Trip Report: The Great “Rail” Journey of April 2008

by Ted & Sylvia Blishak

Day 2 of 26, Tuesday, April 8, 2008.

From Yreka to Fortuna by way of the Klamath River Canyon

After a tasty 6am breakfast at Grandma’s in Yreka, we leave for the second leg of our drive from Klamath Falls to Oakland.   For those of you wondering why we did not just drive down I-5, for your information, Sylvia hates Interstate Highways, and I don’t blame her one bit.  I hate flying and she doesn’t blame me, so we get along fine.

For those familiar with the geography of California, if you don’t take I-5 south you are in for a long rugged drive.  So we decided to make a vacation of it, and go to places that we have never been before.

The Klamath River Canyon is one of them.  Dropping down from the volcanic debris of the Mount Shasta highlands, you not only descend to sea level, you descend into the geological past, from the fairly recent formation of Mount Shasta, down to the ancient igneous rocks of the California Coastal Range, which the Klamath River cuts deeply into.

There is no highway which follows the entire river from its source at Lake Euwana in Klamath Falls to the Pacific Ocean.  The river drops 2000 feet from its source to where we rejoin it in California by descending the highway along the Shasta River to its junction with the Klamath River.

This is one of the most remote areas of California, the largest population center being the hamlet of Happy Camp, the steelhead capitol of the world.    From here, fishermen take out their allotment of steelhead during the season, while rafters put in their boats for their exciting floats to Green Riffles.

We complete many circles of curvature before leaving the Klamath where it turns north towards its outlet near the Oregon border.  Then we must climb up and over several rugged ridges of the coastal range before reaching the sea at Arcata, CA, and the BBQ sandwich we have been looking forward to at the Porter Street Barbecue.

From here it is just a short drive to the Best Western Country Inn at Fortuna, our second overnight stop.

Tomorrow we look forward to the Avenue of the Giants, the Shoreline Highway, and our luxury two nights at the Little River Inn.