We’d set out on a hiking roadtrip this August with the express purpose of summiting Mount Lassen in California, only to find that the summit trail was closed for the season due to maintenance. Note to self: Call the Park before driving for six hours. After consulting our collection of guidebooks, we decided that hiking Mount Eddy [Hike #95 in Sullivan’s Southern Oregon and Northern California hiking guide (Fourth Edition)] would be an entirely acceptable Plan B . It proved to be an excellent choice, with all of the features Sullivan promises.
The Forest Road 17 is paved and well maintained and there was ample parking at the Deadfall Meadows Trailhead {This was the only time we used this trailhead; we switched to the higher Parks Creek Trailhead on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for all our subsequent hikes of Mount Eddy.}.
The trail starts by traversing across a large meadow, with a few minor stream crossings. There were still several species of flowers in bloom but, surprisingly, no biting insects!
It then climbs gradually through more meadows higher up,
crosses the PCT, and continues on up now as the Sisson-Callahan Trail, past “Middle Deadfall Lake” (Lake 7259),
past “Middle Deadfall Lake” (Lake 7743),
to “Upper Deadfall Lake” (Lake 7259), just below the summit of Mount Eddy. From this vantage point, it looked to us as though the trail was heading straight up the ridge to the right.
In a way it was, but first we ascended gently to a pass, then turned left off the Sisson-Callhan Trail on to the summit trail, where are a series of switchbacks took us pretty easily to the summit. From there we got the really big view of Mount Shasta just across the valley.
I’ve climbed Shasta twice but this provided a whole new perspective on what is simply a physically massive peak. The old summit lookout shown in Sullivan’s book is no longer intact – only a few collapsed and twisted boards remain. From Eddy’s summit, we got a nice view down the Deadfall Lakes drainage, including views of some lakes not visible from the trail.
We were able to see Mount McLoughlin to the north in Oregon and Mount Lassen to the south, unfortunately shrouded in smoke from nearby wildfires. Even if Lassen’s summit trail had been open, we weren’t sure that hiking up it through clouds of smoke would have been any big treat.
With it’s combination of meadows, streams, lakes, and views, our hike up Mount Eddy was a real treat and more than ample compensation for missing Lassen this season. We’d highly recommend it if you want a fun hike outside of Oregon.
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