Burney Falls, Independence Day
July 2, 2017

Thanks to an alert from our neighbors, Andy & Dawn, we heard about the Independence Day festivities in Burney, the nearest town of any size, and decided to suspend wilderness wandering for a bit to participate.

I spent some time in Burney as a youth because my uncle & aunt - Lewis & Margaret Kelley - lived there.  Good memories and good to return.

Back to Andy & Dawn: they are super nice neighbors and interesting, too.  They arrived the day before the rest of their large group - all members of the Asphalt Cowboys, a charitable group from Redding.

They are fun-loving, civic-minded, generous folks, and we enjoyed getting to know them.

Because of them, we knew about the Lions pancake breakfast - a hearty meal during which we met some local folks and learned a tad about the local lumber milling.  A table mate was a retired lumber grader.  He said his former job has been almost completely eliminated by computerized procedures.

Burney is basically a mill town ideally situated in great timber country.  Our friend explained that the industry plants seven trees for every one they cut.

After breakfast, we walked through Burney and along Burney Creek, a lovely waterway through town.

We had thought we would stay in town for the parade (I've never met a parade I didn't love), but the thought of standing on pavement for hours in the heat when there were forests to explore made us come to our senses just in time to extricate the truck from its impending confinement by road closures.

Where oh where are those fireworks . . .

We returned to Burney very late in the evening to stumble our way in the dark past many parked cars while hoping we were moving in the correct direction to view the fireworks display.  Sure enough, we made it to the high school football field where there was approximately the entire population of Burney and more.

Cotton candy is my downfall, and I was thrilled to find one of the many booths was selling it.  We also bought a little gee-gaw for Trinity and had fun standing-in-line conversations with a woman and her grandsons.  She had been to Disneyland 13 times, the last taking her terminally-ill mother in a wheelchair; she said they laughed themselves silly and had a blast.

To begin the show, every single person came to attention facing the American flag at the end of the field while the Star Spangled Banner was sung beautifully.

So: the fireworks - nothing short of stupendous describes the display, which is sponsored by the Rotary Club - far and away the best pyrotechnic show we've ever seen! 

I have determined from that lesson that we will ask at each RV park whether there are events transpiring during our stay.  Without our neighbors' alert, we would have missed out on some good times.

McArthur-Burney Falls State Park . . .

Knowing that we wanted to see Burney Falls (thanks, cousin Donna!), we wandered into a very crowded park, the second oldest state park in California.  The first sign we saw was for a rim hike to Lake Britton, so that was our choice.  The supposed loop hike would have taken us to the lake and back up through the canyon; however winter erosion had closed the canyon section so we retraced our steps.  Somehow, something called a rim hike does not bring to mind steepness, but it was steep, nevertheless - still, a great hike to a large very pretty lake (it ended at a marina to which we could have driven (Barbara - shades of Jacob).

I was fascinated by a unique kayak on the lake - an inflatable, long enough to accommodate two adults paddling in the back and three children up front, all of whom enjoyed leaping from the boat to enjoy the cool water.

This red-breasted sapsucker joined us at lunch on the lakeshore.

After the lake hike, you might think that we would join those folks sensible enough to take the short paved walk down to the base of the falls, but no, no, we opted for another loop.  Of course it was well worth the extra walking as the trail led downward along one side of the creek and upward along the other side before arriving at the destination.

A breeze blowing off the rushing water and the shaded route were absolutely wonderful, even refreshing while we worked our way around.

At long last, we spied the falls up ahead - perhaps the most beautiful waterfall we've ever seen!  And perhaps even more appreciated for the work of getting there.

Clearly, all those cars belonged to the people gathered at the falls; we had encountered almost no one on the lake hike.

Although the trail led to the waterfall, in order to get into the water, one had to scramble down a bouldery slope, but then who would go through all that and not want to get into the water - certainly not me!

Cold as it was, it felt fabulous to sit with feet and legs in the frigidness; I bathed away some of the hike sweat and finished up by plopping my soaked hat onto my head.  The creek empties itself with great roaring fanfare over the 129-foot dropoff, but for a long distance on either side, water is rushing and falling right out of the volcanic rock - a spectacular sight to see while reveling in the spray that rises up from the plunge pool.

The McArthur family actually purchased the property and water rights in order to donate it to the state in 1922 for others to enjoy - how's that for foresight and generosity!

Blogging bonuses . . .

Our second consecutive week in nil-and-none cell phone range in a park with puny overloaded wifi range has caused us to become very innovative to get blog postings done.  At present, I am actually working on it in the comfort of the trailer for the first time.  Evidently, holiday revelers departing for the real world has eased up the demand for internet connectivity.

A previous post, though, was accomplished by perching ourselves in the truck at an overlook where we got enough cell signal to use the mifi.  Although not the most comfortable of situations, it worked while also allowing us to make some phone calls, impossible to accomplish in most places around here.

A big bonus (besides the panoramic view with Mt. Lassen in one direction . . .

. . . and Mt. Shasta seeming to float magically and majestically in the other direction . . .

. . . was meeting Glow-in-the-Dark and 3-Guy.  When not using their trail names, they are Lynn & Patty, a really awesome couple who were happy to share their story with us.  They arrived at the parking lot while traversing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, a very popular hiking route for more than 2,500 miles from Mexico to Canada following the Sierras and Cascades.

Intrepid trekkers, those two, so when Patty was stricken with breast cancer and endured extensive treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she triumphed over the illness and fatigue whenever she could by joining her mate and hiking through her anger at the disease.  And now with that behind her, they continue to hit the trail, as do their daughter & son-in-law who were ten miles back on the trail when we talked to them.

They collaborate on writing a blog about their experience: McShapPCTjournal.wordpress.com.  Patty has also written a book about her experience, Hiking Cancer: 400 Days of Cancer and How I Hiked Through It.  

The world is filled with fascinating folks who make it all worthwhile.

An interesting adaptation: this juxtaposition of an osprey nesting and raising young on a high-tension power line with a row of wind generators in the background.  I hope the birds survive the dangerous turbines.