The Clikapudi Trail

This morning we stopped at the Ranger Station for the Shasta Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, which is part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.  It was pretty convenient, because the ranger station is just next door to our RV park.

The ranger had many suggestions.  Of those, we decided that a hike along the shoreline of Shasta Lake might be the best introduction to the local area - especially since it was very close to our RV park.  We decided to hike the Clikapudi Trail, just up the Old Oregon Trail and Bear Mountain Road from here. The name Clikapudi comes from the Wintu word “Klukupuda” which means “to kill,” referring to a local battle between Wintu Indians and local traders in the 1800s.

The hike was level, but a little over 10 miles.  The hills were covered with young knobcone pine, black oak, live oak, manzanita, a few old-growth ponderosa pine, sage and a variety of other wild flowers and plants.

We weren't prepared for our views of Shasta Lake.  Here's one of the first views we had:

We were surprised by how low the lake water is.  We had asked the ranger about the level of the lake, having seen that the posted information says it is 113 feet low, and he said it is due to lack of water.  This year has been dry, and Shasta Dam, which made Shasta Lake by damming the Sacramento River, is obligated to release water for downstream use in the Sacramento Valley.

While the lake water is very low, the landscape around the lake is very striking:

Californians have boats - pontoon boats and houseboats - moored in various remote "fingers" of the lake.  We saw a group of houseboats moored in very low water.  In this photo, you can't even see the water.  People staying in the houseboats must park their cars o the hill above the lakebed.  You can see their vehicles to the left and above the houseboats:

As we neared the northern end of our hike, we climbed over a shoulder toward Buck Point.  This ridge, along with all the other land we hiked through, was devastated by the Jones Fire in October 1999.  Most of the old growth trees, as well as all other vegetation, was wiped out.  Now, 14 years later, a few old growth trees are left, but for the most part the forest is characterized by 14-year-old pine trees, along with fresh vegetation trying to reclaim the dry land around the lake:

Here, one lone tree stands on what would normally have been an island of the lake prior to the recent dryness.  It probably was protected from the 1999 fire by the lake around it.

Here Kathy looks out over Jones Valley, which gave its name to the fire.  The dry areas here were not recently lakebed, but are so stony with cinders, lava and sandstone that it is difficult for vegetation to catch hold.

As we came back around toward the beginning of our hike, we climbed the ridge above Jones Valley and caught sight of Mount Shasta in the distance: