Clear Creek Gorge
Thought for today: Philippians 4:8 ..Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things..
Disclaimer: There is no assurance that any resource or activity I've found or described will be as 'accessible' as you might need. Information or links may be out of date. Use the information at your own risk and be sure to check with your health care professional for exercise advice.
In 2017, we took advantage of December's fine weather to visit Clear Creek Gorge in western Shasta County. The Gorge with its fish observation point is part of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) trail system involving the Clear Creek Greenway and Swazey Recreation Areas. During the summer months this elevation can be quite hot, so a dry December day seemed like a good time to visit this location.
It's easy enough to find. Take highway 273 south from Redding, and turn west on Clear Creek Rd and go west until you find the BLM emtrance sign. Download Maps of the area.
On this day trip I just wanted to discover what, exactly, was there. The maps indicated a Salmon Viewing Platform, and the location is called Clear Creek Gorge, but I had trouble visualizing a deep 'gorge' in that location.
Surprise! The canyon or 'Gorge' is about 70 feet deep, at a guess. The Salmon Viewing Platform is essentially the Overlook.
There is a large paved parking lot, a really nice paved and covered picnic area, a couple of short, reasonably level paved trail sections suitable for wheelchairs, and a nice pavement and concrete Overlook area with tables and benches. It's very wheelchair-friendly. When we were there in early December there were no salmon to be seen but the stream itself was lovely. The Gorge is a nice rocky outcropping and 'picture pretty' with Clear Creek - even at low flow levels.
We'd estimate the paved portions of the adjacent trails to be about a couple hundred yards extending east/west from the formal structured overlook areas. The paved trails are pretty level and about 4 feet wide. Beyond the paved segments the trails dwindle dramatically in width. The trail surface becomes dirt, logistically rugged with serious elevational changes, and more suitable for single track bikes or single-file hikers, not mobility devices.
There is a whole dirt trail system along Clear Creek Rd which we did not explore. Some hikers did descend a portion of the dirt trails down to the creek beds. In some cases, I wondered if they'd make it back up! I don't know if there are more trail segments in the area suitable for all-terrain rollators. But at least the Clear Creek Gorge Overlook itself is wheelchair suitable, has a restroom and picnic area and is a very nice day use location. If you plan it right you may even see salmon returning, going upstream.
*There are lots (and lots, and lots) of places yet to be reviewed for accessibility and I am unlikely to get to them all. So that others may find some new places, I've compiled a draft list of locations that may be wheelchair accessible. These are POSSIBILITIES, no certainties. Some places may be complete duds. ATTENTION: this is a ROUGH draft list - mostly for my own use, so if you use this draft list, lower your expectations and do your homework! DRAFT SHASTA COUNTY ACCESSIBLE RECREATION LIST
