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The hike to this lake is not very difficult. It is a bit under 2 miles each way from the trail head. Next time I want to take the more difficult, 9.6-mile loop trail that takes you above this lake and right by the Long Gulch Lake.
The location is northern California, about an hour and a half south of Ashland.
Across the street from Taylor’s Refresher lie part of the tracks for the Napa Wine Train. The wine train takes customers from downtown Napa to St. Helena and back. While on board patrons are treated to a fine meal and wine while enjoying the view of the vineyards.
We road the wine train for Thanksgiving dinner several years ago.
Once upon a time I was a tour guide in Napa so I’ve been on the route from Napa to St. Helena countless times. The beauty of the place never gets old or boring though.
The day after the aforementioned reunion there was a second gathering for families held at Taylor’s Refresher in St. Helena. Apparently Taylor’s Refresher has been featured on some Food Channel or Food Network shows (maybe “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and some others?). The place was crazy packed for a town of 6,000 people. There was a line of more than 50 people the entire time we were there. And we were there for more than 3 hours enjoying the picnic on the back lawn.
The food was good, but the prices are high. You’ll be lucky to spend much less than $20 a person ($10 burgers, $6 shakes, $4 fries, etc.). Despite the prices, and long lines, people were coming from far away just to eat at Taylor’s Refresher. The people in line behind us came all the way from Sacramento (an hour and a half at least) just for lunch.
An embarrassing moment happened after we got our food and made our way to the reunion picnic area. My wife sat down next to a man she didn’t know (a spouse of an old classmate) who asked about the food. She said it was OK but the line was ridiculous. It turns out the man was the owner of the place. Oops.
A couple months back we took a trip down I-5 to Napa, California for my wife’s 20th high school reunion. While there we spotted the above Kara’s Cupcakes in the Oxbow Market. Cupcake shops have sprouted up all over the country, but none have made it to Ashland yet. You can see the menu details by clicking on the above picture for a much more enlarged view. The prices seem more than a bit ridiculous to me. $80 for two dozen cupcakes and a bottle of milk?!? I don’t think I’ll be a customer even if they make it to my hometown.
My favorite part of the aforementioned hike wasn’t the lake at the end (although it was beautiful). No, the best part, for me, was this meadow. My daughter, on the far left, agreed. She says she is going to get married in this meadow. I’ll show you some more pictures of it in later entries.
On a recent hike to Trail Gulch Lake in California‘s Trinity Alps I took today’s photo.
Today’s entry will wrap up the Chico trip. After departing Castle Lake we continued north on I-5.
We stopped in Yreka for lunch at Pat’s BBQ Express. I haven’t eaten often in Yreka simply because it is less than an hour from Ashland so if I’m hungry in Yreka I usually just press for home. I will definitely eat in Yreka more often now that I’ve experienced Pat’s BBQ. It was fantastic. I had pulled pork spaghetti with garlic bread. It was all very mouth watering. The smoker the pork came from was right out front giving off wonderful smells from the dinner meat.
My traveling companion had never been to Castle Lake before. Since it’s only about 10 miles off of I-5 I decided to take him there. I had no idea how beautiful it was going to be, never having been there in May before. Chico was about 90 degrees so I wasn’t expecting snow and ice on Castle Lake. The temperature was nice at almost 70 degrees, but the view was a winter one.
Amazingly enough, we were the only ones there enjoying the above scenery. I’ll share one more picture of Castle Lake with you tomorrow. To get to Castle Lake, follow the signs to Lake Siskiyou and just before you get there you’ll see one pointing to the left saying “Castle Lake 8 miles.”
I’ve shown you pictures of Mt. Shasta from the east, north, west, and from on the mountain itself in prior entries. This photograph is from the South (on I-5). Unfortunately, the clouds covered the top. I love driving north on I-5 and viewing Mt. Shasta once past Redding.
On our way back from Chico I purchased about eight baskets of freshly picked strawberries from this field. We were north of Chico on Highway 99, probably near Los Molinos. They were amazingly good.