Hello Paul :-) Well we got home this evening about 7PM, leaving Redding around 10:45 AM this morning. We did alot of visiting with my brother and friends, and driving around everyday checking out fun stuff to see around the Redding vicinity so I didn't get a chance for any clothing optional time. It was pretty cool weather most of the days we were up there. Today just before leaving Redding the family and I went down to the Redding City Hall where there was a group protesting clear cut logging in the area. My brother knows some of the people in the protest group. One guy is named Mauro, and we talked for a while. I send much of the same info I put on the SC post at the DCHS Forum up to a large group of names my brother has put together of people interested in that kind of info. I told Mauro that I was hotspringswizard, then he gave me a big hug and thanked me for sending up all the info. Mauro then asked if I had been to Big Bend hotsprings. I told him that I had heard of them but had not had the chance to visit them yet. He said the guy that owns those hotsprings is like a father figure for him, and that next time I'm up that way to give him a call and we can go up there to check out those springs. He also said that currently Big Bend hotsprings is for sale. Its on 160 acres of land, and for some time it was listed at 2 million, but he said he thought the guy who owns it would take alot less, maybe 1.2 million. If they bring it down to 20,000 I'll buy it :-) Anyway Mauro is also involved with producing a local paper called First Issues which features all kinds of eco and geopolitical type articles. My brother also helps bring in material for this publication. Actually my brother gave me about 200 copies of thier most recent issue, and I took them out to Burning Man this year, and put them at Center Camp. They didn't last long with lots of people showing interest and taking a copy. I'm looking forward to checking out Big Bend hotsprings next time I'm up there for a visit. They are off to the east up HWY 299 about a half hour's drive from where our property is. Maybe I can enter the name in Google and find some info about them. On my brothers property is a little canyon with a creek that runs all the way down into the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta. My brother property goes to within about a 100 yards of the lake. Down at the lower end of this creek, just up from the lake, there are beautiful little pools, tropical looking vegetation, and the forest down in the dark canyon if full of bright green plants and trees. In the pools there are these big 5-7 inch Newts that are brown on top, and orange on thier bellies. My brother also found a big Salamander in one of the pools, maybe 8-9 in inches long. Nobody goes back in those areas so clothing optional would be no problem at all. My brothers land is backed up on the north and east side by the Shasta Lake recreation lands, and the Pit River arm of Lake Shasta also is a barrier to anyone coming into the area from those same directions. Since my brother has been protecting the area, with lots of no hunting signs, the deer have proliferated. He also gets Bears up around his house on many occasions. A few days a go we came across a group of wild turkeys which are abundant in that area. I've always like the Redding area, with so much outdoor stuff to check out :-)
