Looping off Hwy-299 between Arcata and Redding, this small area around the lake unearths some forgotten pioneer-period history and provides opportunities for fresh-air pursuits. It is a circumnavigation of one of northern California’s numerous artificial lakes, created to redirect water to the Central Valley farmlands and to quench the ever-increasing thirst of Los Angeles.

In this landscape of cobalt-blue waters, scented pine forests and snow-capped distant mountains, local opposition to human meddling with nature is still apparent although it has been the revenue from increased tourism – fishing, boating and water-skiing lure thousands of vacationers – which has kept alive many of the tiny, isolated communities which the tour passes through.

As a base for seeing the best places to visit try the comparatively large town (population 3,500) of Weaverville. Like other settlements in the area, Weaverville got started in the mid-1800s with the local discovery of gold. Unlike its neighbours, though, Weaverville has a glorious stock of its century-old buildings still intact. Other 19thC hamlets – French Gulch is a prime example and also an alternative accommodation option – comprise no more than a few buildings lining the roadside.

TRANSPORT

No public transportation available. Weaverville does have its own one strip, one-way airport however.