hiked arount Whiskeytown National Recreation Area & Lake

We had heard the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area & Lake was very pretty and had good hiking trails. Since we are staying just north of Redding California for a little over a week and this area is about 7 miles west of us so we decided to make an afternoon trip.

First stop was the Whiskeytown Lake.

At the beach the water actually was not to cold and there were some teenagers actually swimming in it.

Some of the non evergreen trees are displaying some fall colors which we enjoyed seeing.

The volunteer at the park entrance showed us a park map that had 4 waterfalls located in the park that you could hike to after you drove to the trail heads and parked. She warned us that a couple of the dirt roads to the trail heads we would need 4 wheel drive to get to. 

I have a 4 wheel drive off road package on our Chevy Silverado that I have not actually used to go off road but we decided not to go to those dirt roads. As we were driving on the dirt road to Brandy Creek falls that she had recommended as not being as rough, we found we needed to put the truck into 4 wheel drive because of the steep incline and loose gravel. Later on we found out from someone else the volunteer had told us wrong and the road to Brandy Creek water fall was one of the roughest and we would need 4 wheel drive. I was glad to be able to use the 4 wheel drive on our truck.

Sue was just dying to go on a hike of about a mile from the trail head to the falls. Right before we parked at the trail head we see an adult black bear run off the road and into the woods. When we parked at the trail heads we decided that maybe we did not want to hike after seeing the black bear. There was a young woman (Kelly) with a dog (Niev) in the parking lot and she asked if we had seen the black bear that she had just chased down the road. We said "yes" 

She was rethinking if she wanted to hike alone now even thought she had a dog with her. She said she just came down from Alaska and had read about too many bear maw-lings so she was a little skeptical. After we talked for a couple minutes we decided that we would all hike together after she assured us her dog was pretty protective of her and she also had a small hiking knife with her in her back pack.

So off we go with Sue leading the way. Kelly is following Sue and the dog (Niev) is running all over the place on and off trail.

We walk up some pretty steep hills and finally get to the lower Brandy Creek falls.

Upper Brandy Creek Falls

It was getting a little late in the afternoon and already the sun was setting in the canyon we were in so we walked pretty quickly to get back to our truck. On our drive back down the dirt road we saw the bear on the road. Kelly got out of her truck to take a picture but Sue was not going to let me get out of the truck or open the door or window so no picture of the bear.