| "If your dog is fat," the old saying goes, | | | | the juncion of trails PC 2000 and 11W014, |
| "you aren't getting enough exercise." But | | | | about 2.5 miles southwest of Lover's Camp |
| walking the dog need not be just about a | | | | Trailhead.LOGGING HERITAGE. |
| little exercise. Here are 15 cool things you | | | | |
| can see around northern California and | | | | You can't come away from a canine hike at |
| southern Oregon while you hike with your | | | | Collier Memorial State park without a greater |
| dog.ENGINEERING MARVELS. | | | | appreciation for the logging industry. The |
| | | | paths through the outdoor museum wind from |
| Between the town of Dairy and Sprague River, | | | | the days of oxen and hand axes through the |
| On the OC & E Trailyou will pass an | | | | age of steam and up to today's diesel |
| odd-looking section over a hill. This is a | | | | |
| | | | machines. You'll find railroad heritage here |
| railroad double switchback, which enabled | | | | as well. Look for an old Baldwin steam |
| trains to be split for navigating the hill. | | | | locomotive known, more or less |
| The original plans called for a tunnel | | | | affectionately, as GOP - "Get Out And Push." |
| through Bly Mountain, but as funds were low | | | | The engine strained so much hauling redwood |
| it was decided the cheaper double | | | | logs in and out of the mountains that it was |
| switchback-solution was good enough. Prior to | | | | constantly derailing.MYTHICAL CREATURES. |
| the 1990 closing of the railroad, this unique | | | | |
| engineering landmark was last of its kind in | | | | On the hike to the summit of Collings |
| the United States.FASCINATING BIRDS. | | | | Mountain you will find the world's only known |
| | | | Bigfoot trap. Constructed of wood with a |
| Shasta Lake is a popular nesting spot for | | | | heavy metal door reinforced by metal bolts by |
| bald eagles, offering an opportunity to see | | | | the North American Wildlife team in 1974, the |
| them hunting and nesting in the wild. At | | | | idea was the lure an unsuspecting Sasquatch |
| McCloud Falls,be on the lookout for the | | | | into the 10-foot by 10-foot pit from which it |
| little American Dipper birds that patrol the | | | | could not escape. As you hike along the |
| tumbling waters. These tiny birds, also known | | | | trails of Mount Shasta keep an eye out for |
| as water ouzels, zoom around over the surface | | | | tall, graceful folks with long flowing hair |
| and plunge in and out of the cascading water | | | | dressed in white robes - and a walnut-sized |
| in search of food. They use their wings to | | | | organ protruding from the center of their |
| "fly" underwater and can even be seen walking | | | | foreheads. These would be Lemurians, most |
| on the stream bottom pecking for larval | | | | probably from the massive lost continent of |
| insects, fish eggs and even slow fish just as | | | | Mu that once lay under the Pacific Ocean and |
| if they were walking on the trail.FRESH | | | | helped explain how lemurs ended up on the |
| TASTING WATER. | | | | island of Madagascar. One of the more well |
| | | | travelled folktales associated with Mount |
| Tub Springs was a popular stopping point for | | | | Shasta, some believed the Lemurians came to |
| travelers on the Applegate Trail to refresh | | | | live in a city called Telos inside of the |
| with a cool drink of fresh mountain water | | | | volcano.OLD ORCHARDS. |
| from tub springs. You can still do so today. | | | | |
| A stone water fountain at Hedge Creek Falls | | | | Joseph H. Stewart State Park |
| dispenses "the best water on earth," | | | | |
| according to townsfolk in Dunsmuir. You can | | | | is built on an old homestead from the 1940s. |
| have a taste and judge for yourself at the | | | | Fruit grew here in grand orchards, in the |
| gazebo on the top of the trail.GOLD. | | | | beginnings of Oregon's commercial pear |
| | | | industry. You can still see some old pear |
| People have come to the Shasta/Rogue River | | | | trees and apple trees and walnut trees |
| Valley for 150 years to search for gold and | | | | scattered around the park. You will find |
| it is probably not all gone. You can rent a | | | | historic fruit trees along the trail at Wolf |
| pan for $1 and chase gold in the creeks in | | | | Creek Inn State Heritage Site as well.UNUSUAL |
| Whiskeytown Recreation Area. Prior to 1900, | | | | BRIDGES. |
| the City of Redding operated a gold mine in | | | | |
| Blue Gravel Canyon, the only town in | | | | The Sacramento River Trail is and ideal hike |
| California to do so. The mine is long gone of | | | | for studying bridge architecture. Classical |
| course, but the trail remains and has relics | | | | arch bridges transport vehicular traffic |
| from the gold era along the path. Did they | | | | across the Sacramento and theDiestlehorst |
| get all the gold here?GREAT DAMS. | | | | Bridge is a prototypical 19th century pier |
| | | | and girder iron bridge. The Ribbon Bridge is |
| Shasta Dam opened in 1945 and flooded 35 | | | | the first of its kind in the nation - a |
| miles of the Sacramento River valley. One of | | | | 13-foot wide, 420-foot long concrete |
| the biggest dams ever conceived when | | | | stess-ribbon structure. The Sundial Bridge at |
| construction began in 1938, the building of | | | | Turtle Bay is the first American project for |
| Shasta Dam established several "world | | | | the celebrated Spanish bridge architect, |
| records." Among them was the Southern Pacific | | | | Santiago Calatrava. The focal point of his |
| Railroad's double decker bridge that was the | | | | design is a 218-foot curved tower on the |
| highest ever built and the construction of | | | | north bank of the river that doubles as |
| the world's longest conveyor belt system - | | | | support for the bridge's suspension cables |
| 10.5 miles - to bring sand and aggregate to | | | | and as the world's largest sundial. The |
| the building site from Redding. The water | | | | bridge sports a glass decking that enhances |
| spilling over Shasta Dam created the largest | | | | the natural light and enables unobstructed |
| artificial waterfall ever seen - three times | | | | views of the mountains at the horizon and the |
| as high as the drop at Niagara Falls. The | | | | salmon at play below.VOLCANIC SOUVENIRS. |
| Trinity Dam, rising 466 feet from bedrock, is | | | | |
| one of the highest earth-filled dams in the | | | | This landscape was formed in many places by |
| world.HISTORIC BUILDINGS. | | | | volcanic eruptions. The trail around Brown |
| | | | Mountain provides dramatic glimpses of lava |
| Fire has claimed many an old building in the | | | | flow. At Black Butte, a small group of |
| West but there are still some significant | | | | inactive "plug dome" volcano craters dot the |
| wooden buildings left standing in the | | | | landscape. Plug domes have a type of lava |
| wilderness. In Trinity Recreation Area stands | | | | flow that too thick and stiff to flow |
| the Bowerman Barn, painstakingly constructed | | | | normally, but instead is squeezed out the top |
| with hardwood pegs and one of the most | | | | like crusty icing. All that remains of the |
| representative 19th-century hand-crafted | | | | mighty 12,000-foot volcano that once |
| structures in California. Also in the park is | | | | dominated the southern Cascades are eight |
| the orignal log house from the Stoddard | | | | protruding peaks in the Mountain Lakes |
| homestead, just off the Stoddard Trail. In | | | | Wilderness. And there is the odd Oregon |
| Ah-Di-Na Campground in Siskiyou County, | | | | Desert, a pumice-covered landscape in the Sky |
| canine hikers can study an historic cabin | | | | Lakes Wilderness. Ash from Mount McLouhlin's |
| that was restored by volunteers in 1990 using | | | | last eruption sits fifty feet deepa across |
| only traditional tools such as long axes and | | | | the area.WATERFALLS. |
| chisels.INTERESTING TREES. | | | | |
| | | | This trail at McCloud Falls reveals three |
| In TouVelle State Recreation Site is one of | | | | waterfalls in little more than a mile: the |
| the largest granary trees in southern Oregon. | | | | Lower Falls (a powerful, ten-foot drop into a |
| A granary tree is a special tree targeted by | | | | wide pool), the Middle Falls (a classically |
| acorn woodpeckers to store food. This | | | | wide, 50-foot waterfall), and the Upper Falls |
| ponderosa pine is estimated to have as many | | | | (a water spout squeezing through granite |
| as 50,000 holes! On the Blue Canyon Trail you | | | | cliffs). Two hikes in the town of Dunsmuir |
| can see a tree where Judge John Waldo from | | | | also find different types of falls: Hedge |
| Salem, Oregon and his party traced the route | | | | Creek Falls cutting through basalt rock and |
| that is now the Pacific Crest Trail, becoming | | | | Mossbrae Falls dripping through moss and |
| the first to cross the crest of the southern | | | | ferns.WRITER INSPIRATIONS. |
| Cascades in 1888.LOFTY LOOKOUTS. | | | | |
| | | | The best-selling Western writer of all time, |
| Mountain trails often climax at Forest | | | | Zane Grey, used the Rogue River as the |
| Service lookouts with dramatic views. At | | | | centerpiece of many of his stories. His cabin |
| Medicine Lake, Hoffman Lookout was built for | | | | can still be seen on the Rogue. Jack London |
| fire surveillance in 1924 and started out as | | | | wrote Valley of the Moon while a guest at |
| a tiny 8 sq.ft. cabin. The cabin is available | | | | Wolf Creek Inn.I am the author of over 20 |
| for rent ((530) 964-2184) and is quite | | | | books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, |
| popular. Herd Peak Lookout sits eastward of | | | | including the |
| the main Cascade fault line, overlooking a | | | | |
| magnificent valley of hills created from | | | | widely praised The Canine Hiker's Bible. As |
| pyroclastic lava flows off Mount Shasta. | | | | publisher of Cruden Bay Books, we |
| During fire season, the lookout is manned | | | | |
| from 9:30AM to 9PM, and the person in charge | | | | produce the innovative A Bark In The Park |
| will be sitting in the tower watching over | | | | series of canine hiking books found at |
| the valley, ready to report any sign of a | | | | |
| fire to firefighters by radio. The rustic | | | | During the warm months I lead canine hikes |
| Marble Valley Guard Station, completed in | | | | as |
| 1928 , is an early example of simple stations | | | | |
| built by the Forest Service as fire lookouts. | | | | tour leader for tours, leading packs of dogs |
| Trail crews and wilderness rangers still work | | | | and humans on |
| from Marble Valley today - still with little | | | | |
| concession to modern comforts. The guard | | | | day and overnight trips. |
| station is reached by a difficult climb at | | | | |