Whiskeytown National Recreation Area: Hidden Waterfalls, History & Lakeside Adventures

We're at Whiskeytown National Historic Recreation Area and I'm here with Scott Einberger. Whiskeytown, we got to ask right off the bat, why is it called Whiskeytown? I don't see any distilleries, why is it called Whiskeytown? I'm Pat Patterson and I love California. Name comes from the California Gold Rush 1850 or 1851. Legend has it that there was a miner carrying whiskey with a mule and the mule got spooked crossing a creek and some miners were not upset when that whiskey fell into the creek. There became Whiskey Creek and then the town right there, Whiskeytown. That is awesome. I love that. And so this is a reservoir? It is. It's part of the Central Valley Project. So starting with Lake Shasta and Shasta Dam, Trinity Dam and Lake, Whiskeytown Dam was established, actually President Kennedy came and dedicated Whiskeytown just two months before he was assassinated actually. His last visit to California was dedicating Whiskeytown Dam. So what's some recreation people could do here? Swimming, boating, fishing is the bread and butter activity here on Whiskeytown Lake. Kayaking? Kayaking, yeah. We have ranger-led kayak tours. The entire mountains you see from this lookout, that's included in the National Recreation Area as well. So there's four cascades or waterfalls you can hike to. Whiskeytown Falls is the highest cascade, drops about 200 feet in a couple of different levels there. There's Brandy Creek Falls, great place to hike and camp and mountain bike and enjoy the great outdoors though. Well Scott, thank you for having us here. You're welcome. All right. I love it. Happy birthday Smokey the Bear. I'm Pat Patterson and I love California.