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| Smokey the Bear says Sage Burning Can Also Start Forest Fires |
We're starting to realize that the transition day between house living and car camping is a hard one. You wake up in the morning with information, food, hygiene, and housing all within easy reach. By nightfall you've had to pack up enough food (but not too much) to last a week or so, get water (potable), figure our where the good hiking trails are, find a place to set up a tent, carry stuff out of and back into the car a few times, and adjust to having no data connection of any kind.
Our first day out after a lovely weekend in Ashland, was no exception. Our goal had been to do some hiking and car camping in the Mt. Shasta area of Northern California. The Fifth Season was a great outdoor shop in Mt. Shasta City and the guy there made some excellent hike recommendations. For camping he thought any of the three sites on the mountain should work, or if not then we could try disbursed camping anywhere along the South Fork of the Sacramento River. The first campground we tried on Mt Shasta didn't have any water, so we drove back down to town, checked in with the Ranger station on where to get water. We were directed to the spring at the Mt. Shasta park where I was reprimanded for standing in the sacred headwaters of the Sacramento River, despite the fact that there were plenty of people doing the same thing, and honestly, standing under the spring and in the stream was the only way to get the water. (Did I mention that there was also a guy meditating, and burning sage in the spring?). Have I also mentioned that the first person who spoke to us in Mt. Shasta City informed us, without provocation, that "those are camera trails, not contrails"?
Water obtained, the Sacramento profaned, interesting encounters had, we headed back up the mountain and passed the first water-less campground since it was not only dry, but also really dirty. I'll cut the rest of this short and just say that regarding the other campsites, nudity is prohibited, sage-burning, guitar-playing and drumming were very popular, hiking wasn't really an option and the sites were extremely close together. It just wasn't resonating with S.D. and I.
We felt pretty much the same disconnect with the folks camping along the suggested camping spots on the river. After a good two hours, and with evening approaching we settled on a site on a side road. After bagging up some garbage left by previous campers we set up the tent.This turned out to be a good site where we spent a restful night. Hopefully the trail we'd hike the next day, to the Deadfall Lakes and Mt. Eddy would change the uneasy feelings we were having about the area and end that feeling of discombobulation.
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