Redding: Turtle Bay East Fishing Access



Turtle Bay East Fishing access is by a
busy state highway in the heart of Redding.



Turtle Bay East Fishing Access is the southern portion of a regional park, the whole thing being largely undeveloped. Basically, it’s a large, somewhat wild area near the heart of a busy city.

The Sacramento River and Route 44 bridge
at Turtle Bay East Fishing Access

At the parking lot are a very small picnic area and a Porta Potty. The parking lot also serves as a trailhead for the Sacramento River Trail. The rest consists of wooded areas, grassland, and a gravel bar that provides access to the Sacramento River.

To these little swallows the highway
bridge is a cliff.

It’s an easy walk to do some bank fishing–no boat ramp here–and I suppose you could lug a kayak or raft down to the river.


On the afternoon I was there the place was popular with exercise and recreational walkers.



Birders frequent the place, which provides shelter for various common and seldom-seen species.



　
Directions:



A lone Canada goose
ponders...what?

Interstate 5 Exit: Cypress Avenue (Exit 677), 158 miles from downtown Sacramento.
Route: Go west on Cypress, and stay to the right. At Bechelli Lane, turn right, drive through a commercial and residential area and down a hill. Parking for Turtle Bay East Fishing Access is at the bottom of the hill.
　

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!

***

Redding: Sundial Bridge, Revisited

Sundial Bridge at Redding's Turtle Bay Exploration Park

(To see the previous post on the Sundial Bridge, click here.)



Okay, I admit it, I’m repeating myself. I’ve written about the Sundial Bridge before on this blog. And now I'm back.

On this trip I was in Redding to take pictures at some of the city’s many parks, and felt drawn to Santiago Calatrava’s magnificent span.




So here’s what’s new: The cafeteria near the bridge was being remodeled into a store and gift shop. No place to eat? What do hungry people do?

It’s hard for me to imagine this place without some kind of eatery–it’s so popular. Anyway, for current info call Turtle Bay Exploration Park at 1-800-887-8532.

Looking west from the Sundial Bridge

But with or without food, it’s a pleasant stop.


The view from the Sundial Bridge:  The small islands are concrete piers that supported a conveyor belt as it started its 9.6 mile journey to the base of Shasta Dam. The 35-inch wide conveyor belt carried aggregate, sand, and gravel to the stockpiles used to make the concrete that built the dam. 

The round, snow-topped mountain on the right is Shasta Bally, about which the GORP website says, "Nearby Shasta Bally Mountain (elevation 6,209 feet) can be climbed, or, for the faint-at-heart, driven (4WD)."


Directions:
Interstate 5 exit: State Route 44 (Exit 678), 159 miles north of Sacramento.
Route: Go west on State Route 44. Keep to the right, and watch for signs pointing to Turtle Bay Exploration Park and the Sundial Bridge.

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!

* * *

Snags



Snags in the Sacramento River below Meridian, May 14, 2012.

A little bit of navigation is required here.

If the river is higher, these snags--dead tree limbs--might not be visible.

Directions:

Interstate 5 exit:  State Route 20 (Exit 578), 59 miles north of downtown Sacramento.

Route:  Take SR 20 east. Follow SR 20 through Colusa to the Sacramento River and into the town of Meridian.  Turn right off of SR 20 onto 4th Street, and double back on any Meridian street west toward the river.  At Meridian Road, turn left.  When Meridian Road climbs up onto the levee, the river will be visible on your right. 

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!

***

Isleton Update

When this blog last featured Isleton, in July 2011, the delta town of 800 or so people was strapped for cash and heavily in debt. It still is.



Isleton.  Looks quiet here, but over at city hall?

To recap, the city leadership had decided to make money by operating a marijuana plantation, a decision that brought down the wrath of the county’s district attorney. A housing development had collapsed, robbing the city of expected revenue. The town had been the subject of repeated grand jury investigations, at least one of which had recommended that Isleton disincorporate and let the county run things.

Since then, this observable model of government by chaos continues in the same vein.

The police department closed down for few days last January when it ran out of money to pay for its workers’ compensation insurance; county sheriff’s deputies took over during the shutdown. Next, the police chief filed a discrimination claim against the city manager. Then, about a month ago, the city fired its city manager and city attorney, who happened to be one and the same person.

And just this week, the new city manager placed the interim police chief on paid administrative leave after the chief mentioned a press conference on Facebook. The police force shut down, and Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies again took over law enforcement duties in the town.

Early in that dispute, a shot rang out! A pit bull had attacked two smaller dogs. A Good Samaritan came to the rescue. So did an Isleton cop. The cop pulled his gun and fired at the pit bull. The shot hit the pit bull and grazed the leg of the Good Samaritan.

These disturbances occurred during an investigation into charges that one of Isleton’s police officers was accused of having sex with two women in his city-issued patrol car while on duty.

Details on these and other fascinating tales about Isleton are easily seen by doing an internet search for "Isleton, California" (in quotes).
　
Directions:
Interstate 5 exit: State Route 12 (Exit 485), 34 miles south of downtown Sacramento.
Route: Go west on State Route 12 until just before the Rio Vista Bridge. At the junction there, turn right on State Route 160 and proceed 6 miles north to Isleton.

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo

* * *

Redding: Riverfront Park

Posse boat launching area at Redding's Riverfront Park

Redding’s Riverfront Park is a small panhandle of land just upstream of the Sundial Bridge. It offfers fishing access and a boat ramp called the Posse Boat Ramp.  The name could have some kind of tie-in with the adjacent rodeo arena.






Angler at Redding's Riverfront Park




The riverbed here is a salmon spawning ground. Fishing for salmon is not permitted here, but anglers take out steelhead, rainbow trout, and other fish year-round.

Looking across the river from Redding's Riverfront Park.
The top of the Sundial Bridge is in the upper right corner
of the picture.

The Sacramento River Trail, a paved cycling and pedestrian trail, runs across the river from Redding to Shasta Lake. A journey between these points includes views of the Sacramento River and the colorful vegetation that grows beside it--wild pink oleander, oak woodlands, and pines.



Directions:Interstate 5 exit: State Route 44 (Exit 678), 159 miles north of downtown Sacramento.
Route: Go west on Route 44. Keep to the right, and watch for signs pointing to Turtle Bay Exploration Park and the Sundial Bridge. Turn right onto Auditorium Drive. Stay on Auditorium Drive past the parking lot for the Sundial Bridge. Veer to the right onto a narrow road close to the river. Drive past the rodeo arena to the parking area by the boat ramp.

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!
　
　

* * *

Redding: Lake Redding Boat Ramp

 



Here's the Lake Redding boat ramp, which raises the question, If  you’ve seen one boat ramp, have you seen ‘em all?

Maybe, but here’s a scene that challenges the intellect a little.


To begin with, why is this goose standing on one leg? Skip the smart-aleck response "If it pulled that one up too, it’d fall down."

Instead, Google offers many answers. This seems to be the most prevalent: It’s a way to conserve body heat, because exposed legs radiate heat. Here’s another: By standing on one leg, the bird’s shadow appears to fish as a shrub and not a predator.

Then there’s the problem of different speed limits, which can be phrased as a math problem: If Boat A leaves Redding and travels up river at 25 miles per hour and if Boat B leaves Keswick Dam at the same time and travels down river at 5 miles per hour, at what point will they meet?

I hated to be confronted with questions like that in school, because my reaction was the same as Rhett’s: "Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn."


Does anyone know why the speed limit is different for upstream and downstream traffic? I think the different speed limits have something to do with how fast the current is. Could be, and could be some other reason. If you have thoughts on this matter, please write them in the comments section below.

Lastly, the rules. A limit of one trout may seem pretty stingy, but from what I’ve seen traveling up and down the river, a lot of anglers would be very pleased if they could be that successful.


　
Directions:
Interstate 5 exit: Lake Boulevard/State Route 299 (Exit 680), 161 miles north of downtown Sacramento.
Route: Take Lake Boulevard/State Route 299 west. Turn left on Market Street/State Route 273. Turn right on Benton Drive, and stay on it into Lake Redding Park, the site of the Lake Redding boat ramp.
　
For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!
　

***

Keswick Boat Ramp

This boat ramp is the only public boating access on Keswick Reservoir. The ramp shares a parking lot with a trailhead for the Sacramento River Trail.


　
　
Directions:Interstate 5 exit: State Route 44 (Exit 678), 159 miles north of downtown Sacramento.
Route: Go west on State Route 44. It snakes through central Redding and becomes Eureka Way / State Route 299. At the western outskirts of Redding, turn right on Iron Mountain Road. Follow Iron Mountain Road past the community of Keswick and Spring Creek. The road into the boat ramp is north of Spring Creek.

For a map, click on Bing or Google or Mapquest or Yahoo!
　

***