Whiskeytown Lake, 7 miles west of Redding, CA - A sailing lake - finally...Yahoo!

PART 3 OF SUMMER BOAT CAMPING VACATION:
After 3 days of wandering Lake Shasta, never seeing another sailboat, we took the advice from a kid working at one of the marinas, and pulled out of Shasta Lake and went to Whiskeytown Lake, just west of Redding.
What a blessing that was! Whiskeytown Lake does not allow houseboats or personal water craft (jet skis to us ole' folks), and this is where the sailboats were.
The water was so much cleaner and it was a few degrees cooler (only 105 or so most days) that we thought we were in heaven! The wildlife there was so awesome. We actually saw lots of cranes, ducks with babies, geese, pigeons, eagles, deer, turtles, and yes, bears. There are two cranes in this picture.
Also we had the privilege of coming in close contact with not just a bear, but a momma bear and her cub. Unlike the lone bear at Shasta Lake, it did not get scared and run away.

Instead it seemed to charge us, mad as a mother.....bear!
Here's a picture of the very narrow cove that we anchored in that evening for dinner. We had just finished dinner when we heard the rustling in the bushes. Craig got the flashlight and found eyes staring at us, then another pair of eyes below the first set. He thought if we started the motor it would scare the bears away but it seemed to irritate her instead and she started coming closer into the cove and toward the back of our boat. It was then that we thought it was best to move out of the cove, in case she decided she could swim to us and get on board. Craig quickly untied the rope that he used to tether us to a tree stump, while I pulled up the anchor to get the heck out of there.
Needless to say we were a little scared.
Here you can see the cove as we were returning to get our rope that we left tied to a tree for the rear anchor.
I think we were supposed to report any bear sitings, but we never saw a Ranger to report it to. This was definitely a vacation we would never forget.
We took the next weekend off and hung out with our kids. Next weekend, Seattle Seafair; fireworks, boat camping, the Blue Angels, hydroplane races, lots of food, YAAAAAHOOOOO! Sure hope Dennis and Izzy are around to come see our new boat! Check in next week to find out how the Seafair went......Jannie