Free Fun

Exploring wild terrain at Shasta Lake.

The boys and I spent a lovely afternoon poking around Bailey Cove in Shasta Lake. We took advantage of the low water level and hiked down into the lake bed.

The views are amazing - it's a little like a moonscape and the exposed red slopes had the kids planning a video set on Mars.

Kicking around in the mud and the muck, we kept finding stuff - it turned into an impromptu scavenger hunt.

We found:

a green army man
a mop

a flip flop

loads of pop tops (remember those?)

hundreds of fresh water clam shells

A highlight for me was having my 17-year-old guiding me, step-by-step, down the steep, unstable slope, encouraging me and helping me up when I lost my footing.

When did the two of us switch roles? Low water levels reveal all sorts of strange terrain.

A great day - all for the price of a couple gallons of gas. There's a whole bunch of lake to explore -- we'll be back.