By guest blogger Jake Harris
Don’t get me wrong I love my job, but we all work hard during the week so we can enjoy our weekends and spend time with family. Siskiyou is unique and offers a wide variety of things to do throughout the county. Whether it’s hiking, fishing, skiing, caving, fine-dining or birding there is always something to do to unwind before you get back to business on Monday. Here are my picks to weekend like a local in Siskiyou:
My perfect weekend could go one of two ways: a trip to our cabin on the Scott River or softball with my buddies. Fort Jones recently hosted the 38th Annual Bev White Tournament, which was a blast. All of the proceeds went to local youth athletics and scholarships. Another great tournament that’s hosted in Siskiyou is the annual McCloud Lumberjack Fiesta. The Fiesta is fun for everyone. Besides softball, the McCloud Community Recreation Council puts on a competition for horseshoes, logging and even watermelon eating. There’s loud music, a playground and bouncy house for the kids, and carnival-like booths. The folks in Fort Jones and McCloud sure know how to have a good time and these events showcase the spirit of Siskiyou.
After an especially stressful week I like to head out to our family’s cabin on the Scott River. The Scott River is a tributary of the Klamath River and is named after John W. Scott, a pioneer who discovered gold in the area in 1850. The river is beautiful and is surrounded by wildlife. Osprey and their nests can be seen along the river and a few weeks ago I caught a glimpse of a Bald Eagle flying near Horse Creek. Over the years the family has reported seeing bears, rattlesnakes, scorpions, lemurs (I’m not sure if I believe that tale), and a Pacific Giant Salamander. We always keep a diligent eye out for Sasquatch too, just in case.
There are also many wonderful hiking trails in the area to weekend like a local in Siskiyou. The Kelsey Creek Trail contains subtle remnants of the gold mining days, when mule trains moved cargo along the route. The trail is accessible all year, but I recommend checking it out in the fall when the trees change colors and provide a canopy of vivid orange and red. If you follow the trail long enough, you’ll reach Paradise Lake which lies in the heart of the Marble Mountain Wilderness. The trail ends when it intersects with the Pacific Coast Trail at Paradise Lake.
If you’re on the hunt for Sasquatch, a good place to start might be at the Lovers Camp Trailhead. This trailhead leads to the Canyon Creek Trail which takes you to Bigfoot Cave. Bigfoot Cave is 1205’ deep and is the 12th deepest cave in the U.S. The cave itself is not accessible, it has been sealed in many areas by the Forest Service, but it could be the perfect home for a reclusive Sasquatch!
The river supplies dozens of swimming holes to cool off in on a hot summer day. Siskiyou locals all have their own favorite weekend spots and many aren’t willing to share the locations, but that’s ok, finding a hidden beach can be rewarding and part of your own adventure on the river (or you can always default to a couple from this list on Discover Siskiyou). We enjoy floating and letting the currents push you in a circle. To avoid sunburns my mom and her sisters recommend grabbing a big leaf hat. “Gunnera manicata”, a leafy, giant rhubarb plant grows alongside the river and can be a life-saver on a sunny day.
The river isn’t only home to strange hat plants, it also provides the perfect place for blackberries to grow. The blackberries peak at the end of August and early September and for some reason always taste better when you pick them yourselves than when you buy them in the store. Blackberries have always been one of my favorite foods. Luckily for me, my birthday coincides with blackberry season so every year my mom bakes me a blackberry pie rather than the traditional birthday cake. My mom and my aunts learned their pie recipe from my grandma, who learned it from her mother, and as anyone who has tried it will attest, it’s perfect.
The Scott River is the perfect place to head out to for a weekend adventure. Not everyone is able to enjoy their own cabin, but the Scott River Lodge & Outfitters offers a unique Scott River experience, or the Five Marys Guesthouse is in downtown Fort Jones and is just a 5-minute drive from their renowned ranch.
There is just something about the sound of the river going by that melts stress away. The cabin has always been my peaceful place and my escape from modern technology. It’s the perfect place to grab a book, barbecue a steak and roast a s’more and be with the people you love.
Guest blogger Jake Harris is an intern for the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council. He grew up in Yreka, CA and is currently attending Chico State University where he is pursuing a degree in Economics.
Keywords
birding, blackberries, Canyon Creek Trail, ft. jones, hiking, local, Lovers Camp Trailhead, McCloud, relaxing, Sasquatch, scott river, water activities, West Siskiyou
