Bill and other Lake Shasta prospects:
I'll try here to report on some of the things I've managed to find out the last week without repeating myself too much, so keep in mind what has already been said above in the previous posts.
There seem to be two basic alternatives:
1. Stay at a marina with all the accompanying facilities, which would be limited to a weekend/week before Memorial Day, or one after Labor Day. The best fishing on the lake is in these time periods.
Bridge Bay will accomodate us for $20 per boat per night ($40 Friday through Sunday afternoon), which includes launch fees (separately $10/day). This would give us covered berths, shore power, access to bathrooms, showers, a restaurant, snack bar, grocery/general store, secured parking, on site motel rooms, houseboat rentals, etc. Those who want to stay additional days can do so for the same rate. The marina is 1/4 mile off I-5, right at the Pit River Bridge, the most centrally located facility on Shasta Lake. Cruises from here are easy, as every thing is equidistant. Our Saturday night get together would be right in the marina, cooking with BBQ's on or next to the boats. This is a clean and easy option to arrange. Bring anyone and anything you want to spend the weekend with. A houseboat rented from them could stay on the courtesy dock or a nearny island at night, cruise by day, etc.
2. Launch and stay somewhere on the lake, using a campground, island, or houseboat as a get together center. This can be done anytime.
As for #2, there are group and family campsites all over the lake. The Group Campsites are all well up on the McCloud (most beautiful) Arm of the lake, and have fee schedules of $65 or $90 per night for the group. All lakeshore camping requires beaching the boats, and the particular level of the lake on the weekend selected may yield a beach or somewhat rocky-ish difficult place to beach a boat, depending on the campground selected and the water level. Our scouting yesterday yielded two attractive alternatives in this category:
A. Stay at the McCloud Bridge Campground which is by far the best equipped, best laid out, most beautiful, and most sought after camping site on the lake. It is at the very top of the McCloud Arm, about 19 miles in by car from I-5. This is not a group campground, but much nicer than any of those. One of us here would have to go up at least a few days in advance and wait for a site to open, then claim it. The double sites allow 16 persons/site, and one would provide us with a central meeting place/home base. We could claim two if needed. The double sites are $26/night, but we could all chip in a few $ if the necessary claiming period were fairly long. The campgrounds feature vault toilets, running water, tent sites, tables, bear-proof lockers, RV parking pads, and the best scenery on Shasta Lake. Boats could be launched six miles down the lake at Hirtz Bay($6/day). Trailers would have to be stored there, as campsite road space is limited. Tow vehicles can be driven to the campground. Boaters should bring an old section of carpet and a couple of tires to provide a secure landing/beaching pad. A big metal stake and a small sledge hammer would add a nice secure finishing touch. This could easily be extended from a weekend into a week's or longer stay. Anyone/group renting a houseboat could tie up on shore or anchor in the lake. There's room for two RV's on the double site. (No Hookups). This is one of the cooler sites on the lake in the summer, as afternoon shade is provided by the surrounding limestone mountains. Bring BBQ's, water toys, dogs, grandkids, etc.
B. We could, as an alternate to choice A, find a suitable island more centrally located in the main body of the lake and stay there. There are numerous islands that pop up as the season progresses. The Squaw Creek Arm has many with gentle, sandy slopes. We would have to beach our boats, bring in our own tables and chairs, build a campfire circle (easy), gather firewood, and use our porta-poties. Anything needed would come in by boat. No RV access, except from another campground. Launching and tow rig/trailer storage could be at any of several different Forrest Service ramps ($6/day). We would scout out the best site available site in the preceeding week, then pick the best launch site, and notify everyone. A houseboat would be a natural addition and a very welcome central focus point. Bring carpet remnants, tires, stakes, BBQ's, tent/shades, water toys, dogs, grandkids, etc.
Well, for now, that kind of let's you know what the best options are, in our opinion. What we need to know is who is interested, and in which ones, to see if we have enough interest to go any further with the planning. There is always some gain and loss as time goes by with the sign-up and commitment to these get-togethers. A flexible, all-accomodating plan that won't disappear off the radar screen if a few dropped out would be a desirable choice.
Let us know what you think! Joe.
