Castle Lake to Castle Arch

This hike was shown to us last year by the Siskiyou Wanderers. I repeated it with friends a few weeks later to see if I could remember the way so I could lead the group there again. We had 5 hikers head south to Mt. Shasta City and begin our hike at the parking lot for Castle Lake. We had a beautiful blue sky and very little wind.

This trail climbs right from the start enabling us to get some good views of Castle Lake and Black Butte. Eventually Mt Shasta comes into view.

We headed up approximately 1 mile to turn left on the Castle View Trail. After hiking up more, we could see the Castle Crags. This is the backside of when we hike to Sabin’s Point. The next part of the hike is picking a path along the Cast View Trail to connect up with the PCT. From there, we hike southeast on the PCT to a camp spot. Here is where Scott decided to not continue with the group and remain on the PCT. We kept in contact with our walkie talkies with the plan to meet back up at the camp spot.

Now is when the fun begins. We made our way up without any defined path, climbing around dirt, rocks and manzanita. Once we got to a place that looked familiar, we headed below the crags. After almost making it to below the arch, Sherry decided to stop and not continue on. This is a hard hike and keeping your balance as you go off trail can be exhausting. Leslie, Steve and I continued up to the Castle Arch and had our lunch with a perfect view of Mt. Shasta.

Before we headed back down, I contacted Scott to let him know we were on the way and he started heading back to the camp spot. We connected back with Sherry and then made our way back around the rocks and boulders with the steep drop off below us. Once we got back to the camp area our pace picked up. We met with Scott and then continued back along the PCT. Climbing back up the Castle View Trail was hot and we took our time. This was the first time we saw others on the trail.

We then continued back to the main Castle Lake trail. From there, we turned left and went up to Heart Lake. There were many people there enjoying the lake and the views. I took a trail all the way around the lake and connected back with the group and then we all headed back to the car.

Hike Leader: Francie

Photos By: Francie