Father's Day on the Upper Sacramento River -2017
If you look closely you can see the I-5 bridge in the right hand corner. Interstate 5 and the railroad parrallele the river for over 30 miles.
It takes about 7 minutes to drive between the Pollard Flat and Sims Flat exits above lake Shasta on Interstate 5; but this past father's day we decided to take the longer route, the one where you get wet.
Stretches of the Upper Sacramento resemble the colorful, cold clean streams of New Zealand.
Northern California is a beautiful state in mid June and what better way to celebrate Father's Day then on the state's capital namesake river albeit we were a good 250 miles north of Jerry Brown's office.
Looking upstream from the Sims Flat Bridge. Just downstream is the suspension bridge built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The suspension bridge was the first major project of the CCC which put out of work American men ages 17-28 back to work during the Great Depression.
Dad turned 73 the week before and was up for a good trip down the class 3 river. We took 7 hours instead of 7 minutes to splash our way on top of the gorgeously clear water that let us admire the thousands of colors found in the smooth river bottom boulders.
The sleepy town of Dunsmuir is the largest population center along the river and boasts an incredibly picturesque little league field in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. Yaks on the 5, (despite the name) is also an incredibly sought after restaurant in the small town.
Although it isn't a trip for beginner do-it-your-selfers there are several commercial outfits that operate trips from April - early June. Northern California is a wonderful place to call home that only gets better when you take the time to explore 7 hour routes as opposed to the 7 minute ones.
The Upper Sacramento is a famed blue-ribbon trout stream. The Ted Fay fly shop in Dunsmuir has been open since 1950 and walking through it's glass front-door is a right of passage for young fly fishermen.
Justin Coupe is co-owner of Point Equity Residential Lending, a husband and proud father of two. In his spare time he enjoys laughing hysterically alongside his father while they try to fly fish out of a dinghy that is way too small for two full grown men.