Doggin' Shasta And The Rogue River: 15 Cool Things To See While You Hike With Your Dog

"If your dog is fat," the old saying goes, "you aren'tlookouts. Trail crews and wilderness rangers still work
getting enough exercise." But walking the dog needfrom Marble Valley today - still with little concession
not be just about a little exercise. Here are 15 coolto modern comforts. The guard station is reached by
things you can see around northern California anda difficult climb at the juncion of trails PC 2000 and
southern Oregon while you hike with your11W014, about 2.5 miles southwest of Lover's Camp
dog.ENGINEERING MARVELS.Trailhead.LOGGING HERITAGE.
Between the town of Dairy and Sprague River, OnYou can't come away from a canine hike at Collier
the OC & E Trailyou will pass an odd-looking sectionMemorial State park without a greater appreciation
over a hill. This is afor the logging industry. The paths through the
railroad double switchback, which enabled trains tooutdoor museum wind from the days of oxen and
be split for navigating the hill. The original plans calledhand axes through the age of steam and up to
for a tunnel through Bly Mountain, but as funds weretoday's diesel
low it was decided the cheaper doublemachines. You'll find railroad heritage here as well.
switchback-solution was good enough. Prior to theLook for an old Baldwin steam locomotive known,
1990 closing of the railroad, this unique engineeringmore or less affectionately, as GOP - "Get Out And
landmark was last of its kind in the UnitedPush." The engine strained so much hauling redwood
States.FASCINATING BIRDS.logs in and out of the mountains that it was
Shasta Lake is a popular nesting spot for baldconstantly derailing.MYTHICAL CREATURES.
eagles, offering an opportunity to see them huntingOn the hike to the summit of Collings Mountain you
and nesting in the wild. At McCloud Falls,be on thewill find the world's only known Bigfoot trap.
lookout for the little American Dipper birds that patrolConstructed of wood with a heavy metal door
the tumbling waters. These tiny birds, also known asreinforced by metal bolts by the North American
water ouzels, zoom around over the surface andWildlife team in 1974, the idea was the lure an
plunge in and out of the cascading water in search ofunsuspecting Sasquatch into the 10-foot by 10-foot
food. They use their wings to "fly" underwater andpit from which it could not escape. As you hike along
can even be seen walking on the stream bottomthe trails of Mount Shasta keep an eye out for tall,
pecking for larval insects, fish eggs and even slowgraceful folks with long flowing hair dressed in white
fish just as if they were walking on the trail.FRESHrobes - and a walnut-sized organ protruding from the
TASTING WATER.center of their foreheads. These would be Lemurians,
Tub Springs was a popular stopping point formost probably from the massive lost continent of Mu
travelers on the Applegate Trail to refresh with athat once lay under the Pacific Ocean and helped
cool drink of fresh mountain water from tub springs.explain how lemurs ended up on the island of
You can still do so today. A stone water fountain atMadagascar. One of the more well travelled folktales
Hedge Creek Falls dispenses "the best water onassociated with Mount Shasta, some believed the
earth," according to townsfolk in Dunsmuir. You canLemurians came to live in a city called Telos inside of
have a taste and judge for yourself at the gazebothe volcano.OLD ORCHARDS.
on the top of the trail.GOLD.Joseph H. Stewart State Park
People have come to the Shasta/Rogue River Valleyis built on an old homestead from the 1940s. Fruit
for 150 years to search for gold and it is probablygrew here in grand orchards, in the beginnings of
not all gone. You can rent a pan for $1 and chaseOregon's commercial pear industry. You can still see
gold in the creeks in Whiskeytown Recreation Area.some old pear trees and apple trees and walnut
Prior to 1900, the City of Redding operated a goldtrees scattered around the park. You will find historic
mine in Blue Gravel Canyon, the only town infruit trees along the trail at Wolf Creek Inn State
California to do so. The mine is long gone of course,Heritage Site as well.UNUSUAL BRIDGES.
but the trail remains and has relics from the gold eraThe Sacramento River Trail is and ideal hike for
along the path. Did they get all the gold here?GREATstudying bridge architecture. Classical arch bridges
DAMS.transport vehicular traffic across the Sacramento and
Shasta Dam opened in 1945 and flooded 35 miles oftheDiestlehorst Bridge is a prototypical 19th century
the Sacramento River valley. One of the biggestpier and girder iron bridge. The Ribbon Bridge is the
dams ever conceived when construction began infirst of its kind in the nation - a 13-foot wide,
1938, the building of Shasta Dam established several420-foot long concrete stess-ribbon structure. The
"world records." Among them was the SouthernSundial Bridge at Turtle Bay is the first American
Pacific Railroad's double decker bridge that was theproject for the celebrated Spanish bridge architect,
highest ever built and the construction of the world'sSantiago Calatrava. The focal point of his design is a
longest conveyor belt system - 10.5 miles - to bring218-foot curved tower on the north bank of the
sand and aggregate to the building site from Redding.river that doubles as support for the bridge's
The water spilling over Shasta Dam created thesuspension cables and as the world's largest sundial.
largest artificial waterfall ever seen - three times asThe bridge sports a glass decking that enhances the
high as the drop at Niagara Falls. The Trinity Dam,natural light and enables unobstructed views of the
rising 466 feet from bedrock, is one of the highestmountains at the horizon and the salmon at play
earth-filled dams in the world.HISTORIC BUILDINGS.below.VOLCANIC SOUVENIRS.
Fire has claimed many an old building in the West butThis landscape was formed in many places by
there are still some significant wooden buildings leftvolcanic eruptions. The trail around Brown Mountain
standing in the wilderness. In Trinity Recreation Areaprovides dramatic glimpses of lava flow. At Black
stands the Bowerman Barn, painstakingly constructedButte, a small group of inactive "plug dome" volcano
with hardwood pegs and one of the mostcraters dot the landscape. Plug domes have a type
representative 19th-century hand-crafted structuresof lava flow that too thick and stiff to flow normally,
in California. Also in the park is the orignal log housebut instead is squeezed out the top like crusty icing.
from the Stoddard homestead, just off the StoddardAll that remains of the mighty 12,000-foot volcano
Trail. In Ah-Di-Na Campground in Siskiyou County,that once dominated the southern Cascades are
canine hikers can study an historic cabin that waseight protruding peaks in the Mountain Lakes
restored by volunteers in 1990 using only traditionalWilderness. And there is the odd Oregon Desert, a
tools such as long axes and chisels.INTERESTINGpumice-covered landscape in the Sky Lakes
TREES.Wilderness. Ash from Mount McLouhlin's last eruption
In TouVelle State Recreation Site is one of thesits fifty feet deepa across the area.WATERFALLS.
largest granary trees in southern Oregon. A granaryThis trail at McCloud Falls reveals three waterfalls in
tree is a special tree targeted by acorn woodpeckerslittle more than a mile: the Lower Falls (a powerful,
to store food. This ponderosa pine is estimated toten-foot drop into a wide pool), the Middle Falls (a
have as many as 50,000 holes! On the Blue Canyonclassically wide, 50-foot waterfall), and the Upper Falls
Trail you can see a tree where Judge John Waldo(a water spout squeezing through granite cliffs). Two
from Salem, Oregon and his party traced the routehikes in the town of Dunsmuir also find different
that is now the Pacific Crest Trail, becoming the firsttypes of falls: Hedge Creek Falls cutting through
to cross the crest of the southern Cascades inbasalt rock and Mossbrae Falls dripping through moss
1888.LOFTY LOOKOUTS.and ferns.WRITER INSPIRATIONS.
Mountain trails often climax at Forest ServiceThe best-selling Western writer of all time, Zane
lookouts with dramatic views. At Medicine Lake,Grey, used the Rogue River as the centerpiece of
Hoffman Lookout was built for fire surveillance inmany of his stories. His cabin can still be seen on the
1924 and started out as a tiny 8 sq.ft. cabin. TheRogue. Jack London wrote Valley of the Moon while
cabin is available for rent ((530) 964-2184) and isa guest at Wolf Creek Inn.I am the author of over
quite popular. Herd Peak Lookout sits eastward of20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, including
the main Cascade fault line, overlooking a magnificentthe
valley of hills created from pyroclastic lava flows offwidely praised The Canine Hiker's Bible. As publisher
Mount Shasta. During fire season, the lookout isof Cruden Bay Books, we
manned from 9:30AM to 9PM, and the person inproduce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of
charge will be sitting in the tower watching over thecanine hiking books found at
valley, ready to report any sign of a fire toDuring the warm months I lead canine hikes as
firefighters by radio. The rustic Marble Valley Guardtour leader for tours, leading packs of dogs and
Station, completed in 1928 , is an early example ofhumans on
simple stations built by the Forest Service as fireday and overnight trips.