Boulder Creek Falls

Boulder Creek Falls in Whiskeytown National Park.

This week we received a letter from the current publisher of the Red Bluff Daily News, Greg Stevens. He begun his letter thanking us for our “valuable contribution.” Then went on to say they had “financial difficulties” and would “no longer pay for local columns,” but hoped that we would still “continue to contribute” them.
We do a lot of volunteer work for non-profit organizations but draw the line when it comes to for-profit businesses. So this will be our last column for now.
This week we hiked to Boulder Creek Falls in Whiskeytown Park. It was a lot of fun.
We researched the park’s website to find the directions to the trail. There are two ways to the falls. One starts about 2.5 miles past the Carr Powerhouse on South Shore Drive. That way is about 2.75 miles long one way, and has an elevation change of 1300 to 2250 feet, or 950 feet total change. The trail is a steady uphill climb and is rated “moderate.”
The falls can also be accessed by a trail that starts at Mill Creek Road. This trail is one mile in length one way and has an elevation change of only 80 feet. It is also rated as “moderate.” This is the trail we hiked.
Mill Creek Road is located about .5 miles from Highway 299 off Carr Powerhouse Road. It is a fairly rough jeep track that rapidly climbs the side of the hill for about two miles to the trailhead.
The park guide recommends a four-wheel drive vehicle, but we found that is probably not completely necessary. Any vehicle with good ground clearance, such as a pickup should have no trouble. The road is closed after the first winter storm and reopened in late spring.
There are two trails leading from the parking area. The trail on the left, which goes uphill, is the correct trail.
The first part of the trail climbs rather steeply for a short distance but then is mostly level for the rest of the walk. With a few exceptions, it is nicely shaded for the whole route.
After crossing the creek the trail proceeds to a fork. The right side goes to the falls and the left side goes back down to the South Shore Drive. The trail to the falls follows right along the creek to the base of the falls.
The falls are impressive this time of year with a considerable water flow. There is also a path of steps going up the side of the hill to an overlook where the entire 81 feet of the falls is visible, plus the 28 feet of cataracts above the falls.
It was not so difficult as to leave us exhausted, but was a good walk just the same. We thought it was on the easy side of the moderate rating. This would be a good family hike.
Farewell for now. Maybe we will see some of you in town from time to time.

Civilization Game

Original “Civilization” game along with newly made cards.

Our family has played a game called “Civilization” for years. It is a little complicated and takes about five hours to play, but is one of our favorites.
One problem with the game is that it is worn out. We wanted to replace the parts that were the most worn, such as the cards. But the game has been out of print for many years. We looked at online auction sites and while there are few available the price is prohibitive. Additionally, while the game was still being made, an add-on game was produced, called “Advanced Civilization.” It is also out of production today, and is even more expensive.
Finished pieces can also be obtained from independent internet suppliers. But they are fairly expensive. Plus, we think half the fun of a new game is making it yourself.
We wanted to get a copy of “Advanced Civilization” and replace our worn out pieces. The best way to accomplish both of those objectives for us was to make it ourselves. All the art work necessary for the various cards are available online at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177.
All the additional information necessary for the game to work, such as the rules and various player aids are also online.
A game board expansion was made for this game but that is also no longer available. But we were able to locate files for this online too. All that remained to do was to print everything out.
Printing the cards came first. The files we got for the cards required that we create a document in a word processor and place the card images on it. We also had to create a separate document for the card backs.
Civilization uses multiples of individual cards so we had to print several of each one. Some of the cards came with lines on them to help with the cutting out while other did not.
For the one that did not we devised a template to help. That way we could get them all evenly sized. Previously we had purchased a corner clipper at a craft store. Using that gave the cards a finished look.
The cards come in two shapes: square and rectangle. The square cards we laminated with clear self-adhesive contact paper. We used the corner clipper on the rectangle cards but that made it difficult to use contact paper. So in its place, we sprayed them with clear craft varnish. It is not as bullet proof as the contact paper, but they should hold up well enough.
Printing the map is another story. We actually have not done that yet. It is larger that a standard 8.5 by 11-inch paper, so it requires additional software to split the file up into paper-size chunks before it can be printed out. Once we figure this out we plan to attach it to a foam board for stability.
Meanwhile the game is playable with the original game board. We are all set to play again.