Park and at the County Courthouse $1million gold dispaly. When you’re paddling the Upper Sac, Dunsmuir is the place to go for a post-paddling meal. From the Scott or Cal Salmon (two truly remote rivers – make sure you’ve got snacks in the car) you’ll have a bit of a drive back to the towns of Etna or Fort Jones, where you’ll find a handful of dining options.
So get to planning. Spring rafting is a blast, and summer floating is a super, mellow way to enjoy time on the water together.
Tags: Cal Salmon River, Dunsmuir, Etna, Fort Jones, Klamath River, rafting, Sacramento River, Scott River, Siskiyou County, Yreka
Recreation | Visit Siskiyou May 5, 2009 | 
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The 2nd Annual Big Bellydance Show: A World of Dance is set for May 9th at the Fort Jones Community Center, with professional West Coast bellydancers bringing a whirlwind of color, movement and grace. Dancers from Ayesha’s Oasis Dance Company of Medford and Ashland’s Circus Tribal will entertain the crowd, with special performances by Saqra of Portland, Or., and Verbatim from Sacramento (back by popular demand). The show is so exciting that last year it sold out, and as of May 2nd only 35 tickets remain for this year’s show.
Saqra, a powerful dance artist and internationally renowned master instructor, will be teaching a workshop from 2-4pm that day. If you’d like to try your hand (um, belly?) at dancing, call Deborah at 468.2424 for more info and tickets for the performace as well. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance and $15 at the door (if any remain).
While you’re out in the Valley, stop by Casa Ramos Mexican Resaurant or Dave’s Place (for pizza or a burger) in Fort Jones or head over to Etna for dinner. Etna options include Bob’s Ranch House, Corrigan’s, the Etna Brewery Pub and Etna Deli (drive around or ask around, these are small towns so you’ll find what you’re looking for). Have a great time out in this beautiful valley at this really fun event!
