Name: Mt. Shasta Views
Placed by: Eliza B./Moderngypsy
date placed: 06/28/02
nearest town: Mt. Shasta City, CA, USA
location: Mt. Shasta, CA
county: Siskiyou
 
difficulty: difficult clues, difficult climb, very worth it.
cautions: BE CAREFUL. People die on this mountain. Respect the weather.

NOTE:
Please check this site for avalanche/climbing information before you attempt this box. Chances are that it'll only be available in the summer months (july - october), and even then, may be a dangerous climb. Please be careful, take water, and know your limits.

Avalanche Information

You will be coming a hair's-breadth from the 10K foot marker that separates the passless dayhikers from the $15 passholding mountain-climbers. (You'll be at roughly 9700 feet. Plan for high altitude, please. Did I mention bringing water? It bears mentioning again. BRING WATER. The sun is hot when there's little atmosphere between you and it.)

DIRECTIONS:
Take I-5 to the Mt. Shasta exit and go straight through town to the Everitt Memorial Highway. You'll be going straight up the mountain past Bunny Flat.

Bunny Flat can be approached year round via the Everitt Memorial Highway (county road A10) from the town of Mount Shasta. Sand Flat is near Bunny Flat and is approached by a side road (41N57) from the highway.

Continue through the Flat for another few winding miles until you get to the parking area at the end of the road. (If you're at Panther Meadows, you're not far enough. Keep going.) Park in the lot and dodge around all the guided climbers getting ready to go to the summit. You can go to the edge of the picnic area and get some great 360-degree photos of the whole area on a clear day, too.

At the far end of the lot is the trailhead. If you're going to be messing around for too long, I'd suggest paying the $15, just in case you get above the 10K marker and need a rescue or anything. No special equipment beyond hiking boots and your logbook/stamp/stamp pad combo is needed for this box, but it's still a good idea to let people know you're going, just for safety's sake.

CLUES:
Follow the trail up through the avalanche gulch and veer slightly to the right to scramble over some rocks to a rather large clearing. (About 1K feet up from the lot.) From here, you can see another mountain in the distance, over the Shastina saddle. Climb further up, following the ridge that looks like it might lead you over that saddle.

Eventually, if you keep going up along this ridge and above a snowfield, you'll be higher than the saddle. This is good. You want to be.

Take a survey of the ridge. See how it angles up along the side of the mountain toward the lowest (and probably snowless) rounded peak at the closest side? Follow the line with your eyes down from the top. See where it levels off after a particularly steep patch? Go there. It's up a pretty steep rocky scramble.

When you get there, sit down and enjoy the view. It's amazing. You're nearly at the top of green butte, and you're almost at the 10K marker. Look around to find three bushes that form a circle/triangle around a boulder that's larger than all the others here. On the far end (closest to the ridge's dropoff, but still well within that circle and far from the edge -- I'm a little scared of heights. :>) is a hole at the base of the boulder that's covered up with some smaller stones and some twigs.

In that hole is the box!

If you're having trouble, or you anticipate having some trouble with this box location, I do have some photos available as soon as I can get them uploaded. Feel free to go in blind until then - the hike is well worth it for the views alone, much less the stamp. :)

PLEASE USE CAUTION. During winter months, this box may be inaccessable. It is also an orphan -- I doubt I'll see it much. Please email me at iqzine (at) moderngypsy.com if you find it. :)

Have fun, be safe, and box on! :)

please also see the letterboxing USA site for all the regular disclaimers and waivers that you assume when you decide to go out looking for boxes. (blah blah blah, legalese saying that you know it's your own fault if you get bit by stuff, fall off a cliff, or if things aren't where they're supposed to be. That kind of thing.)