Mt. Shasta hiking trip - May 26-29
FRIDAY May 26
MY RETURN TO SHASTA
For the last 12 years or so, I’ve gone on an annual hiking trip with my buddy, Tom, and we’ve almost always done them over Memorial Day weekend, before kids get out of school, and while the weather is still cool. We try to really get out there for day hikes in very remote, “Squatchy” areas (areas or sites of reported Bigfoot sightings). Not just because we’re hoping to catch a glance of a Squatch, but also because we want to get way off the beaten path.
Here’s my blog post about last year’s trip to the Marble Mountains Wilderness Area, one of my favorite spots in Northern California. Even farther back, for one of these trips several years ago, we stayed in Weed. This tiny outpost is about 10 minutes north of Mt. Shasta, but we only explored the nearby mountain area.
This year, I decided to return to the area to explore the bountiful hikes in this region. Instead of staying in Weed, though, we’d stay the town of Shasta, so we could focus on the Castle Craggs wilderness area, southwest of Dunsmuir. Plus, the town of Shasta seemed like a cool place I wanted to get to know better, based on several pass-through visits. To prepare for this year’s four-day trip, I bought two separate guide books so we could really get out there for some remote hikes.
GUMBOOT LAKE
Rolled into Shasta late and went right to Gumboot Lake, which I wanted to check out because of a Bigfoot sighting in 2020. Normally you can drive right up to the lake on a paved road, but because of the snow, we had to stop at the same place a truck ahead of us could not get over, either.
We started talking to the would-be camper, Brennan, and the three of us decided to hike about 1.5 miles over the increasingly snowy road to the lake, which was beautiful at dusk. We took some photos and made it back to our vehicles well after dark, around 9:30 (fortunately I’d packed two flashlights). The scenery made this adventure totally worth it, and we made a new friend with a very interesting life story.
SATURDAY MAY 27
TAMARACK AND TWIN LAKES
We drove about 8 miles up a remote road but came upon a large tree across the road. We hiked about 2 miles and started to hit too much snow at that point, so we turned back. Aborted hike (4 miles total)! We regrouped and decided to try…
CALDWELL LAKES
We hiked over two miles in, and lost the trail to snow about halfway. So we had to bushwack our way up the lakes, roughly following the creek. After some tough hiking, we finally came upon the first two lakes, Lower and Middle Caldwell Lakes. This was pushing it for me in terms of taking a risk, but it would’ve been hard to get lost with the creek we were able to follow both up and back to catch the trail. The lakes were covered in snow and we didn’t see a single soul the whole way. It was totally worth it.
This was a remote trail, far off the beaten path or any main roads—the way we like it. We only saw one couple on this trail, but they had turned around at the creek about 1.25 miles in. We had to climb up that spot along the creek quite a bit to cross, but we did it. I was determined to get to the destination after having been thwarted in the morning. Great adventure! I’d do this one again.
SUNDAY MAY 28
BURSTARSE FALLS
This trailhead/parking lot was a relatively short drive from Shasta (about 30 minutes). Hiked 6.2 miles total, up and back out. On the way up, we overshot the short scramble upstream to the falls, and continued along the PCT by a quarter-mile or so. We went back to the falls on the main trail and found the scramble “trail” upstream, then found the falls. Beautiful spot and totally worth it.
The hike itself was a tough climb at first, then fairly gradual and relatively easy. Hot mid-day, no snow. This was the only hike where we ran into a good deal of people—predictable since it’s relatively close to Castle Craggs State Park and not too far off Highway 5.
SHASTA HIKING BOOKS
I got these hiking ideas from two great books covering the Shasta region: One by John Soares (thank you for the emails and tips!), and another by Bubba Suess. I highly recommend them both.
WE’LL BE BACK!
This trip was only 4 days long (two days of driving), but I’d definitely like to come back to the area when there’s a little less snow. I’d like to hit some of the longer and more remote hikes I’d researched before coming up here. But we did love the town of Shasta, including the people, food, and majestic, mystical mountain looming over the whole scene. I’d like to give a shout-out to the Pipeline restaurant – so good we ate there thrice. And the Gold Room Saloon across from our hotel. Fun times!
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Thanks for reading about my hiking adventures.
