Next Monthly Club Meeting & Program
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
7:00 p.m. (Doors Open at 6:30 p.m.)
Heather Farms Community Center
301 N. San Carlos Drive, Walnut Creek
Five Rivers of Northern California: The Upper Sac,
The McCloud, The Pit, Fall River & Hat Creek
with Craig Ballenger
Craig Ballenger was born in McCloud, California and raised in Mount Shasta. From early in life he has fished the McCloud and upper Sacramento Rivers. The Pacific Crest Trail was within a few hours hike from home, adding summers spent backpacking and fishing alpine lakes in the Trinity Divide and Trinity Alps. His first fly rod was a cane Leonard from an uncle who lived along Oregon's Umpqua River. The Christmas when he was nine he received his first fly tying kit as a gift from his mom.
He first climbed 14,161 ft. Mount Shasta when he was twelve. This experience, along with skiing from a young age, set in motion the three sports he has pursued throughout his life. During high School, he played football and ran track, being nominated to Who's Who in American High School Athletics and was a member of California Scholastic Federation.
He attended college in Boise, Idaho, where he would continue to climb, fly-fish and ski. He graduated with a B.A. in Theology, and at age 20 began mountain guiding in the Canadian Rockies, Selkirks, Monashees and Purcell ranges during the summers.
Following school, Craig briefly attended graduate school to study linguistics, but moved to a fine arts school in Vancouver, B.C., to study creative writing and photography. He moved to Canada and continued his dream of being a mountain guide, working for Frontier Encounters where he became Director in 1979 and continued in that capacity until 1984. Between guiding and traveling, he lived in a log cabin built in 1910 along the North Thompson River in the Northern Monashees.
Craig attended American mountain guide school in the Tetons and International guide school in Banff, Alberta. From 1984 to 1992 he operated Alpine International, an expedition and trekking company. He has traveled to over 40 countries and has led over 100 treks and expeditions throughout the world, including such diverse places as Alaska, Turkey, the Andes and Himalayas.
Craig began writing and photographing during the mid 1980's with work appearing in such magazines as Climbing, Rock and Ice, Outside, GQ, Flyfishing and Tying Journal and California Flyfisher.
His first book, "Shasta's Headwaters," has received a five-star rating in Amazon.com. Craig is finishing "Volcanic Trout," and has contracts for two more books.
Since 2001, Craig has been resident outfitter and guide for California Trout, operating their Shasta Springs Trout Camp. He also works a part of each summer doing golden trout research in California's Sierra Nevada for Cal Trout
