The weather continued to be rainy and too wet for trike riding the 1st couple of days I was camped in the Marina RV park. On my last day in Redding, the weather broke and I was able to ride on a gorgeous day in bright blue skies with no wind. I got my trike out to ride the Sacramento River trail. I was here a year ago and rode the same trail. This ride completely knocked my socks off. I was here in October with full fall foliage at it's peak with the colors reflecting in the calmly moving river water. The colors for today's ride weren't quite as spectacular but the trail was still terrific. Last year I rode the trail from the south end trailhead in Redding to the end, which is very close to Shasta dam, and then back. I recently learned I could extend the ride up to Shasta Dam and actually ride across the top of the dam. From the map, I saw it's also possible to do a loop ride returning on the other side of the river. That was my planned route.
Calatrava designed Sundial bridge
Sundial Bridge
The Marina RV park isn't great but I think it's the closest place to camp within riding distance of the Sacramento River bike trail. It’s also the least expensive at $36/night. I did this ride last year staying at the same park and there is about a mile of bike lane road riding before finding the Sundial Bridge and the cycling path system. I was riding on Sunday and there was very little traffic. The Sundial Bridge is for pedestrian/biking with no vehicle traffic. The bridge was built in 2004 and designed by Santiago Calatrava. The sundial casts a shadow only for the summer solstice date at 11am. It has become an iconic image for Redding.
Herons in the rapids
More reflections
Nice colors and textures
The ride up to the dam was fantastic. This trail is smooth and goes right along the Sacramento River with terrific landscape and wildlife views. In the sun the temperature was around 60f but in the shade the temps dropped significantly. This is not a rail trail where climbing grades are no more than 3%. There are some climbs in the 8% range. The views are worth the effort as are the downhill runs.
Reflective River
River wildlife
From the end of the bike trail, I took a road just over a mile up to the top of the dam. It's not everyday you can ride a tricycle across the top of a dam. Shasta dam construction started in 1937 and was completed in 1945. This was an enormous, complicated project that transformed the resources of California paving the way for the state to become the 5th biggest economy in the world. The views of Shasta lake and the Sacramento River below were impressive. The water level of the lake is quite low from the drought and the layered colors revealed on the lake rim were striking. I loved being able to ride so high and see the views.
Sacramento River view
My original plan was to ride across the dam and then do a loop back to Redding on the other side of the river. On my way up a man riding an EliptiGo stopped to chat. He said the loop is very doable but it is mostly road riding with no views of the river. Getting back on the bike trail happens almost into Redding. He suggested going out and back on the trail would be safer and more enjoyable. So that's what I did and the ride was 40 miles round trip with 1300 ft of climbing which I did on one battery. I highly recommend this trail to anyone visiting the area.
View from above
Another drone shot
Video from the Shasta Dam ride
The next day I got hitched up with a plan to stop in Oroville. I have many boondocking phone apps as well as websites I scour from my laptop looking for nice places to camp. I need to take it slow for a couple of reasons. One, gas prices are high and it costs $180 to fill my tank. I can't afford to do this every day. Two, I think my family is having a Thanksgiving dinner in Berkeley. At first, everyone said 'no' but now most people are wavering. It will probably happen but Thanksgiving is more than 10 days away and I need to wait out the time in the area.
Oroville Wildlife Refuge location
I found a wildlife refuge to stay at that looks fantastic. There are quite a few campsites right on the Feather River. To camp here requires getting a permit from the local California Highway Patrol office where you need to show ID, proof of vehicle registration and insurance. There are no fees. All the reviews were good and it seemed very safe.
Feather River
On my way into Oroville I heard a radio story that made national news. The seven member Oroville city council, being upset with state and federal Covid mandates, declared the city to be a Constitutional Republic that wasn't going to follow the rules any more. I thought that was very interesting and was looking forward to asking about it locally to hear what people thought. I suspect this was more a protest vote than anything meaningful or actionable. The 1st question I wanted to ask is whether the city would continue to receive money from the state or federal governments. Kinda wild, right?!?
Oroville is just over an hour's drive from Redding and I pulled into the CHP office in the early afternoon to get the required permit to camp. Unfortunately, I was given the bad news that this wildlife refuge has been closed since Covid started and the CHP doesn't think it will ever reopen. They said the area has problems with the homeless and drug activity. I thought it was odd that none of the apps or reviews online said anything about this area being closed and it has been closed for over 18 months. I asked if they could recommend any other places to camp but they offered nothing. Bummer and now I was left scrambling for a place to camp. I also asked the officers about the city council vote making Oroville a Constitutional Republic and they had no idea what I was talking about.
It’s been almost 2 years since I started my RV life and I've learned there are really 2 types of boondocking. One is where you find a place to pull over just to spend the night. This could be behind a Cracker Barrel restaurant, Walmart parking lot, Flying J truck stop or simply a pull-out on a road. The other type is actual camping where you can spend a few days or a couple of weeks to enjoy an area. Around Oroville all I could find were overnight stops. For me, these are fine if you are putting in lots of miles and just need a place to sleep but that's not what I was looking for. With no enticing boondocking options available, I called a local private RV park and found a lovely place also on the Feather River. River Reflections was $45/night and directly across the river from the wildlife refuge. They gave me a site that was right on the river and I checked in for 2 nights. This was a family run park and the people were very nice and helpful.
The next day was wet. I decided to take a short drive to the wildlife refuge across the river and see what it was like. This refuge is huge and there are a couple of unpaved, very rough and potholed roads to get through it. I took one slowly along the Feather river for maybe a mile. There were lots of beautiful camping spots with trees and plenty of room to turn around my trailer. I didn't see anyone for almost a mile when I came upon some fishermen getting their gear ready. The rains had stopped and the skies were clearing. I stopped to chat and ask about the refuge. They both said the area is patrolled by CHP and rangers. I asked them if I didn't bother getting a permit could I still camp and they both said I would be kicked out. I also asked about homeless problems or drug activity and they thought this area would be too remote to be convenient to the homeless and they have never seen any suspicious activity. Maybe the CHP was talking about another part of the refuge. They, too, didn’t know anything about the city council vote making Oroville a Constitutional Republic. I went back to the trailer and worked on my blog and a video.
Wildlife refuge
Over the last weeks I have been in touch with a woman I met through the genealogy site 23 and Me. Bonnie's passion is genealogy and, somehow, we are related. As she says ‘DNA doesn’t lie’. She and her husband live in Grass Valley and they invited me to visit to go over genealogy stuff and show me what she found. The world of genealogy is intriguing even though I know very little about it. Grass Valley was my next destination and, again, not very far. This very small town is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the way to Lake Tahoe. What a gorgeous area with quaint country roads you expect to see people riding horses on. Grass Valley is next to Nevada City which is more touristic and absolutely adorable.
Oroville rice paddy with heron
With Bonnie
Jeff and one of his huge sculptures
Jeff in his studio
Bonnie and Jeff live on a narrow twisting one-lane country road lined with oak trees. As I turned onto their street I saw a giant delivery truck stopped in the road. I decided to wait at the intersection until he made a move. It turned out his truck was too big to get into the delivery address driveway and he needed to back onto the road I was on and wait for the home owner to transfer goods into their pickup truck. Country life can be complicated! This all took awhile and I kept texting Bonnie to give updates. She was waiting for me at the bottom of her driveway wondering why I wasn't showing up.
Pretty kitty
One of 9 pet cats
Jeff and Bonnie have a beautiful 10 acre spread that is mostly left wild. Jeff is a sculptor who works in bronze. He has a 5,000 sq ft studio chocked full of art. I loved seeing it and talking to him about the pieces. Some were small, some were hanging from the ceiling, some were on the walls and some were huge pieces in the studio and outside on the property. He does all his work in wax and when a piece is purchased he finishes it in bronze. I thought the whole process was fascinating. Jeff and Bonnie are also big followers of conspiracy theories. It was very interesting to hear details of how they think the world works and to learn what they think that means. They also have 9 cats which has me rethinking the idea of traveling with a cat in my trailer.
Jeff's smaller pieces
Bonnie showed me lots about genealogy and got me on 3 different ancestry websites. Her information was enlightening. She had traced a line of my mother's family back to 1630 colonial Virginia and even further back to 1613 England. Bonnie also traced my father’s family back to 960 AD in Switzerland. She found my mother's date of death and where she died. More new info for me was that my mother had remarried and had 2 more children. Bonnie suggested I go to San Francisco to get a copy of the death certificate because that would give me more clues to uncovering even more information about my mother who disappeared from my life at age 5. Jeff and Bonnie were very nice and showed me a great time. I really enjoyed my stay.
Parked in the art
After 2 nights, I hitched up moving onto Sacramento. Here I would be camping at the Cal Expo RV park. Again, I've got some time to kill before Thanksgiving and booked in for a week at $42/night. This RV park isn't anything special. The sites all have hook-ups but it isn't anything more than an asphalt parking lot. The draw of this RV park is location. The park has direct access to the American River bike trail and is centrally located in Sacramento. Laidback Cycles, is close by in the town of Fair Oaks and I was looking forward to, finally, meeting Mickey O'Brien, the owner. He has been a sponsor of my YouTube channel for almost a year. I was also hoping to meet and ride with other local recumbent riders.
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