Are You Living It?

Springtime. Sunshine. Snowmelt. But at 9:30 this morning it was still only 30 degrees. A nice 60 mile ride into the warm regions of the South. Well, South Siskiyou County that is. Heading South from Mount Shasta, toward Dunsmuir, we rode along a single lane road with a canopy of Fir and Pine trees overhead. The twists and turns with short steep climbs made for an enjoyable beginning to the ride. We continued South to Dunsmuir and then along the Snow fed Sacramento River. Almost no traffic and the quiet of the morning let us hear the river noises as we rode along side, the intermittent buzz of the freewheels sounding out a tune. We were headed for Castle Craigs State Park. Just South of Dunsmuir we had to ride a short distance on the I-5 freeway shoulder to the next exit. We expected quite bit of rock and cinders along the side of the road, but it was pretty clean.

Upon entering Castle Craigs State Park, the lowest elevation of the ride, we took a right through the campground and began the climb to the view point. The climb is about a mile long, and nice and steep. Each year I feel I get a bit faster on the climb, but it always hurts just as much as the year before! We had one of the local junior cyclists with us and my view always seemed to be from behind, I sure wish he would eat more so he could work a little harder on these climbs. At the top you can follow the trail out to the view point and overlook the Sacramento River Canyon and North to Mount Shasta. The return trip is mostly uphill with a gentle grade. Round trip, the ride from the Mount Shasta Fish Hatchery to the Park and back is about 40 miles. I rode out to weed and back to warm up before the ride, thus the 60 miles.