SHASTA NATIONAL FOREST (CA)

MONDAY - We drove a total of 152-miles to get to our next campsite today on 2-lane State Highways like CA-139, CA-299 and CA-89, passing through towns like Adin (pop 49 with gas at $5.83), Bieber (pop. 307 with gas at $5.79), McArthur (pop. 402 with gas at 5.95) and Fall River Mills (pop. 497 with gas at $5.79 & $6.09).

Those were our only opportunities to purchase gasoline along our entire 152-mile route. Luckily we're still burning the $4.15 gas we purchase in Oregon before crossing into Northern California. We rolled into our campsite with the fuel gauge at 12% and just 55-miles to empty.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS

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Our route today had us detouring around the mountains and the 14,179' tall Mount Shasta.
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Even from 60-miles away Mount Shasta dominates the horizon.
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A 3-mile section of CA-89 was down to 1-lane for repairs to the mountainside.
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They can't stop the rocks from falling, all they can do is try to catch them
before they block the roadway by installing heavy duty wire mesh fencing.
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We were trapped behind this logging truck and double-yellow lines going uphill at 35MPH.
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We're in the home stretch now and getting closer to Mount Shasta and our campsite.
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Our campsite at Fowlers Campround in Shasta National Forest is 15-miles from Mount Shasta.
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Our $9.50 per night home for the next 4-nights.

TUESDAY - Nothing too exciting going on this morning except driving into the town of Mt. Shasta to do some much needed laundry and refill ROVER's gas tank with some $5.49 fuel at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center off Interstate 5.

After the laundry, gas and lunch, we may just find some time for sightseeing!

ERRAND DAY SIGHTSEEING

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We've seen these Black Bear Diners all over the West and wanted to stop in and try one.
This one in Mt. Shasta claims to be the "Original". We won't be looking for them anymore!
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After our less than desirable lunch, we headed 14-miles up to the end of the
Everett Memorial Highway, as high as you can go on Mount Shasta in a vehicle.
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On the drive up we took the time to look west over the Cascade Mountains.
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A view of Whitney Glacier on the northern side of Mount Shasta.
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At the end of the road we were at 7845', a far cry from the 14,179' summit above us.
We were however just below the tree line on the mountain.

WEDNESDAY - 10-days ago when we decided not to make a visit into Nevada we had to come up with something to plug into the calendar for the 4-days we just gained.

I was delighted when I saw an opening at Fowlers Campground here in the Shasta National Forest. It provided us the opportunity to visit Mount Shasta and to explore the 3-waterfalls we visited today.

If we had continued on to Nevada, we would have missed the chance to make this stop.

While all three of these waterfalls can be seen along a 3-mile out and back hiking trail we decided to drive to each waterfall because the temps today are going to once again rise into the low 90°Fs. Each waterfall has it's own parking lot, restroom and picnic area.

I'm going to show you the waterfalls as they appear going downstream because that only makes sense to me. We however visited them in exactly the opposite order.

MCCLOUD RIVER FALLS

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Before the McCloud River ever passes over a waterfall it calmly passes the Picnic Area.
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Be aware if you decide to go swimming, the first waterfall is only 50-yards downstream.
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Before the waterfall, the river has carved out a narrow gorge in the basalt rock walls.
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Imagine the amount of time and force it takes to carve holes into these rocks.
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Even today these holes are still being carved and enlarged by the flowing river.
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Down the river, cascading through the gorge and finally over the falls.
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This viewpoint is from directly over the top of the falls.
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The best way to view the 30' Upper Falls is from 50-yards downstream.
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The Upper Falls on the McCloud River.
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We've moved down the road to the Middle Falls now and first impressions weren't great...
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...but walking 50-yards downstream gave us a much better view of the falls.
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The 50' tall and 120' wide Middle Falls on the McCloud River.
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The final and closest to the campground waterfall are the Lower Falls.
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Only 15' tall is the Lower Falls on the McCloud River.

THURSDAY - ...and on the fourth day the TWO PEAS rested!

That's because our next 2-stops are only 2-nights each. That's one day to arrive, get unhooked and plan for the next days sightseeing. Then wake up early, do the activity and come back home and prepare the blogpost before bed. Then wake up, hookup and leave early in the morning for the next stop.

Only to do it all over again 2-days later. After these short stays we'll have a longer 6-day visit to get some more downtime.

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