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Views that make you go, “Wow” (6/22/22)

Today, I’m going to try to not be as verbose and just let the photos speak for themselves. We had an awesome (especially for the hot temps) hike on the Crags Trail at Castle Crags State Park (about a 50 minute drive north of Redding). While, we had a challenging uphill hike, rewarded with great vistas, the hardest part of the day was the windy, narrow, partially one-laned drive through the park. Drives that make you go, whew!

On the way to the park, we stopped at a vista point just off Highway 5 for this pic.

Mount Shasta, a volcano with multiple cones, four of which have erupted. A fun fact in the parking lot noted that there is a 26-30% chance that it will erupt in a person’s lifetime.

From the vista point, we drove a few more miles into Castle Crag State Park. It was $8 for a day use pass. Very worth it! The trails we were on were clear and good signage throughout. After the challenging drive noted above to the Vista Point parking lot, we headed to the actual vista point for another quick view of Mount Shasta and the castle crag before starting our hike.

Starting up the trail — with my newly purchased, easily packable sun hat.
After about 1.25 miles up hill through the pines, we reached a clearing for these shots. Castle Crag pic 1.
Castle Crag Pic 2.
Castle Crag Pic 3.
View of surrounding area from the Indian Springs Trail which we took off of the Crag Trail.
Another vista from the Indian Springs Trail.
The majestic Mount Shasta.
A new growth photo from our descent.

A couple last fun facts about the park. The Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to Canada) runs through the park, and we crossed it on the Crag Trail. Also, as you ascend up the mountains, the state park ends and becomes the Castle Crags Wilderness and is part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Wow!

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