Best Trails near Mount Shasta, California

Pretty amazing excursion to say the least. The key thing to summit is proper training beforehand. The hard work will pay off!

Never actually found the trail. Signage in the Bunny Flat area is really poor. We ended up on one of the climber routes headed to the summit and after a couple miles figured out we were way off track. But the climber route was pretty nice (although very steep in spots).

Worth the hike! Gorgeous view for Mt. Shasta and lake Castle.

Very dry, dusty hike on a wide, dirt road with limited views of Shasta or anything else. Not recommended. There’s much better hiking nearby.

Nice views in few parts of the hike. Doing the entire loop is kind of boring. Great views of Mt Shasta in a few parts.

This hike is absolutely gorgeous - and not too difficult. It’s fairly steep, but short. And I really didn’t find it as difficult to navigate. It’s not incredibly well marked, but if you read a few descriptions and stay generally heading south, you’ll find the lake! We went on a very hot Sunday (go early; it’s not very shaded as others have noted) and it was pretty popular but not crowded.. The views from Heart Lake are spectacular!

Nice walk if you only have a few minutes and want to see the headwaters, but if you have a little time, do yourself a favor and head up Everitt Memorial to either the Gateway trails or farther up the mountain for some much nicer hikes. Spring Hill right across the street is also nice, but all uphill (and downhill on the way back).

I was excited about this new trail that parallels the road, winding through forest, but quickly realized there are much nicer hikes through this area. The hike is sort of dusty and rough at this point; about 1.5 miles in I decided to head back to the car and up to Old Ski Bowl to do one of the hikes up there (Panther Meadows and/or Southgate Meadows - grey butte is also nice), which are much nicer.

Poorly marked; lots of off-trail hiking in the snow (not this year) made this a rather difficult hike. I didn’t mind much tho, the views made up for it. Had Heart Lake all to myself.

Absolutely amazing experience. Standard Avalanche Gulch route, rather late in the 2018 season (July 6th-7th). In retrospect, worth doing earlier for more snow on the approach, which was instead a lot of scree.

Additional reason for doing earlier is the hazardous rock fall danger. In fact, rock traveling ‘warp-speed’ split my roommate and I (we were no more than 10’ apart) on the gulch ascent (3am start) from Helen Lake to the Red Banks. Made for an extremely unnerving remaining ~1k’ up past the Heart. Apparently better to get later start (~4am) this late in the season re: rock fall + wind.

After the Red Banks (steep) chimney, and magical sunrise Shasta shadow to the south, Misery Hill was indeed a slog, all scree at this point.

Final push on summit plateau was inspiring, only ~250’ of elevation remaining to the summit. *Make sure to get updated forecast (storms/wind) and worth bringing an anemometer, as we were surprised with near 50 mph winds while summiting (8:15am). Ideally less than ~40mph at the top, as we barely felt comfortable getting to the register.

All in all, an incredible introduction to mountaineering. We went unguided after much research and planning, but benefited from linking up with 2 other small groups. Fun Glissade on the way down. Total RT time from Helen up and back was ~8 hours, but included some leisurely breaks. Crampons and axe almost certainly required.

While others are a priority now, definitely would revisit Shasta in the future, potentially on more technical routes with some more experience. 9/10, only due to rockfall moment and the scree.

this is really an incredible hike. It's not that difficult I would say easy to moderate but some may disagree as there are rocks you have to walk over at times and a slight incline parts of the time. The biggest Beast was actually trying to navigate my way there as I was hiking alone. As other people have said in their reviews it's not a well-marked trail but thankfully I ran into some people and we made it to Heart Lake. It is absolutely stunning with Mount Shasta in the background. Highly recommend this hike. Also be adventurous and hike up the rocks on both sides of the lake so that you can get better views.

also note the trailhead is not the one to the right of the parking lot that is right by the lake there it's all the way at the end of the parking lot if you keep going straight and walk through a line of boulders that almost look like it's blocking off the path that you actually walk in between big rocks and you'll eventually get to a stream that you walk over when you hit that you know you're starting to head in the right direction. But it's about three-quarters of a mile into the trip where the path is not well marked and I wish I could help you navigate it but it's nearly impossible to describe. Oh and by the way the last seven miles of driving to get to the trailhead or absolutely beautiful winding roads.

Beautiful afternoon walk around the lake,wasn’t hot,had a light breeze that made it very comfortable for the 7 mile workout

Great hike with stunning views. VERY steep and rocky at times and pretty hairy. Watch where you step :)

Climbed yesterday ... It looks like 2 day climbs are popular on weekends (camp on Saturday, summit on Sunday) but a lot of people who summited on Saturday chose a one day option.

As opposed to regular hiking, this route requires you to use crampons, ice axe and helmet.

Glissading is the best way to get down!

Challenging hike for sure. We started at Bunny Flats and made it to Hellen Lake campground, but couldn't go any further without a helmet, ice pick, and cramps.

Oh man this is a site to see! Mt Shasta is one of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. She rises above and can be seen from miles away. Went up the second weekend in June and the forecast was not looking great (95 mph wind gusts at Lake Helen) but after chatting with the folks at Fifth Season, we decided Shasta always has a mind of her own. Was pretty cloudy the drive up the 5 and we couldn't see Shasta until about half an hour away. When we first got to Bunny flat, there was a nice lenticular cloud obscuring her summit, the aliens were landing! We started the trek up in full gear which was pretty damn warm. It started cooling off at about Horse Camp and some snow flurries settled in. The hike up to Lake Helen gave me a run for my money. I'm a pretty avid hiker but this was my first alpine summit attempt and damn I need to work on my endurance. We didn't encounter snow until probably half a mile before Lake Helen so it was all scree scrambling which drains your energy fast. Once we hit snow it was a little better but as the pitch increased it was hard to get good footing on soft snow. I had the old plastic shell Scarpas and they did a number on my shins and every step I wished that I had brought trekking poles. Once we reached Lake Helen the winds picked up and temps were dropping. Got pretty cold at night, dropping down to maybe 17 F. Heard some climbers head out at 2:30 am but with the cold we decided the snow would be okay a little later. I decided to hold off on a summit attempt as my boots were giving me too much trouble so I wasn't trusting my footing. The two others in my group made a summit attempt but clouds set in densely about 3/4 to Red Bluffs and winds were gusting at about 50 mph, so most climbers descended. Definitely will be heading back next spring with more preparation!

Amazing view

Went to hike the Grey Butte and Panther Meadows Trail in June 2018.
Google Maps sent us on the wrong road and we ended up on a logging road of pretty off-road-like conditions. Do not use the entrance via the Shasta Ski Park HWY. Take A-10 from Mt.Shasta City.
This road was closed about 2 1/2 miles before the trail entry.
The hike was beautiful leading through green meadows with spring water run off, trees and climbing up above the tree-line including a breathtaking view of Mt.Shasta and the surrounding distant mountains.
The terrain looked almost out of this world with patches of snow and beautiful wild flowers.
The trail’s signage is not the best, you have to look for rock markers to help you find the trail on occasion.
We saw only three pairs of hikers on this loop on a Tuesday afternoon.

Lovely views and little development. The trail is easy to follow yet offers several short spurs down closer to the water. Great walk if you’re looking to avoid elevation!

Great hike. I followed the directions below this post which were very helpful. when driving look for castle lake and turn left. On the trail make sure you go about a quarter mile past the ruins and go left.

Fantastic trail! Great views, well maintained. Bridges installed today, though not in time for me; had to wade across while trail crew was working on bridge installation.

Half of it is incline. Great short hike with great views.

no bridge yet, but possible rock hopping

Beautiful views of mount Shasta and on a clear day you can see mount hood!

Beautiful views but difficult to follow trail

I got within 1/2 mi. of the lake this weekend before the snow got too deep. we followed the stream on foot up to the lake from there. The lake is currently frozen over with the edges starting to melt. the drive up is easy in 2wd, only time I put it in 4wd was near the summit when the snow started. I had to clear a few small boulders and fallen branches from the path along the way.

Climbed this bad boy overnight on May 27th to the 28th. Started at Bunny Flats at about 11:15pm, which was actually a bit too early, wish I would have started a bit later. I hit Lake Helen at about 1:45am but wasn't exactly sure the path I should follow up through Red Banks, so I kinda just found a place to lay down until campers started to wake up. Began the ascent through Red Banks at about 2:30am and my god it was tough, just seemingly endless. Made it to thumb rock right as the sun was rising, and it was sa-weet. Everything after that was tough, but no where near as hard as the section from Helen through Red Banks. Summited around 7am and was back at my car by noon.

A few points that I will explain that I was wondering before my hike. Things were very steep through Red Banks but never steep to the point that I felt unsafe; if you have crampons and an ice axe it's totally fine. You don't actually see the summit until you're basically there, so never assume that what you're looking at is the final prize. Hiking through the night was actually super ideal, great full moon made it so that I didn't have to use my headlamp, and was nice to have hard ice during the hike.

Everything was awesome, I highly recommend. I also beer bonged a bud light at the top, and surprisingly, helped ease my nerves on the descent.

We had 6 adults and 8 children. 6 of the 8 kids were under the age of 8. It’s a little over a mile each way. It isn’t a great trail at all. The second half I think is more erosion from run off than it is a trail at all. It was a little confusing as to where to go because of the lack of defined trails and the many areas water had run before. I would visit castle lake again but this hike wouldn’t be on my list. Oh, don’t forget your bug spray.

Great hike, moderate to hard. We started towards the right of the lake where the trail head sign is but got to the dead end, so go left to get to Heart lake! Wear good shoes with ankle support because a lot of the rocks are shaky. Trails are not really marked but we found our way by watching other hikers and using the map on this app. The last climb to the top is pretty scary at the end, so beware if you’re at all scared of heights. Views are worth it though! Will return even to find a quiet cove on the lake. Suggest starting early in the summer months so you’re back by noon or so, not a lot of shade.