WHISKEYTOWN FINDS A LOST WATERFALL

A newly cleared trail is bringing the first visitors to a 300-foot waterfall in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. The falls are tucked away in a remote corner of a 43,000-acre parcel of wild land administered by the National Park Service. Russ Weatherbee, a wildlife biologist for the park service had heard for years about a large waterfall on one of the forks of Crystal Creek. In 2003, Weatherbee found a logging map from 1960's in the recreation area's headquarters, and noticed that somebody had drawn a dot on one of Crystal Creek's tributaries and labeled it a waterfall. Later that year, he and a friend found it. By this year, park service crews had cleared a nearly two-mile route from Crystal Creek Road to the base of the falls.