Majestic Mount Shasta as it appears from Castle Crags State Park. Photo by author.
When the Outdoor Writers Association of California chose Siskiyou County as the site for this spring’s writers conference, I couldn’t have been more pleased. I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for this unspoiled land at the top of the state since I first discovered it fifty-three years ago.
Entrance to Cave Creek Canyon and the Chiricahua Mountains. All photos by author.
I’ve always been fascinated with birds, but I really became hooked on bird-watching, or birding, as it’s often called, during the mid-seventies when I was a rookie Fish and Game warden down on the Colorado River. Warden Bill Peters and I were patrolling the river south of Earp, California, when we spotted a large bird off in the distance. “That’s a peregrine,” said Peters, focusing his binoculars on the fast-flying raptor. “Looks like a female.”