Category: Photography

Posted on

Shasta Dam with floodgates open

Redding is blessed by an abundance of fresh water.

“Freshwater makes up a very small fraction of all water on the planet. While nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Even then, just 1 percent of our freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields.” National Geographic


“Trapped in glaciers and snowfields” for a while, anyway.  The snow you see here gracing Mt Shasta will mostly melt away this summer.


We are having an exceptional rain year. I feared we would see mudslides and worse, similar to what Santa Barbara experienced in the winter after their last big fire. So far, so good.

The floodgates of Shasta Dam are not often opened. Check it out, while you can. It’s ReallyRedding.

Posted on

The waterfalls of McCloud

With perfect Fall weather, we and the dog spent the day hiking around the 3 waterfalls of the McCloud River you can reach easily from Highway 89.

Upper Falls:


Middle Falls:


Lower Falls:


Just over an hour’s drive north from Redding, this beautiful stretch of river is an easy and dog friendly day hike. Not even a fee to park. The McCloud River begins on the slopes of Mt Shasta, and terminates at Lake Shasta.  It’s a true place of wonder.

Posted on

Fireworks for the 4th in Redding 2018

We celebrate Independence Day in Redding with a big free fireworks show put on every year by the generous McConnell foundation. Here it is as I captured 4K video from a friend’s kitchen in the west hills. 20 minutes condensed to 30 seconds, or so.

If you use the YouTube controls, you can see this in full 4K video. I like how it turned out.

Personal fireworks are forbidden in Shasta County, for good reason. This place is very flammable in Summer. But this big free show really makes up for that restriction.

Free fireworks shows, that’s Really Redding.

Posted on

Superb Owl Sunday

Spotted these acrobatically inclined individuals north of the Sundial Bridge, whilst there was some sort of big game on TV.

Posted on

The Hilltop Drive trailhead to Sacramento River Trail

Hike Redding! Image captured during a break in the weather on a January day from above the Hilltop Dive trailhead to the river trail. This section of trail gets plenty of use. You can park on Hilltop and be rewarded with a pleasant aerobic walk down to the river and back. Click to enlarge:


Here’s the trailhead on a sunnier day.

Posted on

Lassen Peak late Fall, from 100 meters up

Popped the drone up for a few minutes and captured this image of Mt. Lassen from the park entrance yesterday.

The road up to the park was filled with cut Christmas trees strapped to the tops of cars, and in in the back of pick-up trucks going west. Lots of families making the outing into an annual tradition, the hunt for the perfect tree. Maybe punctuated with a few sled runs on Eskimo Hill, and some hot cocoa. All this about 50 miles east of Really Redding.

Posted on

A glorious finale to a fine Fall day in Redding

I captured these images from the boat launch on the Sacramento River at Caldwell Park a few evenings ago.

If only passengers could see us in the daylight!

It was very beautiful. I can’t help but wonder how it would be if passenger trains could traverse our river city by daylight instead of the middle of the night, like they do now. Years ago, the region enjoyed the Shasta Daylight, a passenger train that came through by day.

Railroad and River. That’s Really Redding.