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Area
Guide
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Hike Redding |Hike Whiskeytown | Hike Lake Shasta | Hike Mount Lassen | Hike Castle Craigs | Hike Burney Falls
Northern California Hiking: The Redding area has some of the best walking and hiking trails right within the city limits such as the beautiful Sacramento River Trail. In addition, there are endless hiking possibilities around Shasta Lake, Whiskeytown Lake, Castle Craigs State Park and Lassen National Park.
There
are several other trails within the City of Redding ranging from short
trails such as the 3 quarters of a mile Mary Lake Trail in West Redding
to a moderate 2.4 mile Blue Gravel Trail and longer trails such as
the 4 mile Lema Ranch Trail. Check out the City
of Redding Web site for further details
Moderate
Hikes: Challenging
Hikes: Shasta Lake is located just a few miles north of Redding, off I-5 and offers hikers several miles of scenic trails surrounding the lake. There are several short trails ranging from 1/2 mile overlooks to up to 8 miles long. Castle Craigs State Park Hiking Castle Craigs is located north of Redding off of I-5 in Castella. There are more than 28 miles of hiking trails. Trails range from short 1/4 mile nature trails to 8 mile more challenging treks. Crags Trail which takes you to the Vista Point Trail provides you with a great view of the 4966 foot Castle Dome, the leading spire on the crags ridge. In addition, you can access the 2.7 mile access trail to Castle Crags Wilderness, part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The Pacific Crest Trail also passes through the park and is the parks longest trail for those seeking a more challenging hike. There are other smaller trails in the park such as the campground trail and the River trail which allow you to connect between trails, the campground and the park office. Directions and Map. You can walk from the park entrance to a rocky overlook which is the main overlook for picture taking. There is also an easy 1 mile loop called Burney Falls Trail which goes around the waterfall and back to the park if you just want to see the waterfall. If you want to explore the park in more detail, there are several longer hiking trails. Our favorite is to take the Lake Trail or the Rim Trail to Lake Britton. It's an easy pretty walk and is about 3 miles round trip. Picnicking and Camping is also offered. Directions and Map. Lassen Volcanic National Park Hiking Lassen park contains 150 miles of trails of which 17 miles are of the famous Pacific Crest Trail. Easy Trails: The 1 mile Lily Pond Trail or the Manzanita Lake Trail. If you want to experience volcanic mud spots take the Boiling Springs Lake Trail or the Bumpass Hell Trail which is a moderate 3 mile hike to the thermal area of the park. The experienced, fit hiker might want to take the Cinder Cone, Brokeoff Mountain, Mount Harkness or Lassen Peak Trails which range anywhere from 4 to 7 1/2 miles in duration. If you can make it to the top of the Lassen Peak Trail you will encounter a spectacular view of the park. You can pick up Trail Maps at the Visitor Center at the park. Contact Lassen Volcanic National Park directly for more information on any of these trails. Area Map. Park Map.
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The
beautiful Sacramento River Trail runs through the City of Redidng and
has over 10 miles of hiking and biking trails which run along both
sides of the Sacramento River. You can access the trail at several
points but one particularly nice walk is to access the trail at Caldwell
Park and walk for about 30 minutes to the Sundial Bridge. You can't
miss the Sundial Bridge from the Trail and after you have walked over
the bridge, you can continue on further down the trail or head back
to Caldwell Park. 
I
would recommend stopping by the Visitors Center to pick up a detailed
map of the trails and directions to the trailheads in the Whiskeytown
National Recreation area. If you just want a short stroll, there is
a short lookout trail just off of the Visitor Center Parking lot that
will lead you down to Whiskeytown Lake itself. There are also several
hikes ranging from easy to moderate. We've listed some of our favorites
but there are several in each category to choose from.
Overlook
Trail - A short trail of only 0.4 miles but provides
nice views from the top of a knoll overlooking the Sacramento River.