Bob and I went through a few ideas of what to do today before Bob found us a couple of close-in hikes that let us both explore more of the area as well as continue to learn about the dams and bridges in Redding (importantly distinct from learning about the damn bridges in Redding).
Anyhoo, back to our beginnings in Redding. The night before we did our transition with our homeowners, we spent the night in the Sheraton Hotel here that is quite nice and located near parks, the Sundial Bridge, and the Sacramento River Trail. We thought we had explored the area while there, but it’s still lovely, and Bob found a short trail around the property that he thought might have some good views of the area. Not really so much, but we did have a surprising find that connected to our Shasta Dam trip yesterday.
We began our short, 30 minute walk near the Turtle Bay Museum which is next to the Sheraton. We did not go in but snapped a photo of the city’s famous Sundial Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect whose works we enjoy. We have seen a number of his works — buildings and bridges around the world from Buenos Aires to Milwaukee to Valencia, Spain to New York City. The shadow cast from the mast of this bridge allows you to accurately tell time between 11 am and 4 pm in the summer months.
The rest of the walk was fine. We got to see another hydroelectric plant. Lots of those here. But the real find for us was what the locals call The Monolith, and it looks like a partially destroyed old building, which is pretty much what it is. It is the shell of the old Kutras Tract Aggregate Plant which supplied the aggregate for the concrete in building Shasta Dam. So, the aggregate was loaded onto a conveyor belt at this site and traveled the 10 mile length of the belt to the dam construction site. They have added a bit of artwork and information pieces to the site. See below.
After this little walk, we headed to a local park to do a 4+ mile walk out to another cool bridge near the Keswick Dam. The hike took us out of town along the Sacramento River to near the dam and then back to where we started. I guess loop walks are like that, so no news there. Didn’t learn anything on this walk but had lots of lovely views.
Peckish Travels 