RV Trips South : The Trip South, Medford, Redding, and Corning

Day 1: Friday, January 18, 2019 Valley of the Rogue State Park, Gold Hill, OR

We shuttled back and forth between our houses the week before our trip began, transferring all the clothes, food, and toys we seem to require! Jim is bringing the keyboard again, carrying it under the bed. I am not bringing the ukulele I did not play at all last year, but did bring the recorder I did not play at all last year. The weekend before we left, a big dead tree fell over my driveway. Luckily Jim was there with his chain saw to cut a path out!

View of my house from the road.

We headed south 11 am Friday morning, driving through rain. It stopped about the time we got to this nice park by the Rogue River, and I went on a couple hour walk on the trail up to the north end and back. Saw Mergansers on the river. We had a nice shrimp salad dinner, and began watching the Bosch mystery series. Author Michael Connelly is the executive producer, so we have to think he had a lot of control over the presentation of his books.

Labyrinth on the Valley of the Rogue Riverside Trail

Shrimp Salad Dinner, First Night on the Road.

Day 2,3: Saturday, Sunday, January 19, 20, 2019 Marina RV Resort, Redding, CA

We had rain through the Siskiyou’s, not a lot of snow by the road. We stayed at Park Marina, always a favorite. Lots of ducks here, including Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser. While Jim worked on his Internet of Things programming, I walked along the river, over the Cypress Bridge, north through neighborhoods, and back over the 44 bridge, about 5 miles. Some pretty fancy houses on North Bechelli! It poured rain Saturday night!!

Traveling through the Siskiyous

Sunday morning I had lunch with my friend Charlene, then we went up to see Buzzy at Old Shasta, had lunch at Shorty’s Eatery, yum! Since it was raining, Jim and I just drove up through the Carr fire area and back down through Keswick, where a lot of houses had burned to the ground. Buzzy’s house caught fire on the porch roof, but was put out, although he had been evacuated. Many buildings on the hill behind him were destroyed, including a big storage barn where had stored lots of antiques. Monday morning, I took breakfast up to Buzz and visited a little more. Then we headed south. This last storm that came through California brought the snow pack up to 114% of average.

Buzzy's House, corrugated metal on the front where the fire started.

Carr Fire, up by the Carr Powerhouse near where it started

Another labyrinth, along the Sacramento River Trail.

Bridge burned on the trail, no through access.

Day 4, 5: Monday, Tuesday, January 21, 22, 2019 Black Butte Campground, Orland, CA

A short drive down I-5 to our next spot. There were a few more RV’s sharing our space than in previous years, but we found a great view spot. Lots of acorn woodpeckers here this year! I walked on the Bobcat Trail down to the entrance gate to put our money envelope in, then walked along the lake back to the campsite, saw Goldfinches and Killdeer, as well as deer. Jim flew his drone to get some great shots of the lake and Black Butte. There was a beautiful big full moon in the sky at night, light as day!

Bobcat Trail at Black Butte Lake, with a family of deer.

Black Butte from the campground, Jim flying his drone.

View of lake from campground.

A group of Acorn woodpeckers, lots of them around here!

Black Butte Lake Sunset, hard to beat for beauty!

Tuesday we had hoped to repeat our bike ride of last year, but decided it was too windy. We drove to the dam, walked across the dam, then up a trail to the top of the Butte, rough in spots, lots of spiky lava. We had the trail entirely to ourselves, about 5 miles up and back. We saw lots of vultures, a Prairie Falcon, a Redtail Hawk, and a group of terns at the outlet of the lake. Jim got a great sunrise picture from our campsite, and I got a sunset pic.