August 26 – Redding, California

After 14½ weeks since leaving Pennsylvania, we finally began our trek back East.

Our trip from Redcrest, in the heart of the Coastal Redwoods took us up and over several passes … one quite long and steep … over the Cascades and down into the broad valley in which the city of Redding is situated.

While many sections of the road were in great shape and had broad shoulders, others wound along the mountainsides,

often without the benefit of any guardrails.  The following map is a satellite photo of the road we took, California’s Eureka Highway.

In many instances you were no sooner coming out of one of the more than 100 narrow turns that you had to steer into the next curve.

The scenery, however, was stunning.  We began amid 200’-300’ redwoods

which slowly morphed into a mix of a few deciduous and evergreen trees

before thinning out to a few trees peppering otherwise hillsides of brown grasses.

As with so many other roads we’ve traveled these past few months, there are reminders for forest fires which have consumed large swaths of land.

Perhaps the most beautiful highlights of the trip, other than the one bear

were the vistas of the incredibly clear Trinity River which paralleled the road for most of the trip

and glimpses of Whiskeytown Lake, just west of Redding.

Nearing Redding, we caught our first glimpse of Mount Shasta’s 14,162’ peak some 60 miles to our north.

Meanwhile, the temperature rose from a comfortable 57o when we got on the road to over

by the time we arrived at our Redding Campground.

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