Mount Shasta

Over Labor Day weekend I decided to drive south to California and see Mount Shasta and Lake Shasta. I am only 30 miles from the California border and Mt Shasta is another 70 miles approximately. There is still a huge fire burning (now 22,000 acres) in northern CA so it was quite smokey the further south I went but miraculously Mount Shasta was visable and I was able to get some good photos. I drove up to the parking lot where hikers who have permits (required for the hike above 10,000 feet) usually get started. It was a pretty drive from the town of Shasta up the road about 12 miles to the parking lot.

 

I drove another 75 miles south to see Lake Shasta, I thought it would be closer to Mount Shasta but I was wrong. I had planned to go swimming but there really wasn't any type of beach area to do that. It was very rocky and not a nice beach area at all. It was over a 100 degrees there and when I left Jacksonville it was only 85 degrees so it would have been really nice to swim - I was quite disappointed. So far in my adventure this is my first real disappointment about any place I've visited. I don't think I'll be going back to Shasta Lake anytime soon unless I'm staying on a house boat (they have a lot of boats on the lake).  I was not impressed with any of the towns I passed through in northern CA either. I'm definitely glad to be back in Oregon and I think I'll stick to exploring this state for now.