Mount Shasta – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Lake Siskiyou Loop (Mount Shasta, CA) 22-Jul-2021

2021-07-222021-07-23Posted in Hiking, Northern OregonTagged Caldera Brewing Company, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lake Siskiyou California, Mount Shasta, Northern California, Sacramento River4 Comments

For our third and last hike in the Mount Shasta area, we needed something scenic but not hard. No big elevation gains or ceaseless ups and downs. While exploring our options, we came across the loop trail around Lake Siskiyou (“Lake Sis”), which is just west of Mount Shasta. At just under 7 miles (11 km), with no appreciable changes in elevation, it was ideal for our purposes (and our diminished leg muscles). The LovedOne had determined (after extensive calculations) that, if we got started early enough and hiked energetically enough, we could reach Ashland in time for lunch at Caldera Brewing. Another pure genius moment on The LovedOne’s part. 😁

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Boulder Peak (Trinity Divide, CA) 20-Jul-2021

2021-07-202021-07-23Posted in Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged Boulder Peak, Day Hiking, Gumboot Trailhead California, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Northern California, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Shasta-Trinity National Forest4 Comments

There were a few hikes we wanted to do west of Mount Shasta, California. Rather than spend hours driving back and forth to individual hikes, we basecamped in a hotel (as even tough and stupid has its limits) in Mount Shasta and did three different hikes from there. Not only did this avoid a lot of driving, it also meant that we could arrive at the respective trailheads way early – in the cool of the morning – without having to roll out at o-dark-thirty. These early starts also got us back to town before the day really heated-up. We were also fortunate that this trip coincided with a brief cooling spell (90°F (32°C) versus 105°F (40°C)) and a wind shift that blew the wildfire smoke eastward (sorry North Dakota 😯), giving us almost clear skies. So something of bright spot in an otherwise trying summer. Not to mention us not having to eat my cooking for a few days. 😉

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Backdoor to Rhyolite Ridge (Soda Mountain Wilderness) 09-Apr-2021

2021-04-092021-04-25Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Caldera Brewing Company, Day Hiking, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Pilot Rock Oregon, Rhyolite Ridge Oregon, Soda Mountain Wilderness, Southern Oregon4 Comments

Rhyolite Ridge is a bench that curves around below Point 5401 (“Rhyolite Point”) on the western edge of the Soda Mountain Wilderness. We first learned of it from William Sullivan’s Southern Oregon hiking guides. It’s a short diversion, on what was is now a much faded old ranch road, from the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Going out to it gives you sweeping views of the peaks (most notably Mount Shasta) and valleys to the south. Its south-facing aspect also encourages early season emergence of some unique wildflowers such as the Dwarf Hesperochiron and Yellow Fritillary. We’ve hiked out to the Ridge several times from the PCT, as have others judging from how a single-track has now formed in the old road.

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South Gate Meadows (Mount Shasta Wilderness) 22-Jul-2020

2020-07-222020-07-25Posted in California Wilderness Areas, Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged Day Hiking, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Mount Shasta Trail Association, Mount Shasta Wilderness, Northern California, Panther Meadow California, South Gate Meadows California7 Comments

We were originally alerted to South Gate Meadows by the Ashland Hiking Group and got the details from Hike Mt. Shasta. Older maps will show the springs in the meadow feeding Squaw Valley Creek, but that pejorative name has now been struck from Forest Service maps. We’d had a wonderful clear day on the east side of Shasta the day before and expected to have a similar one here on the west side today. We arose, however, from the embrace of Morpheus to find the sun an incandescent orange orb in a sky infused with orange-brown smoke from wildfires burning to the south and east. We drove up to the Panther Meadow Trailhead (at 7,400 feet / 2,255 m) hoping to get above the smoke. No luck. The whole place smelled like an old campfire. But there was a certain strange beauty in what the smoke was doing to the color of the light and to our views of the mountain, so we pressed on. I suppose that’s an upside to getting old – you just get on with it because you’re not quite sure you’ll get another chance.

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Brewer Creek (Mount Shasta Wilderness) 21-Jul-2020

2020-07-212020-07-24Posted in California Wilderness Areas, Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged Brewer Creek California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Mount Shasta Wilderness, Northern California4 Comments

For our second foray in the Mount Shasta area, we once again relied on Hike Mt. Shasta to point us toward something interesting – in this case, the Brewer Creek Trail on Shasta’s east side. The promise (fulfilled!) of staggering glacier views was just too much to pass up. Getting to the Brewer Creek Trailhead entailed driving all the way around the mountain on a combination of paved, good gravel, and almost 4×4 dirt roads. The last three miles on long rutted switchbacks were particularly interesting. We arrived at the trailhead to find a pit toilet (with TP!), a kiosk, and various permit boxes. The free wilderness permit was self-issue and since we weren’t going above 10,000 feet (3,050 m), we didn’t need a $25 summit permit. The fact that this is a popular climber’s trailhead did lead us into doing a little unplanned cross-country travel.

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Kangaroo & Bull (Klamath National Forest) 20-Jul-2020

2020-07-202020-07-24Posted in Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged Bull Lake California, Day Hiking, Fen Nature Trail California, Hiking, Kangaroo Lake California, Klamath National Forest, Mount Shasta, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT3 Comments

Remember business travel? How it was a necessary chore but one that now we (maybe) long for? The upside of those days was an accumulated a pile of hotel reward points that we planned to squander on some BIG TRIP of our own choosing. But, alas, no. 😦 So we spent some on our trip to the Oregon Coast in mid-June and the rest on a just completed multi-day trip to Northern California. But that’s only two hours from home you say! Yes, but we wanted to do a few hikes in and around Mount Shasta and didn’t want to spend four hours per hike commuting. So we made a surgically clean hotel room our basecamp for a few days. Which was good because the soaring afternoon temperatures made it really nice to have some A/C (and a shower). California has slipped back to only take-out or outdoor seating at restaurants, so we had some nice meals outdoors – just like camping but the cooking was way better. 🙂 There were other tourists around but not nearly as many as in a “normal” year, so it didn’t hurt that we were there to pump a little money into the local economy.

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Boccard Point (Soda Mountain Wilderness) 11-Aug-2019

2019-08-112022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Boccard Point Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Pilot Rock Oregon, Soda Mountain Wilderness, Southern Oregon2 Comments

Well, the big thunderstorms came and went, leaving behind some much needed rain and (thankfully) no big wildfires. We thought to capitalize on the cool, but clearing, weather that followed the storm by hiking out to Boccard Point in the Soda Mountain Wilderness. If the sky cooperates, big views of Mount Shasta to the south can be had from there. Plus, we hadn’t been to the point together since 2016 and then it was snowing!

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Goosenest (Klamath National Forest) 07-Oct-2018

2018-10-072022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged California, Day Hiking, Geocaching, Goosenest, Hiking, Klamath National Forest, Mount Shasta, Northern California, Weed California

Goosenest Mount Shasta Northern California

Tricky drive; short hike; spectacular views. Goosenest (8,280 feet) is an extinct (hopefully) shield volcano with a cinder cone on top, resembling a goose’s nest (actually it looks more like an albatross nest, but those aren’t that common in Northern California). It sits just north of Mount Shasta and affords amazing views of the north side of that peak and a 360º view across much of Northern California. The hike to these views is short (3.3 miles total – if you circle the crater) on a well-graded, well-maintained trail plus an obvious use trail. It even has an official trailhead with a sign and an information board. The trick is finding that trailhead, as we would discover as we followed conflicting (and sometimes incorrect) driving directions to (eventually) reach it.

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