Redding California – Admiring the view at Castle Crags State Park
Redding
A blank slate for outdoor activities
There are three hours of driving between Redding and San Francisco. It is the biggest city north of Sacramento, which is the capital city of California. The area includes eight counties that makeup 25% of California’s land area and 2% of the state’s people. Imagine this area as the size of Austria but with only 7% of Austria’s people living there. This is a blank slate for outdoor activities. There are lakes and rivers with clear, beautiful views, and mountains with lots of trails just waiting for you to discover them. There are also nine state parks and five nationally named parks, landmarks, or monuments in the area. None of these places are as crowded as other California spots.
Must-See Images
At 4,322 meters, Mount Shasta is a huge mountain that stands an hour north of Redding. In the winter, families go there to snow ski, and in the summer, they go in search of trails to walk. Mountain climbers who want to get serious about the sport can start at Mount Shasta.
It takes an hour to get to Lassen Volcanic National Park from Redding. If you’d like to drive through, the park is usually open from June to September. However, if it snows, it could open as early as May or stay open until October. All year, you can go to the museums and go on trips with park rangers.
The falls at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park are beautiful, and they never dry up, even in August. You can have a fun time hiking around the falls and having a picnic at Lake Britton, which is fed by streams that come from the falls.
It takes about three hours to get to Lava Beds National Monument from Redding. It is in both Siskiyou and Modoc counties. Anyone can go into the lava caves in the area. Bring sneakers, a flashlight, and a light jacket. The caves are cooler than the air outside.
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area has Whiskeytown Lake. You can go on free kayak trips with park rangers, hike to different waterfalls, or ride your bike on single-track tracks. Would you like to ride a horse or just look at them? Take some time to walk or ride your horse along the roads at Whiskeytown.
Charms of the Area
You will want to spend some time in Redding seeing the Historic Cascade Theatre, Lake Shasta Caverns, and Shasta Dam, whether you are going by yourself or with family and friends. From June to August, free movies are shown in parks around Redding. Bring a chair or blanket and watch movies with other people from the area.
People also like to walk along the Sacramento River National Recreation Trail, which starts at the Sundial Bridge. This is a cable-stayed, glass-bottom pedestrian bridge that the “starchitect” Santiago Calatrava created.