Many years ago my husband and I purchased 85 acres north of Red Bluff on the bluffs of the Sacramento River. The views of Mts Shasta, Lassen, The Trinities, Yolo Bolly Mountains, the old iron bridge that crosses the river and of course the Sacramento River itself are outstanding. However for me, getting down the 45' bluff to the river's edge was impossible because of my disabilities, not my lack of desire or trying. My husband Pat decided that a pathway down to the bottom of the bluff was in order!

What we learned during this process was interesting. Ultimately all of the agencies agreed (once we paid them) that we could build our pathway because it was for ADA purposes.   Our pathway ended up approximately 300 linear ft. long with one switchback and is 6-8' wide depending on the location in the pathway. From the bottom of the pathway it's approximately 150' to the river's edge with 2/3 of that being above the “mean high water mark”. All of the above information was essential to the agencies who we worked with. Those agencies are as follows:

1)      Fish and Game (2 visits to look at the site/ approve plans/complete application and pay $$)

2)      Water Resources Board

3)      Tehama County

4)      Cal Fire

 We also had to follow the STREAMBED ALTERATION AGREEMENT . Their guidelines were as follows:

• Choose site to minimize impact on soil and trees (their wording “ideal route”)
• Couldn't push products down bank or into water. The soil and rock removed had to be drug up and over the bluff.
• Decomposed granite or concrete were our only 2 choices for the pathway-we chose D.G.
• No retaining wall or Riprap allowed without further approval and probably more $$. (we still need to do this) We did use waddling to help minimize silt/mud runoff and did hydro seed the bank when the pathway was completed.

We now must reapply with those agencies to apply more D.G. because of rain erosion. Yes, this was a lot of time, energy and money for a pathway. However, when you are standing at the river's edge, looking at and listening to the rapids, feeling the coolness of the water, watching the wildlife in the water and trees—it's worth it.

Now…..just ask me that again when we start the application to redo both the D.G. and seeding!