The Sacramento's birthplace, Mt Shasta
Cold jets of water pouring from a rock wall is how the Sacramento River begins. As most rivers do, the Sac starts small, picking up momentum with each river added until it is the Sacramento we know it as, wide and smooth. We sit at the end of pipes on one end, and on the other end is river country. The Sacramento River originates from this land around Mt Shasta- of trees and sky and LOTS of water. In this river country, we found ourselves by rivers of such lushness and plenty, of such primal beauty that we could’ve been in Costa Rica (the lower McCloud). Camped by waterfalls that the Wintu, the native people of the area, call “falls where the salmon turn back” (Lower Falls on the upper McCloud). Crunched our footprints into the icey white blanket that is our water reserve on the flanks of Mt Shasta.
Take a visual trip through the homeland of the Sacramento River. This is what is on the other end of your (California’s) water pipes.
Middle Falls on the Upper McCloud River
Lake Siskiyou and Mt Shasta
the primal lower McCloud
Upper McCloud River at Fowler's Camp
California's water reserves stored in snow on Mt Shasta
a calmer stretch of the lower McCloud
"Falls where the salmon turn back"
the lower Sacramento River near Redding
The Sacramento must just adore all the waters that contribute to its beauty from McCloud’s falls to the calmness of the lake below Mt. Shasta to the rushing currents from the melting snows. Can a river smile?