Drive home, Castle Crags hike

May 24, 2024

I drove away from the town of Burney at 8:20 AM after breakfast at the cafe. 10 miles down the road I turned into Burney Falls State Park. I was willing to pay the $10 entry fee to see the falls for 20 minutes. But the ranger told me that the falls trail is closed for the entire summer. So the only view of the falls is from the top. The best views are from the middle and bottom of the trail, so I elected not to pay the entry fee. No big deal because I have seen the falls several times before and will surely see it again. The trail will be rebuilt and the area at the bottom of the falls will be re-vegetated and have more railings added. Right now the area surrounding the plunge pool is literally loved to death by 350,000 visitors per year walking around freely.

I have driven and pedaled CA 89 multiple times and still thoroughly enjoy the mile after mile of Mt. Shasta views straight ahead between the tall pines. I'm sure the alignment was deliberate. I stopped in two places to take photos of Mt. Shasta while standing in the middle of the road.

10x telephoto view of distant Mt. Shasta from CA 89.

Closer view of Mt. Shasta, but only 4x telephoto.

I turned left at the sign for the Lower Falls of the McCloud river which I have never seen. That was a good consolation prize for not seeing Burney Falls. The lower falls is only 2 miles off CA 89. Someday I want to go back and drive or pedal the entire McCloud River loop which also goes to middle and upper falls on the McCloud river.

Lower Falls of the McCloud river near the town of McCloud.

While driving on CA 89 south of Mt. Shasta I didn't bother to stop at the signed scenic overlook. It had a good view of Mt. Shasta when I first stopped there in 1995. But growing trees significantly obstructed the view when I went back in 2017. The viewpoint has a big paved parking lot but isn't worth the stop until the trees to the north are clearcut once again.

The Mt. Shasta viewpoint had a good view in 1995.

The view was much more obstructed in 2017 and is worse now.

CA 89 connects to I-5 just south of Mt. Shasta city. To get home I simply drive north to my exit in Oregon. But I have a major diversion planned. I drove south 12 miles to the Castle Crags State Park exit, then another 2 miles to the Crags trailhead. Castle Crags is on my bucket list-I have never been there.

The park roads are a maze with poor signage, so it took me a while to find the trailhead. First I walked the short 1/4 mile trail uphill to the Scenic Vista which has decent views of the Crags and Mt. Shasta.

Peek a boo view of Mt. Shasta through the trees at the Castle Crags State Park scenic vista.

Partially obscured view of the crags from the scenic vista.

Back at the trailhead parking lot I walked around to find the Crags trailhead. It's the most popular trail, but hard to find among the signs for other less popular trails. The Crags trail is continuous uphill for 2.8 miles, climbing 2066 feet to the base of the crags.

First partial view of the Crags about halfway up the trail.

The weather is less stable than it had been in recent days. I can no longer take blue sky for granted. Today the sky was blue in the morning but clouds steadily grew in the afternoon, especially on the high peaks. I'm glad I hiked the trail before the clouds completely obscured the mountain views.

View of Mt. Shasta from the trail. Clouds are building.

The top half of the trail is extremely steep and rocky. No more walking on soil. It's hard work and it's easy to get hurt. When I took the photo below I thought I was near the top of the trail but the top is actually 500 feet higher still, about where the trees end on the left side of Castle Crag.

Castle Crag and distant Mt. Shasta. The trail ends about where trees end on the left side of the crag.

The bottom 2/3 of the trail has few views of the crags, but they get better at the top.

As expected, I could no longer see the summit of Mt. Shasta by the time I got to the top of the trail. It's still a good view, though.

The most interesting views are looking to the south and west at the Sacramento Valley, Trinity Alps, and the Castle Crags.

Wide view looking southwest. Sacramento river valley on the left. Trinity Alps on the right.

My highest and closest view of the Crags.

I was glad to finally get down to the bottom part of the trail where you walk on bare ground. Much less strenuous than going through the rocks.

The bottom half of the trail is an easy grade in the forest.

I was tired and hungry when I got back to the car. I didn't rest much during the steep 6 mile hike. I finished the hike in only 3 hours 15 minutes. My feet are sore now. My legs will be sore tomorrow and the next day. I hardly stopped to rest at all during the hike. But moving fast allowed me to see the more of the mountains before clouds took over.

I stopped for a late lunch in Dunsmuir which is 5 miles north of the park. It's a cute little resort town in a narrow canyon near the headwaters of the Sacramento river. It was a booming resort town before most people had air conditioning and before I-5 allowed travelers to rush by without stopping. AMTRAK trains still stop in Dunsmuir.

Two landmarks in Dunsmuir caught my attention. I like the California theater because the long name makes the vertical sign extremely tall.

I went around the block to have a closer look at St. John Catholic church. The design looks very "Alta California" even though Spain and Mexico had little presence in northernmost California.

After lunch I got back on I-5 and drove home with no other tourist stops. No reason to stop at the I-5 Mt. Shasta viewpoint because of the clouds. I arrived home at 6:48 PM. Not bad considering the long drive and the long hike. Today had a high of 77F in Medford, Oregon but it was cooler at the higher elevations at Castle Crags State Park.

It was a good day. I'm not mad that the Burney Falls trail was closed because I've seen it several times. I was glad to finally visit Castle Crags State Park for the first time. Definitely worth the short detour.

No cycling today, but I hiked 7 miles with 2200 feet of ascent.

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