Dry heat shimmered among ponderosas crispy with drought as we hiked with our college-aged kids in woods where gnats spiraled in columns and deerflies zinged around our legs. Dust and the smell of pine filled my nostrils as we explored streams clear enough to count the stones on the bottom as they wound through the forest, filled with hungry trout.
Years ago, when our daughter was at Humboldt State in California, my husband, son, and I picked her up during the summer break and took a family vacation to stay in a state park cabin at Burney McArthur Park near Redding, California, famous for its stunning waterfalls.
The Burney area, and Hat Creek, a well-known trout stream, is at six thousand or so feet of elevation near Lassen National Park in the high desert area of California.
From the state park website: “The park's centerpiece is the 129-foot Burney Falls, which is not the highest or largest waterfall in the state, but possibly the most beautiful. Additional water comes from springs,…
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