Sundial Bridge and Whiskeytown

Today we did a little more exploring. One of the main attractions I found for Redding is the Sundial Pedestrian Bridge over the Sacramento River. It is definitely a work of art, and is located in a very nice park in the city.

Architect Santiago Calatrava designed the bridge. Those of you from Wisconsin may recognize that name. He also designed the art museum in Milwaukee. The museum in Milwaukee is also all white with giant "wings" that open and close twice a day. 

Calatrava described his design for the bridge as a goose in flight with the pylon representing a wing. The city, however, calls it the Sundial Bridge. They have placed blocks below it with times on them. When the shadow of the wing passes over the block, it acts like a sundial. Since it is over a river, it only shows time for four hours a day. The rest of the time the shadow is over the water. I like the goose explanation. 

Some bridge facts include it was opened on July 4, 2004 at a cost of 24 million dollars. There are 2,245 glass panels on the deck. It was kind of a weird feeling walking on the glass tiles. It weighs the same as about 400 elephants. The design was so complex it required creating new software to make the engineering calculations. 

Here's a view of the Sacramento River from the bridge.

Our second stop of the day was the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. This is a beautiful lake in north central California and is part of the 1950s Central Valley Project; a 500 mile long water diversion system diverting water from Northern California to the Central Valley, allowing one of the world's most productive agriculture regions to thrive. A dam was created, and this lake was formed. Today it also offers all kinds of water recreation for residents including boating, fishing, beaches and camping.

The hills across the lake are covered with burned tree trunks. In 2018 there was a massive fire in the area started by a trailer tire blowing and causing sparks. 

If you enlarge the picture you can see what looks like a white rope across the lake. It's actually a curtain that goes down 100 feet. It keeps the warm water in the lake and forces the cold water flowing into the lake to the bottom which then flows back out to the Sacramento River. This is vitally important to keep the water in the river the correct temperature for Chinook Salmon to survive and lay their eggs. How amazing is that!

Down the road a few miles is a memorial to John F. Kennedy.

On September 28, 1963, less than two months before his assassination, Kennedy made his last official trip to California to dedicate the Whiskeytown Dam. The dedication completed the Central Valley Project.

Near the dam is the Glory Hole. It got that name because it looks like a Morning Glory flower.

It's a huge cement funnel that extends down 260 feet to catch overflow water and prevent flooding. We chatted with a man from the area, and he told us about the devastating fire in 2018, and how he wished water was running into the hole because the area really needs water.

There are some hiking trails in the area, but with the temperature reaching a high of 106 today, we just weren't in the mood for a hike. It is a pretty drive around the lake.

Tomorrow we head to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. It seems we'll be staying in an area with little to no cell service or internet. Time to relax off the grid for a few days.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!