Bad Knees Travel

As part of my touring, May 2022, in the Mt Lassen area, I looked in my favorite series The Creaky Knees Guide   and found this wonderful hike "Headwaters and Pacific Crest Trails." Length: 1.2 miles, stairs and elevation gain.  No Dogs on trail. Toilets at the parking lot. Fee. Camping available. Trail is a loop with lots of shade, but this area does get hot and dry in the summer, and can be icy midwinter. There is also a wheelchair accessible overlook close to the parking. The falls has a 129 feet drop, which may or may not be the highest in California. But it is one of the most beautiful. It is also a little seen formation. Look at the photo above. Click on it to look up close. There was a small waterfall here until a volcano filled the little valley with lava. Erosion and the natural tilt of the bed brings water from Mt. Burney and created a new falls.  You can see it in the bowl of the part of the falls with the big flow. But there are lots of other little seepag...

  A two weekend event gave me five days in the middle to go exploring in this area of stark beauty. Timing is everything. Late April and early May.  Before that and the snow in the mountains makes this impossible.  After May, and the heat is too much. Camp Discovery is in Red Bluff, California. Just east of Hwy 5 there is a lovely campground right on the Sacramento River. Day use is free, and there is a hiking trail that is completely wheelchair accessible. This will become my stop of choice when I trek up and down Hwy 5. Lots of room for trailers and bigger trucks down at the boat ramp parking. Don't bother with the town.  It is a perfect example of everything I don't like in a town.  The old lovely stuff is being allowed to rot and lots of plastic, ultra corporate stuff abounds.  And none of the local stuff tries to be anything but adequate.  Head east out Hwy 36 to Hog Lake Trailhead. Open grassland with volcanic ridges and towering volcanos. This a...