Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

16Feb 2018 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown; Boulder Creek Falls Trail

On February 14th I was out at Whiskeytown in the early morning for a hike to Boulder Creek Falls. I went via South Shore Drive, and I'm glad that I did. The views just on the 2.5 mile drive down the dirt road were worth it. The hike was also really good, with a few good views of Whiskeytown Lake on the way up, and the ruins were neat to see. The waterfall at least when I went was a little unimpressive, just not that much water coming down. According to my phones GPS it was 6.38 miles round-trip. [gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="702,701,700,699,698,697,696,695,694,693,692,691"]

15Feb 2018 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown; Clear Creek Canal Trail

Art, Series and Works

On February 8th I hiked Clear Creek Canal Trail. This tail is mostly flat and meanders through the forest offering a good view of Whiskeytown Dam, and some of the surrounding mountains. It is a long trail at 4.5 miles long (so 9 miles round-trip), you can shorten it to around 7.3 miles by taking the Shasta Mine Loop trail back when you return. The trail make a sort of lazy loop, starting on the far side of the Mount Shasta Mine Loop Trail parking lot and crosses the road around 4 times. There is a part of the trail where you can see the Whiskeytown Cemetery. Eventually the trail combines with the Shasta Mine Loop trail for a short while, this is where it can get a bit confusing…

30Jan 2018 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown; Crystal Creek Water Ditch Trail (2018)

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On Sunday the 28th the weather was really nice so a trip out to Whiskeytown was in order. Now that everything isn't just different shades of brown and red. I last hiked this trail on June 21st 2017, shortly after it re-opened. It is really interesting to see how the different seasons change how you approach the photograph. [gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="669,667,666,665,664,663,662"]

24Aug 2017 by Ryan 1 Comment

Exploring Whiskeytown: Davis Gulch Trail

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I've fallen behind on posting these, the last hike that I did at Whiskeytown was Davis Gulch Trail on July 19th. I've since been hiking in Lassen and I will start posting those soon. The Davis Gulch Trail is one that is alongside the lake, and leads over towards the Brady Creek Beach area. There are some great views of the lake on this trail, and it seems like the trail would be more interesting earlier in the season with some water still flowing in the stream. The Photo sphere is from one of the benches near the halfway mark that overlooked Whiskeytown Lake. [sphere 585] [gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="583,582,581,580,579,578,577,576"]

31Jul 2017 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: Salt Creek Loop Trail

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I don't have a lot to say about Salt Creek Loop Trail. It is one of the newer trails in a less developed area of Whiskeytown. The trail was hard to navigate and the landscape was all dry. There are only five photographs from this hike. There wasn't really any good views on this trail and it was mostly just a walk in the woods. The most memorable part of this trail was the swarm of mosquitoes that attacked anytime you were near the dried up creek bed. I do think that this trail would be really nice in late spring or really early summer when there is still water in the creek. [sphere 555] Next week is Davis Gulch trail, right alongside the lake. This will be my…

19Jul 2017 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: Shasta Divide Nature Trail

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The Shasta Divide Nature trail starts right at the end of the parking lot for the Visitor Center. This is a nice easy and short trail that winds down to the lake shore and makes a small loop. I was really surprised by this trail and the views of the lake that it offered. The trail makes a small loop, overall it is around .4 miles. The photosphere from this hike is on the lakeside at the bottom section of the loop. [sphere 544] [gallery columns="4" size="medium" ids="538,540,539,537,536"]

17Jul 2017 by Ryan 1 Comment

Exploring Whiskeytown: Guardian Rock Trail

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Last week I was out at Guardian Rock Trail, and came back with a ton of photographs. As a result it has taken me longer than I'd like to get this posted. There are 28 final photographs, and the majority of them are HDR or Panoramic images. I really enjoyed this trail. I cannot specifically recall having hiked this trail before, but given its proximity to the NEED Camp I assume that I was on the trail then in 6th grade. All I can remember about being at that camp is the aftermath and having poison oak covering my body. This trail starts out at the Bridge leading to the NEED Camp across Clear Creek. You make your way down to the creekside and the mile walk is almost always…

06Jul 2017 by Ryan 1 Comment

Exploring Whiskeytown: Brandy Creek Falls

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Last week I hiked to Brandy Creek Falls. It is a short 1.5 mile hike with around a 500 foot elevation change. At the start you go mostly uphill on the way to the waterfall, so when you head back out its faster and almost all downhill. This is a hike that I've always felt is more about reaching the destination (Brandy Creek Waterfall) and not much else. I went early in the morning and had the trail to myself. On the way out there were two other people headed in. Unfortunately because of the time and coolness the mosquitoes were still out in swarms and if I stopped to take a photo they were on me in the dozens. Seriously I've never felt so many of them on me…

02Jul 2017 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: Crystal Creek Falls

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Crystal Creek Falls is my favorite Waterfall to photograph out at Whiskeytown Recreation Area. It not much of a hike, being only a half mile round trip. I usually stop by this waterfall anytime I am in the area. The photographs below are from three different visits to Crystal Creek Falls, two in February, and one just last week when I was at Crystal Creek Water Ditch Trail. I also have two Photo-Spheres from the falls, one was taken with my Nexus 6P last week, the other with my old Galaxy phone in February, when I took the photo it was a light drizzle that day and makes the photo look almost foggy. [sphere 460] [sphere 459] I find it interesting that in just four months my Processing style has changed.…

30Jun 2017 by Ryan 2 Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: Crystal Creek Water Ditch Trail

Art, Series and Works

This trail just recently reopened, after being closed in 2013 due to flooding of the trail. I hiked this trail once before it was closed, and had found memories of it. So I am glad to see this trail once again open. The trail reopened on June 15th, 2017 and I was there on the 21st. I think this is one of the less known about trails at Whiskeytown. As the name implies this hike takes you along a historic water ditch that originally provided water to the Camden House Orchard, and now once again after some repairs is providing water to the same orchards. You start just above the Clean-Out house, more of a shed really. It houses a water-wheel mechanism that will rake larger debris such as a…