Northern California - The Hat Creek - Classic Trout Stream!

As Realtors, we are out and about and traveling through many parts of Shasta County on a constant basis. We always have our favorite places that we like to stop and pause for photos and to just take a break from our routine duties. The Hat Creek crosses our path on several routes and and we always stop to enjoy this beautiful year round creek made famous for the trout fishing it offers.

I often write about fly fishing and how much we love the connection to "The River" and all that it brings to us in connection with Nature. Catching that beautiful fish and communing with the fish as you slip that barbless hook loose and free the fish is a moment of complete and total bliss. To see the Sun sparkle on the colors of the "Brown" (shines like a penny) or to see the "Rainbow" jump in the fight are all moments that live within you in that place of spirit. I like to live in that place for it is pure joy of life. We often read out loud from one of our favorite books "The River Why". It is a humorous book, beautifully written to reveal life's journey to finding that place of spirit.

 The Hat Creek Looking North - Jeanean Gendron

The Hat Creek is 48 miles long and issues into two forks. One travels through Lassen National Volcanic Park and the other flows Northward to it's mouth at Lake Britton near Burney, CA

Diatomaceous Earth - Jeanean Gendron

Located off Highway 299, The Hat Creek carves it way Northward to it's mouth at Lake Britton near Burney. We see here Diatomaceous earth consisting of fossilized remains that were once the seabed. Fascinating that through the eons of time, the Sea once covered this area and may again some day.

Peaceful Hat - Jeanean Gendron

The lower three and half miles of The Hat Creek is a Wild Trout Waterway as designated by Fish and Game. There are restricted catch limits. "The Hat" is know as a classic trout stream by world standards.

The Hat Creek Looking South - Jeanean Gendron

So in the spirit of celebrating this beatiful Trout Stream, I am sharing some quotes from The River Why. The book is enchanting on all levels. There is a Movie and it inspired the poem I wrote recently called The River of Knowing. You will enjoy both the book and the movie. I highly recommend it if you are in love with Nature!

Enjoy!

From The River Why

Philosophizing

He said, "They are feeding on drowned yellow stone flies". I asked him, "How did you think that out?" ... "All there is to thinking," he said, "is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren't noticing which makes you see something that isn't even visible." I said to my brother, "Give me a cigarette and say what you mean".

Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Miscellaneous Ramblings.....from The River Why

Every soul that reaches God

enters the majestic secret,

turns from a snake,

into a fish,

leaves solid earth,

dives into the sea,

swims in the river of Paradise.

The soul moves from earthly bondage

to the kingdom without place....

~ 

Seen or unseen, I can pass through a wall

or a mountain as if it were air. I can sink

into the earth, or emerge from it as if it were water;

I can walk on water as if it were solid earth;

I can move through the air like a bird;

I can touch with my hands the sun and moon ...

About the Author

David James Duncan is a lifelong resident of Oregon. In addition to The River Why, which won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for Literary Excellence when it was published in 1983, he is the author of The Brothers K. He currently lives in Portland with his wife, the sculptor Adrian Arleo and their family.

I am Jeanean Gendron your Redding and Shasta County Specialist.

You can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone

and I love "Living the Shasta Lifestyle!