I’ve been wanting to go back to Martin’s Dairy Campground for some time now. We went through Montague to Airport Road then took Sylva Rd. to Willow Creek to York - from there you can follow the signs to Martin’s Dairy.
Along the way you may see some buffalo that belong to Four Eagles Farm ~ cute little devils (but don’t try to pet them!)
It takes some time to get to Martin’s Dairy. Even though its only about 30 some miles from Yreka give yourself about 1 1/2 hours to get there. The road goes from pavement to gravel and back to pavement a couple times. It’s such a beautiful drive! You see the wide open plains of the valley and then into the forested mountains with amazing vista views along the way.
The forest is so beautiful ~ like something you’d see in a story book. As a matter of fact we’re quite convinced that this must be home to the rare Western Gnomes and Western Fairies (as opposed to the Eastern ones who obviously have different dress, differnet cuisine and a slightly different language). You cross over quite a few cattle guards which is why you don’t get see them - too easy to hear you coming! Our imaginations go wild up here!
Just before the campground you will see Sylva Cabin sitting solitary in a beautiful meadow. I don’t know the story about this cabin, but it’s an amazing sight to see!
A short ways along and you will pass by a Quaking Aspen grove. It seems so out of place up here amongst all the pines ~ but it’s fun to stand in it while the breeze blows and the leaves shiver! The last time we were here we were so taken by these trees we planted two in our yard!
The campground itself is really nice. It’s most striking feature is the Shasta River headwaters flowing through the beautiful open meadow highlighted by dots of colorful wildflowers. The water is often stocked with trout and the campground is kept really clean with great facilities.
So why is it called Martin’s Dairy? There used to be a dairy and creamery here at Martins Ranch before 1900. Look, there are still cows to prove it (this would be the reason for the 8 cattle guards we crossed to get here)! Do you touch glass and lift your feet for good luck when you cross the cattle guard? You’ll get pretty tired of doing that on this trip:)
You can go to the Klamath National Forest website for campground details. We practically had the place to ourselves this day, but come hunting season the campground really fills up! This is one of my favorite day trips - it was great getting a break from the smoke - the air was clean and the sky was blue - so nice!
mmmmoooooooo!:)
