As far as outdoor recreation goes, Applegate Lake is low-hanging fruit. It is accessible year-round, and you can drive right up to the reservoir's shores.

A lot of hikers have a hard time taking the plunge into overnight backpacking. Backpacking is dirty. Lugging extra overnight gear is tough. Cooking options are limited, and the uncertainties of spending a night in the woods are many.

The Collings Mountain trail at Applegate Lake may be best known for the infamous Bigfoot trap found at its lower reaches. But this six-mile, moderate-to-difficult hike has a lot more to offer, including huge views of the Siskiyou crest.

What would you do if you won a load of money?

If you're yearning to hit a trail and maybe get some views without strapping on skis or snowshoes, you'll need to stick with low-elevation trails this time of year, and the Applegate Lake area can fill the bill.

Behind its historic enclave, trendy restaurants and quaint storefronts, Jacksonville is endowed with a wild side, including 18 miles of connecting interpretive and recreational trails in the 320-acre Jacksonville Woodlands, and the 1,100-acre Forest Park, with 15 miles of vistas, hiking trails, creeks, the town's old reservoir, interpretive markers and remnants of old gold mines.

According to fossil records, redwood forests once were plentifully strewn across the world. But over geologic time, what once was a world empire shrank into a 450-mile-long strip along the California coast — the redwood belt.

Ashland's Oredson-Todd Woods and Siskiyou Mountain Park trails cover more than 271 acres combined. No, the area is not wild, primitive and unconfined; it is a park. And yes, you are going to see people, especially on sunny weekends. But the Oredson-Todd Woods are fun, and getting lost in them is very much worth a few hours.

The turkey wasn't the problem, though the gravy it floated in might have played a part. And the second piece of pumpkin pie wouldn't have caused a disturbance if it wasn't for the third dollop of whipped cream, which didn't sit well with the fourth deviled egg. Don't even think about all the butter in those mashed potatoes.

If you've spent any time in the Illinois Valley area, you've noticed that the landscape looks much different than the coastal mountains to the north or the Cascades to the east.