This trip was to the McCloud river in northern California. It’s located north and east of Redding near Mt. Shasta. The river is one of three that flow into Shasta Lake.
View of the McCloud river from the road - Nature photography by Alan
Getting to the river is pretty straight forward. Just take I-5 to Hwy 89 east. Take hwy 89 to the town of McCloud and then turn south on Squaw Valley Road. Squaw Vally road will take you to the McCloud lake and from there follow the signs toward the forest service camp ground “Ah Di Na”. The road has had some slides and a couple of trees have fallen across it in the past but there is plenty of room to get around those. We went past the campground and found a place to camp right on the river just about a 1/2 mile down the road.
Right now, you will see loads of flowering plants along the road including dogwood and redbud.
Road to the river
It’s a great drive and the scenes change quite a bit as you travel along.
Misty mountains near McCloud river
The camping was pretty good for the most part. The trip up and most of Monday were both sunny and fairly warm. There was rain Monday night and the rest of the trip had a bit of a mix of rain and partly cloudy days. The only bad part of the whole trip was the last night when I managed to crack a tooth in half while eating supper! I was lucky enough to find a great dentist in Vallejo CA the next day to get that taken care of. See the end of this article for full praise for that dentist!
There is a huge black tail deer population and several visited the camp site even coming right into the camp!
Black tail doe visits the camp
The guy in the photo is my friend Soren. This doe simply came right into camp in broad daylight and started looking for a snack!
Black tail doe
The visits from the deer were a fairly regular thing and we even saw a doe and young yearling buck stroll up to the tent.
Other critters I found signs of were raccoon, bear, squirrel, moles, and gophers. Keep this in mind when camping and take required precautions.
I did a very small amount of gold panning as well. Though I didn’t get very serious with it, I did find a couple of very tiny flakes. Don’t go thinking that you should run up there and file a claim though. The river in that area is not open to dredging and panning would not at all be profitable.
I took a few more photos so here they are! Enjoy!
Dogwood in bloom
Now, as for that dentist who rescued me from some serious tooth pain, Dr. Joshua Walker D.D.S. of Vallejo, CA was just fantastic! On very short notice, he was still able to take all the time needed to ensure that I felt NO PAIN during the procedure. The tooth needed to be pulled and I have to say that the entire thing was the most comfortable I have been in a dentist office in a very long time. The office he works in is the CrossRoads Dental Care and is owned by Vincent P. Lim D.D.S. If you ever find yourself in need of a good dentist in Vallejo CA, give these folks a call!
