FURTHER: A TRAVEL BLOG: Summer in the Mountains

Wild Tiger Lily

We have the good fortune to live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet; Mount Shasta. That being said, there is no better place I'd rather be in the summer. We usually spend our summers hiking, biking, river running, and kayaking and swimming the local lakes. This year in particular has been one of the finest in my memory. We had a very late spring with lots of precipitation which set the scene for great water play and wildflowers in the high mountain meadows. We have had the leisure to visit several this year and where normally there are tons of wildflowers, there are literally carpets of flowers stretching through vibrant green meadows. On one recent hike I counted about 15 varieties in one square meter of meadow.

Most of these meadows lead up to or are found between high mountain lakes. Our county is so sparsely populated that it is not unusual to have a lake all to oneself. We have had the time to visit over 20 of these lakes this year. What makes it especially memorable and exciting for us is when we can share these experiences with friends and family.

This year we met a group of six Spaniards who were visiting Mt Shasta and took them to one of our favorite places; Gray Rocks lake. On this hike we normally visit three lakes but this year because of all the water, there were three lakes and two sizable ponds. We were early enough in the season to also have some fun in the snow.

Paco takes the plunge

Jose Luis, Maria Angeles, Richard, Aurori, Judit, Paco and Bodhi above Gray Rocks Lake

Spaniards in the snow

Next up on our hiking agenda was a trip to Dead Fall Meadows. While the name is not particularly appealing, the meadows are outstanding. There are also five lakes to visit on this hike. We got to share this walk with Deb's cousin Doria and her husband Gordon who were on a whirlwind visit from Vermont.

Doria wades Dead Fall Creek

Doria and Gordon in the meadow at the base of Mt Eddy

Wild Columbine

The next day we visited Cliff Lakes. We stopped at three lakes on this hike.

Cliff Lake

Bridge over Cliff Creek

Later that day we went kayaking on Lake Siskiyou.

Doria and Gordon enjoy the view of Mt Shasta

The following week, my step-son, Chris, invited Deb and I on an overnight backpacking trip to Little Crater Lake. The drive to this lake is along a rugged dirt track on the edge of a very steep slope that faces Mt. Shasta. The views of the mountain and up into Little Shasta Valley and as far north into Oregon to Mt McLaughlin made it difficult to focus on the road so I stopped several times to admire the view. Our drive was capped by an encounter with a bear at the trailhead. Our adventurous new puppy, Bodhi, decided to chase the bear away but with repeated whistles and calls returned unscathed.

This lake is hard to find and has no trail so it is a rugged overland trip that requires boulder hopping and slogging through wet meadows. Couple this with climbing up and down two drainages and you have a quintessential back country experience. While not the prettiest lake, the adventure and rugged terrain ranks high on my list of the best treks around.

View of Mt Shasta and City from the un-trail

Deb's shadow portrait

Chris and Richard pick their way through the meadow

Wild!!! flowers

Little Crater Lake

Wild dog in flowers

More Wild!!! flowers

Richard and Chris pause for a photo

Flowers weren't the only wild thing on this hike

Richard and Chris pick their way down a steep boulder strewn slope

Camp at sunset

Richard, Bodhi and Chris are dog tired

The last trip we took was to Seven Lakes Basin which, as the name suggests, is a huge basin that contains seven lakes. We were accompanied by one of our neighbors on this hike. We started early in the day to beat the heat. Our early start gave us the time to visit all seven lakes which I had not done before. Between Echo Lake and a small unnamed lake we tramped through another beautiful meadow. After six hours of steady hiking we returned to the car for the trip home.