Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas
small town of 3,600 souls is the seat of government for Trinity County and boasts one of the few operating sawmills left in California. Weaverville’s economic health depends on recreation and tourism, and so visitors have many options for motels, restaurants, gas stations, and stores.
A pre- or post-trip meal at one of the many dining establishments lining Main Street, where CA 299 runs through town, is a common practice. Although franchises have recently spread their tentacles into the area (Burger King, Round Table, Starbucks, and Subway), plenty of independent restaurants still remain, especially in the historic section. La Casita (252 Main St.; 530-623-5797) is a tiny Mexican restaurant with a fine menu and ample portions for those with a big appetite. Another restaurant of note in the historic section of town is Red Dragon, a Chinese–Thai establishment appropriately located across from the Joss House (401 Main St.; 530-623-5370). Fresh and wholesome deli fare is available from Trinideli, just off the main drag (201 Trinity Lakes Blvd., 530-623-5856, trinideli.com). Susie’s Bakery (1260 Main St.; 503-623-5223) is the town’s traditional bakery, where you can pick up standard carbo-loading fare. Promisingly, Trailhead Pizza, whose Coffee Creek location is justifiably famous for its pies, has recently opened a restaurant on the east side of town (160 Nugget Lane; 530-623-4436).
On the east part of town is the area’s only bona fide shopping mall (housing the Burger King, Starbucks, and Subway, with Round Table directly across the street). The highlight for hikers is Holiday Market (1665 Main St.; 530-623-2494), an excellent grocery store that’s especially well stocked with a diverse assortment of food products for a town of this size. About the only thing lacking from a backpacker’s perspective is a selection of freeze-dried foods. A few doors down from the grocery store, Trinity Outdoors (1615 Main St.; 530-623-4999) specializes mainly in hunting and fishing gear but also carries a modest selection of camping and hiking supplies, along with maps, books, and clothing.
Shasta-Trinity National Forest has a district office west of the historic district on the south side of the highway, at 210 Main St. (530-623-1700). Self-issue wilderness permits, as well as information sheets about trails, campgrounds, and natural history, can be obtained from the display immediately outside the front door. During business hours you can usually get updated information from the rangers, and you can purchase relevant maps and books.
Weaverville has no commercial campgrounds in town but several good public options nearby. If you’re camping with a large group, try the USFS’s all-year East Weaver Group Campground, a couple of miles north of the airport on East Weaver Creek Road ($110 per night; water, vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits; 877-444-6777, recreation.gov). The Bureau of Land Management’s excellent Junction City Campground is 7 miles west of town on CA 299 ($10 per night; water, flush toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits; 534-224-2100, blm.gov). In the opposite direction on CA 299, 2.3 miles east of Douglas City, driving 4 miles on Steel Bridge Road (County Road 208) will get you to the BLM’s Steel Bridge Campground ($5 per night; vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits but no water; 534-224-2100, blm.gov).
Junction City, 8 miles west of Weaverville on CA 299, with fewer than 750 residents, can hardly be considered a true city. This tiny town at the confluence of Canyon Creek is the oldest settlement along the Trinity River and has the only full-fledged grocery store between Weaverville and the western Trinity Alps Trailheads. Numerous river resorts, RV parks, taverns, tackle shops, and rafting outfitters are strung out along the Trinity River downstream from Junction City, which is a noted salmon and steelhead fishery as well as river-rafting center.
Mountain Marketplace, a natural-foods store on Weaverville’s Main Street
Unless they’re coming from the coast, most Trinity Alps hikers won’t reach Willow Creek, a small town of less than 2,000 people at the junction of CA 299 and CA 96. The town does have gas stations, motels, and restaurants, and Six Rivers National Forest has a district office on CA 96, a quarter mile north of the CA 299 junction (530-629-2118).
TOWNS ALONG CA 3: WEAVERVILLE TO YREKA
Trinity Center is the only town on the shoreline of Trinity Lake, 30 miles north of Weaverville. Ending up at Wyntoon Resort instead is fairly easy if you miss the turnoff to Trinity Center, which is immediately south of the Swift Creek bridge. The present site of the town is not at all the original Trinity Centre of gold rush days, which lies beneath the waters of Trinity Lake. One of the structures moved from the original site to its current location before the lake was filled is the Odd Fellows Hall, at the corner of Scott Road and Mary Avenue. Trinity Center has the only airstrip close to the eastern Alps, along with the Trinity Center General Store (55 Scott Road; 530-266-3393), a grocery store with gas pumps. Lodging is limited to houseboat and cabins rentals. The seasonally open Scott Museum (100 Airport Road; 530-266-3378) displays an interesting collection of pioneer memorabilia. Usually open mid-May–mid-September, the Mini-Kat, just north of Trinity Center on CA 3 at the KOA Campground (530-266-3582), serves burgers and typical snack-shop fare sure to be deemed tasty after a long hike or backpack in the wilderness.
Coffee Creek is a tiny community near the junction of Coffee Creek Road and CA 3, about 40 miles north of Weaverville. Trailhead Pizza (31 Pine Lane; 530-266-3222) is immediately east of the junction, while Coffee Creek Country Store (260 S. Derrick Flat Road; 530-266-3358), a grocery and laundromat, is west of the junction a short distance down County Road 136, not far from a USFS guard station.
The very quiet community of Callahan is 3 miles north of Scott Summit and 65 miles from Weaverville. From Gazelle on I-5, Callahan is only 30 miles away on paved Forest Service Road 17. If you’re traveling from Oregon, the best route to Callahan and vicinity is via CA 3 from Yreka. About the only thing Callahan has to offer the tourist is the Callahan Emporium (12511 CA 3; 530-467-3395), an old-time general store and restaurant.
Farther north on CA 3 is the little town of Etna, which after Callahan feels like a bustling metropolis, even though fewer than 800 people live here. The lodging options in this town are limited to one small motel and a bed-and-breakfast. Fortunately the traveler has more options for grabbing a bite to eat (there’s even a brewery here). Some supplies can be obtained at the local grocery or drugstore. A complex containing a gas station, convenience store, and campground is near the junction of CA 3 and Sawyers Bar Road. Immediately northbound on CA 3 is an establishment frequented by PCT through-hikers. Dotty’s (404 N. CA 3; 530-467-3303), proudly claiming to serve “the best burgers in the state of Jefferson,” has been featured on the Food Network and in Bon Appétit magazine.
Farther north still, CA 3 terminates at I-5 in Yreka, a substantial town of fewer than 7,500 people, with all the basic services, including most fast-food restaurants, motels, gas stations, and big-box store chains.
CITIES AND TOWNS ALONG I-5: REDDING TO YREKA
Redding is described previously in the CA 299 section (see). Heading north from Redding on I-5, motorists pass Shasta Lake in the Shasta Unit of Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area. Exits lead to resorts, marinas, general stores, motels, campgrounds, and a few cafés scattered around the lakeshore.
The first town of any substance you come to past the Castella exit to Castle Crags State Park is Dunsmuir, 185 miles north of Sacramento. This quaint old town of fewer than 2,000 souls is far enough off the freeway to avoid the look and feel of a town that exists solely for the impatient traveler in need of a tank of gas or a quick bite to eat. For a town of this size, Dunsmuir boasts a number of nonfranchise restaurants well worth a visit. Café Maddelena, (5801 Sacramento Ave.; 530-235-2725, cafemaddalena.com) a block east of the main drag, is an upscale eatery serving Mediterranean cuisine. Cornerstone Cafe (5759 Dunsmuir Ave.; 530-235-4677, cornerstonedunsmuir.com) is the place for a fresh and wholesome breakfast or a satisfying lunch. Sengthong’s Blue Sky Room (5855 Dunsmuir Ave., 530-235-4470)