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Mount Shasta Wilderness
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Mount Shasta Wilderness
The Mount Shasta Wilderness is a 38,200-acre (155 km2; 59.7 mi2) federally designated wilderness area located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Mount Shasta City in northern California. The US Congress passed the 1984 California Wilderness Act that set aside the Mount Shasta Wilderness. The US Forest Service is the managing agency as the wilderness is within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The area is named for and is dominated by the Mount Shasta volcano which reaches a traditionally quoted height of 14,162 feet (4,317 m) above sea level, but official sources give values ranging from 14,104 feet (4,299 m) from one USGS project, to 14,179 feet (4,322 m) via the NOAA. Mount Shasta is one of only two peaks in the state over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) outside the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The other summit is White Mountain Peak in the Great Basin of east-central California.
The Wintun Glacier is located on Mount Shasta and is the lowest-elevation glacier in the state, lying at 9,100 feet (2,800 m) elevation and extending to the summit.
The smaller volcanic cone of Shastina (12,270 ft) lies one mile (1.6 km) west of Mount Shasta and was formed after the ice-age glaciers melted.
The wilderness protects both pristine forests and areas that were intensively logged and roaded in the past. Although less than half of the mountain remains roadless, Mount Shasta Wilderness is still the premier destination for a variety of activities from mountaineering, day-hiking, and backpacking to cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ski mountaineering. It is valued for the many scenic, geologic and recreational attributes including glaciers, lava flows, hot springs, waterfalls and forests of Shasta red fir, sugar pine and other conifers.
Being a high, solitary and very large mountain with a base diameter of 17 miles (27 km), Mount Shasta can create its own weather patterns which hikers must be aware of. Also, falling rocks are a major danger above timberline. The best time of year for hiking Mount Shasta is June and July, when routes are still snow-covered. Although there is no designated trail to the summit, many cross-country routes ascend to the mountaintop and all require experience in traversing ice and snow.
There are ten trailheads giving access to the wilderness and several short trails leading up the slopes of Mount Shasta with the so-called Shasta Summit Trail (or Avalanche Gulch) being the most popular. This trail, although the "easiest" of the routes, still requires the use of ice axe and crampons. There are four major glaciers and three smaller glaciers radiating from the summit in addition to lava flows on the northern flank composed of andesite and basalt.
A parking permit is required as well as a free wilderness permit and, if attempting a hike above 10,000 feet (3,000 m), a Summit Pass for each climber must be purchased. Human waste must be packed out, and all principles of Leave No Trace etiquette employed. Some restrictions include no dogs in the wilderness, a limit of 10 people in a group and no wood campfires.
Forested areas include pure stands of red fir as well as mixed conifer forests of white fir, Douglas-fir, sugar pine, incense cedar and at higher elevations, western white pine. The lava flows on the northeast flank have mountain mahogany and juniper. Underbrush consists of pinemat manzanita, greenleaf manzanita, tanoak, chinquapin, and snowbrush. From 8,000 feet (2,400 m) to timberline are krummholz forms of whitebark pine.
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Mount Shasta Wilderness
The Mount Shasta Wilderness is a 38,200-acre (155 km2; 59.7 mi2) federally designated wilderness area located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Mount Shasta City in northern California. The US Congress passed the 1984 California Wilderness Act that set aside the Mount Shasta Wilderness. The US Forest Service is the managing agency as the wilderness is within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The area is named for and is dominated by the Mount Shasta volcano which reaches a traditionally quoted height of 14,162 feet (4,317 m) above sea level, but official sources give values ranging from 14,104 feet (4,299 m) from one USGS project, to 14,179 feet (4,322 m) via the NOAA. Mount Shasta is one of only two peaks in the state over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) outside the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The other summit is White Mountain Peak in the Great Basin of east-central California.
The Wintun Glacier is located on Mount Shasta and is the lowest-elevation glacier in the state, lying at 9,100 feet (2,800 m) elevation and extending to the summit.
The smaller volcanic cone of Shastina (12,270 ft) lies one mile (1.6 km) west of Mount Shasta and was formed after the ice-age glaciers melted.
The wilderness protects both pristine forests and areas that were intensively logged and roaded in the past. Although less than half of the mountain remains roadless, Mount Shasta Wilderness is still the premier destination for a variety of activities from mountaineering, day-hiking, and backpacking to cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ski mountaineering. It is valued for the many scenic, geologic and recreational attributes including glaciers, lava flows, hot springs, waterfalls and forests of Shasta red fir, sugar pine and other conifers.
Being a high, solitary and very large mountain with a base diameter of 17 miles (27 km), Mount Shasta can create its own weather patterns which hikers must be aware of. Also, falling rocks are a major danger above timberline. The best time of year for hiking Mount Shasta is June and July, when routes are still snow-covered. Although there is no designated trail to the summit, many cross-country routes ascend to the mountaintop and all require experience in traversing ice and snow.
There are ten trailheads giving access to the wilderness and several short trails leading up the slopes of Mount Shasta with the so-called Shasta Summit Trail (or Avalanche Gulch) being the most popular. This trail, although the "easiest" of the routes, still requires the use of ice axe and crampons. There are four major glaciers and three smaller glaciers radiating from the summit in addition to lava flows on the northern flank composed of andesite and basalt.
A parking permit is required as well as a free wilderness permit and, if attempting a hike above 10,000 feet (3,000 m), a Summit Pass for each climber must be purchased. Human waste must be packed out, and all principles of Leave No Trace etiquette employed. Some restrictions include no dogs in the wilderness, a limit of 10 people in a group and no wood campfires.
Forested areas include pure stands of red fir as well as mixed conifer forests of white fir, Douglas-fir, sugar pine, incense cedar and at higher elevations, western white pine. The lava flows on the northeast flank have mountain mahogany and juniper. Underbrush consists of pinemat manzanita, greenleaf manzanita, tanoak, chinquapin, and snowbrush. From 8,000 feet (2,400 m) to timberline are krummholz forms of whitebark pine.
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