Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Trinity Alps - a stunning granite range dotted with azure alpine lakes - past the shores
of Lewiston and Trinity Lakes, over the Scott Mountains and finally into emerald,
mountain-rimmed Scott Valley. Rough-and-ready Yreka awaits you at the end of the line.
Weaverville
In 1941 a reporter interviewed James Hilton, the British author of
Lost Horizon
. 'In all
your wanderings,' the journalist asked, 'what's the closest you've found to a real-life
Shangri-La?' Hilton's response? 'A little town in northern California. A little town called
Weaverville.'
Cute as a button, Weaverville's streets are lined with flower boxes in the summer and
banks of snow in the winter. The seat of Trinity County, it sits amid an endless tract of
mountain and forest that's 75% federally owned. With its almost 3300 sq miles, the county
is roughly the size of Delaware and Rhode Island together, yet has a total population of
only 13,700 and not one freeway or parking meter.
Weaverville (population 3600) is a small gem of a town on the National Register of His-
toric Places and has a laid-back, gentle bohemian feel (thanks in part to the young back-to-
landers and marijuana-growing subculture). You can easily spend a day here just strolling
around the quaint storefronts and visiting art galleries, museums and historic structures. If
you've got more time, there are 40 miles of hiking and mountain-biking trails in the
Weaverville Basin Trail System, or you can cast a line along the Trinity River, Trinity
Lake or Lewiston Lake for steelhead, salmon and trout.
Sights & Activities
Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park
HISTORIC BUILDING
(
530-623-5284;
www.parks.ca.gov
; cnr Hwy 299 & Oregon St; tour adult/child $4/2;
10am-5pm
Thu-Sun, hourly tours until 4pm)
The walls here actually talk - they're papered inside with 150-year-old donation ledgers
from the once-thriving Chinese community, the immigrants who built Northern Califor-
nia's infrastructure, a rich culture that has all but disappeared. It's a surprise that the oldest
continuously used Chinese temple in California (and an exceptionally beautiful one at
that), dating to the 1870s, is in Weaverville.
