June 13-15, 2018

TLDR; Shasta is beautiful, clear, and green, with not many entrance points. It was host to many of our firsts: First city parking, first run-in with the post office (unsurprisingly miserable), first time blowing up the paddleboards with the tire compressor, first time setting off the smoke alarm, first time doing laundry, and first time “dumping” (exactly what it sounds like). We saw caves, ate steaks, and tried to stay cool.

The sights

Lake Shasta Caverns

These caverns were discovered 140 years ago (and long before that by the Indians). The stalagmites and stalagtites grow one inch every 100 years, which made the formations pretty remarkable. Names like bacon, popcorn, and peanut brittle made us pretty hungry.

Bailey Cove

This was right down the street from the launch point for the ferry to the caverns. Jess provided the motor for this true panoramic video.

The water was calm and cold: The perfect place to spot a bald eagle, drink a PBR, and lounge in the sun.

Whiskeytown Lake

Just west of Redding is Whiskeytown Lake and Brandy Cove, where we found ourselves paddling around a ton of little islands.

Found a good little nook with a cool island that Bri dubbed ‘Huck Finn’ for obvious reasons.

At one point on our way back, there were hundreds of birds above Jess, which was a little eery.

Bunny Hill

On our way out we drove up toward Mount Shasta to the highest point that was open, Bunny Hill. Everyone comes here to stage before they go up the mountain, so it was busy. But beautiful.

And then this happened…

It was night two in Shasta. We tried our spot from the night before but beeping from Layla, 106-degree heat, and embarrassment finally drove us out. We finally settled in at Turntable Bay and started to make dinner… and immediately set off the fire alarm.

Using the tire compressor to blow up the paddle boards for the first time took way longer than we thought, and it was h-o-t. Patience was low until we made it out on the lake. Many a dirty look was shot across the paddelboards.

Got to the post office to finally pick up packages—and they had two!—but not the third. So that’s now lost to the black hole of the USPS. (Sorry, Laurie!)

THe more you know

You need the right kind of spigot to get fresh water. Otherwise it’ll take you approximately four hours to fill up.

We won’t be able to level everywhere. And that’s just something we need to get used to.

Layla is a bug destroyer and requires frequent cleaning.

Errand/work days are annoying but essential. We just want to play in nature.

Exhibit A: Trip to Home Depot to get wood to build a frame for the “guest bed” (more on that later).

Visitor’s bureaus are awesome. We found one in the town of Mount Shasta and it was tiny, but the gal was super helpful and let us fill up our water. We had to park on the wrong side of the road so it was a touch precarious, but got our water.

Roadfood

Sandwichery

Jack’s Bar & Grill

Where we stayed

Night one: Gregory Creek Beach

Went to Gregory Creek Beach and found a big ol’ spot right on Shasta Lake with tons of room. Apparently it gets swamped on big weekends but Wednesday night was delightfully sleepy.

GPS coordinates: 40.885849, -122.373017

Night two: Turntable Bay

In Shasta, a lot of the spots that look legit on Google maps are waytoo steep or straight-up inaccessible. So we decided to go back to Gregory Creek Beach, but it was a bit busier and we couldn’t find a place to level. Plan B it is: Turntable Bay. A bit dirty but we could level easily, which feels like a luxury.

GPS coordinates: 40.777285, -122.311826

Night three: Rest Stop

We had just eaten our faces off at Jack’s (where my parents used to go on dates!) so we were full, sleepy, and more than ready for our spot. Turntable was taken so we had to stay at a rest stop which would have been fine if Jess was prepared. It was loud and out in the open, but served us well for the six hours we were there.

GPS coordinates: 40.793437, -122.317571