This helped me a lot in my life growing up. The place was Shasta Springs, California and the boys who were the cast of the show I was in in real life were from all over the world especially from the United States and Canada visiting a church summer camp for either a few weeks or all summer long depending upon the boy.
We walked the train tracks from Shasta Springs to Mosspray Falls closer to Dunsmuir. Some of us (not me) hitched a ride on the freight trains heading north. I talked to friend I have known since 1955 that I met there at Shasta Springs who is 81 years old now as I turned 78. He said he took the freights as far north as Canterra Loop where all the Metam Sodium Spilled on the loop around 1992. However, this was all in the 1950s he did this when he was likely under 14 or 15. He is still in the Saint Germain Foundation after all these years too along with his wife.
It was a strange time the 1950s people were still reeling a bit from World War II when I look back upon it now. People thought nothing of letting loose boys without any adult supervision at all upon Shasta Springs or all the trails then. Did anyone really know where we all were? Probably not. They just believed we were all together somewhere taking care of each other which was usually true (somewhat).
What we all had in common was we loved the wilderness there on the around 2000 acres of trees of Shasta Springs as well as the trail that zig zagged down to the Sacramento Riveear and the Train tracks connecting Mt. Shasta city to Dunsmuir.
I remember one time my 13 year old cousin from seattle was there and it was just the two of us rolling boulders down the steep hill from Shasta Springs to the Sacramento River and the Train tracks.
Why did we do this? We were boys and I was 8 years old with my wild 13 year old Cousin then. We might do almost anything because it was the 1950s then. So I was 8 in 1956.
Well. As we scrambled down the long long hill towards the Train Tracks we finally noticed that a 4 foot high boulder had lodged on the train tracks. I was 8 so I began to cry because I didn't want to be responsible for a whole freight train to derail and go into the river. We desperately tried to move that 4 foot high boulder lodged on the train tracks to no avail. We just weren't strong enough the two of us!
Finally, my cousin found a discarded railroad tie (wood) and we were finally able to budge this thing into the Sacramento River. It's likely still there in the Sacramento River below Shasta Springs still today all these years later.
About this time the freight train came down from Mt. Shasta towards Dunsmuir and I was still crying or better said " I was trying Not to cry anymore" and we waved at the engineer going past us of the train who likely wondered why we were there and waving to him at all.
So, all's well that ends well.
Then there is a bridge across the river about where Mosspray falls which is accessible ONLY by walking either up or down the railroad tracks depending upon where you start from. Friends of mine including my friend from 1955 and other friends from Mt. Shasta walked through Shasta Springs down to this Beautiful Falls recently I believe too.
Well this railroad bridge next to the falls has an upper structure held together with rivets or bolts that rises above the train tracks about 50 or 60 feet. We used to climb up the rigging on the bolts while holding onto the metal and then stand on top of this structure while freight trains shook the bridge under us. This is just the kind of thing that 1950s boys would do.
Then one year one of the boys brought about $100 worth of Fireworks primarily firecrackers and Cherry Bombs (sometimes called m80s). Now firecrackers are less likely to blow off your fingers but those cherry bombs would definitely take off your fingers and were really loud too. So, as we walked down the trail (once again without ANY adult supervision we were setting off firecrackers and cherry bombs and blowing cans and coffee cans up into the air like I saw monks do with M80 cherry bombs at a Tibetan Monastery in Rewalsar India in 1986 for Tibetan New Years then.
So, I have this funny memory of Shasta Springs and M80s and firecrackers and M80s and a Tibetan Monastery in Rewalsar India too.
:)
Here is more about the movie Stand By me(1986) that I remember living in real life from 1953 to around 1960 when I was 12. However, by age 15 I had discovered girls so this added a whole new layer of reality to all of this too when girls from all over the country including Canada came and hung out with us boys at a church camp in Shasta Springs, California. And once again we usually weren't supervised either. This is just how things were more in the 1950s.
Looking back I see just how different my life was from most kids today. We had much more freedom than most kids do today to do almost anything we wanted to at places like this that were more remote from the world and prying eyes of the general public.
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