Far be it from me to judge. I mean, I've only seen a little bit of the town and only one time. Still. If I never get back to Oroville again, I don't think I'll stew much about it. Backing up a little, I believe, theoretically, that every place on earth is interesting in some way. Sometimes it's just not apparent to the casual observer. Oroville might challenge that assumption, however.
Tom and I had decided to take a drive last Sunday. We didn't really leave the house until after 11, so we didn't want to drive too far. Tahoe? At only and hour and a half, it's beautiful and accessible. Downieville/Sierraville? Gorgeous mountain driving and cute little towns. Placerville? Foothill colors and quaint Gold-Rush ambiance. Nah. We'll go to Oroville. Why? Because we'd never been.
Oroville is about 1 1/4 hours away, north-ish, over territory we haven't traveled in 30 years--the north Sacramento Valley. I hadn't even been to Marysville/Yuba City, which is only 45 minutes away due west where they sit at Hwys 70/99 and 20, which goes to Grass Valley. So, it was time. We blew through Marysville (check it out later, maybe) and took 70 north. It's all about the rice fields, walnut groves and kiwi plantations. Kind of interesting, since we're always curious about farming and the folks that choose to live that life.
We knew that Oroville is the site of a large reservoir, popular with houseboaters, where the Feather River has been all dammed up since the 60s. Plus, on the the maps, I had also seen a "wildlife area" nearby. All cool stuff, right? And it wasn't hot.
I don't know. Maybe we just saw the junky part of town along the road to the reservoir. It has a strip mall ambiance, though we did find Papacito's for a nice Mexican lunch. Up at the reservoir, it was clear why the whole place just seemed a little sad.
Aside from the rather impressive bridge, the lake, itself is pathetically, well, not so impressive. It sits at 30% of capacity or less, 125+ feet below the waterline. I saw a photo taken in '05 when the water was up to the trees. Oroville and Shasta (a little farther north) are the state's two largest reservoirs and both are far lower than the spillways (so they can't release water). That's a photo of Tom trying to find something interesting to read at the edge of the lake. No luck.So, it was off to find the Oroville Wildlife Area. I guess I had never considered the difference between a "wildlife area" (admin. by Fish and Game) and a "wildlife refuge" (admin. by Fish and Wildlife).
The Oroville Wildlife Area is dominated by two distinct sounds: traffic and gunfire. A "refuge" it most definitely is not. There are lots of trees. It looks to have at one time been a gravel quarry, or some such, along a river drainage (rendered obsolete by the dam) along Hwy 70. It's kinda pretty. But, upon taking a little walk through the woods to find some wildlife, it became clear that only deaf or profoundly stupid wildlife would spend even a few minutes in this area set aside for it. The gunfire never ceased (turned out to be a target range close by) and I began to wonder about my own safety. Turns out, it is hunting season there until Jan 31. OK. Moving on. Tom had stayed in the car to do puzzles (he always comes prepared, especially if there's the slightest danger of a hike), so I just hopped back in the car and we headed back home, completely underwhelmed.
We were home before dark. I think we'll go east next time...
