Pathways through nature

Rivers are natural pathways through landscapes sometimes not easily accessed by humans. A warm August day along such a pathway reveals little known secrets of a truly enchanted land.

McCloud River, California
Thursday August 2, 2007
Party; Dave and Allison Diller
Run; Lower Falls to McCloud Reservoir, 11 miles


Near the put-in

The McCloud river starts out as a small stream, and ends up as a sizable river by most standards. In the summer, the river is mostly spring fed by groundwater originating from volcanic Mount Shasta. Our adventure started at the Lower Falls campground located 10 miles east of the town of McCloud. After checking stream flow at Lower Falls (and wondering if it was too low), we decided to run the Mccloud river down to the the Mccloud Reservoir. This stretch of river is considered a technical class III.
We dropped our kayaks at Lower Falls Campground and drove our rig down to the reservoir. With the help of some very nice fisher folks just leaving the lake, we were able to hitch a ride back up to our boats and were finally able to set off down the river just after noon.


Big Spring entering in from river right

After 1 ½ miles of plastic kayak biting rock pinball, we made it to the first sizable riverside spring. Please refer to the picture, as this is no ordinary spring! The new water entering the channel increases the river to about three times the flow that we have been “paddling” to this point. Also, the overall water temperature drops some 20 degrees downstream. The spring gushes out of the river bank some ten feet above the channel from a basalt (ancient volcanic lava) fissure. The water is so cold, clear, and pristine, that I had no hesitation to drink a quart of it from my hands. To think of it, nowhere in my travels have I ever felt comfortable drinking straight from a river! This was truly a primordial luxury that modern man rarely experiences.


Modern man drinks from primordial source

Now the river is much more navigable. We are passing the steeper rapids with ease, avoiding most of the abraisive, rough textured river rocks. After another half mile or so, we come to the second spring that is much more impressive. The water comes in from about 50 feet above the river and cascades down to the main channel.


Earthfalls

Now I feel like an Elf in a Tolkien world. This is truly amazing! The river now doubles again in size, and the McCloud now flows in full glory. The guide books tell of great fishing here and now I understand why. The river is no more than 40 degrees and highly oxygenated which makes for perfect trout habitat.


Spring charged McCloud River, about mile 5

Another aspect of the McCloud river that makes it so unique is that 9 miles of this run flows through private land owned by the Hearst family. Thus, the river must be accessed from the Lower Falls put-in, which at that point flows so low most of the time that only the adventurous river runner will even attempt it.


Wyntoon

The Hearst family opulence can be witnessed at about ¾ of the way through the run. There are many medevil European style Chalets along the river bank. Without navigable water laws, we would never see so closely into the private lives of this American Aristocracy.


Where are we?




The other Hearst Castle


The run ends at the Reservoir with the grand finally of the Hearst exentrism, which actually can be seen from any power boat on public Lake McCloud when lake levels are high.




Lady of the Lake

This is now one of my all time favorite river runs in terms of pristine beauty and seclusion. That day, we did not see one other person on the entire 11 mile journey.