Eskimo Hill

I grew up in the city, (San Jose, San Francisco, etc…) so as a kid, if we wanted to experience snow, we would drive a few hours towards Lake Tahoe or Reno and once we saw an abundance of the white stuff on the side of the road, we’d stop and play for a half hour or so then turnaround and go home. We weren’t rolling in the $, so we never got into skiing or snowboarding so that was the extent of my snow experience.
I’m all grown up now, (relatively speaking) so now it’s my duty to take my children to the snow when the weather gets crisp. We recently moved up to Cottonwood (Tehama/​Shasta County border) and asked around for the cool place to go play in the snow. I received an overwhelming response of «You need to go to Eskimo Hill». As cliché as that sounded, we decided to give it a go this past weekend, after Christmas.
Now that we live at the edge of the snow line, I only needed to drive for about an hour from home, through a few beautiful back roads, and finally eastbound up highway 44 to reach our destination. At the edge of Lassen National Park, you will find Eskimo Hill. It is everything and more than I expected. Indeed, the parking situation needs help, but fortunately after only one lap around the lot, I managed to find a decent spot.
We hiked through a few cars and got in line for the restroom because there’s nothing worse than peeing in front of a few hundred people in 28 degree weather. We wandered through the pines and found ourselves in the middle of what felt like a movie set out on the east coast. Seriously, this place is straight out of a story book. There were people sitting around fire-​pits drinking hot cocoa, bigger kids building snowmen, and flocks of 10-​and-​under kids sliding down tracks made into a smaller hill aimed at the bottom of Eskimo Hill. It’s a miracle the little f’ers weren’t mangled by the incoming sleds, intertubes, and assorted sliding vehicles that were coming down the big hill at 100+mph; but somehow, this place works in well-​balanced, chaotic way.
Big or small, short or tall, EVERYBODY was having a blast, including us newbies. After a few trips down the little hill, my 7 year old asked to go up the big hill. I said no way, not by yourself. So that’s how I got talked into risking my life that day. After almost passing out from the steep climb, (the air is freezing and much thinner there) I took a look down the hill and realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake and would probably regret this decision for the rest of my life. We got on our $ 30 Target foam sled and started down the hill. We accelerated a LOT quicker than I anticipated and was pelted by slush, frozen drool from my son who was sitting in front of me, and freezing cold air. At some point, we hit a snow ramp and time slipped into slow motion as we flew into the air, landing with a terrifying jolt as arms and legs flailed aimlessly. I managed to stop our descent, and although numb from the cold, I could feel that my tailbone had taken the brunt of the landing. We continued down the remainder of the hill, much more cautiously, as I used my legs as anchors/​brakes to keep our momentum to a minimum. Amazingly, I was able to stand and get us out of the way of the next sucker I mean, «adventurer» that was on their way down the hill behind us. I realized that my glasses were barely on my face and the frames were bent, probably from the above-​mentioned impact.
Bottom line: We had a blast! We will be back next weekend, better prepared and with a bit more wisdom as to how this whole experience works. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Oh Eskimo Hill,
This is one of those majestic, snow covered hills that every child and adult needs to experience at least once in their life.
From Redding you take CA-​44E for about 45 miles. And on the left (if you get there in the afternoon) you’ll see a parking lot on the left, jam packed full of cars. If you manage to park safely despite the children, dogs, and other motor vehicles, congratulations! That was the hardest part.
From here you trudge through the snow for about 40 yards, meandering your way through the pines. You then come to a clearing which looks something like a small native village. Families are hunkered around fire pits after a hard day of sledding, small tents are pitched at the outskirts of the trees, and there are people – lots of them.
Everyone is walking uphill on the left side of the clearing (tubes, sleds, boogie boards, and friends in tow), to the top of the hill. It takes a good 10 minutes to make the trek. At the top, you have about 100 yards of beautiful, snow-​touched downhill sledding.
Some people bring 8 of their friends and one giant inner tube (VERY entertaining to watch), others have those nifty little frisbee looking seats, some have the Costco du jour, some people haul butt down hill in nothing but a black trash bag, and yes, I have seen people drag full sized mattresses to the top of the hill. No matter what you bring, it will be fun…
That is, until you kill a kid. I don’t think it’s ever happened, but it’s inevitable that some poor child will be walking across the lower part of the hill, on his way to go eat a marshmallow, and a large, out-​of-​control inner tube – stacked with 5 very drunk college students – will come barreling over the poor child. It’s definitely one of those «remember when you broke your nose at Eskimo Hill?»
When you get tired of sledding, go wander off and build a snow-​man, or an ice igloo, or anything, you’re in the middle of nowhere, with tons of snow, and good company. 5 stars.