Mount Shasta, CA and Crater Lake, OR

Preface

My friend and I planned to go to Mt. Shasta and Crater Lake for a weekend with our families. At the last minute, however, his daughter showed signs of fever and they had to cancel the trip. Fortunately, we have booked the SUV directly at Fox rent a car, so we didn't pay any penalty for cancellation.

July 25, 2009

I got up around 4.45am and got ready for the trip. As usual, Vidhya got up even earlier to prepare lunch and dinner for us. We packed all the stuff in our car and went to my friend's place to pick up the breakfast. Yes, my friend's wife had prepared breakfast for all of us, as per our original plan. Traffic was low to moderate in the morning and I cruised around 75 - 80 miles/hour. Vidhya and Kirti was able to catch up some sleep. Around 8.45am, we reached Willows and took a break for breakfast and fill gas. The veggie wrap was delicious. We continued our journey and reached Sundial Bridge in Redding around 10:30am. We spent quite some time there. Kirti enjoyed playing with pebbles in the Sacramento river.

Next, we went to Shastha Dam vicinity. First, we went to the vista point where we got the view of "three shastas:" Mount Shasta, Lake Shasta and Shasta Dam. Then, we went and registered for the Shasta Dam tour at 1pm. We strolled on the dam to be on time for the tour and had nice view of the dam and lake. Shasta dam is the second largest dam (by volume of concrete used to build the dam) in the country. (Grand Coulee on Columbia river is the largest dam in the US.) Dam tour was nice and informative. Moreover, it was pleasant (cool) inside the dam, as it was very hot outside. Tour wrapped up around 2pm and by then we were starving. We had our lunch and headed to Lake Shata Caverns.

We boarded the 3:30pm catamaran to Caverns. It took close to 30 mins to reach the entrance of cavern. Wow! inside cavern was even pleasanter than that of the dam. Also, the calcite crystal formations were gorgeous. Kirti climbed all the stairs inside the cave by herself. She enjoyed the temperature inside the cave and even wanted to walk without shoes (Yes, it was that hot outside). Well, a surprise awaited us when we stepped out the cavern. I awed the beauty of the Lake Shasta and the vicinity. It was mesmerizing. Btw, the bus ride to and from the cave was good too. We got back to parking lot around 5:30pm and headed to Lake Siskiyou.

It took 45mins to reach Lake Siskiyou. We went to the Lake Siskiyou camp resort to get access to the beach and view of Mt. Shasta. Kirti was happy to see people swimming in the lake. We put her in swimsuit and let her swim/play in the lake for sometime. The view from lake was amazing. As we had to travel another 1.30hrs to reach hotel, we didn't wait for sunset. We continued our journey and reached hotel (Candlewood suites) in Medford, OR. We had our dinner (yummy idlies) and I went to do shopping for next day, while Kirti and Vidhya watched Harry Potter movie.

Jul 26, 2009

We originally planned to leave hotel at 8:30am, but I was so tired (due to less sleep and drive on previous day) and slept little longer. We left hotel at 9:30am and headed to Crater Lake. The drive was enjoyable as the route was scenic. We reached Rim drive (Crater lake) around 11am. Hmm! nothing could equal the beauty of the nature. Her grandeur and serenity are unexplainable in words. One should experience it with their own eyes. We made stops at few vista points to quench our thirst for beauty and headed to Cleetwood Cove Trailhead parking area. We decided to hike down to the lake and have our lunch there. Hiking downhill was not bad and it took approximately 40 mins to reach the lake. Kirti and I played with pebbles in the lake for sometime and had our lunch with an awesome view of the lake. During our hike, one of the employees there drove a mini tractor on the trail. It was pretty stunning and I applaud his manuvering skills and risk taking attitude.

We began to climb up the trail and Kirti was so tired (perhapas, due to sunny day and steep trail) that she couldn't walk. I had to carry her with many frequent stops to rejuvenate myself. If I am exhausted and ask her to walk, she would walk on her own for some distance. She was very cooperative. Finally, we all made it to the top. It was the most strenuous hike I ever had (Note: The trail as such was okay, but carrying her was tiresome) and my knees started aching. We began our return journey at 2:30pm.

Since Kirti wanted to go to waterfalls, we decided to visit McArthur-Burney Falls. It took approximately 4 hours to reach the falls. As usual Kirti enjoyed playing in the water and we also enjoyed the cool breeze at the falls. Though, originally Vidhya wanted to go home directly she liked the stopover and the falls. It was a nice break from driving for me. We spent 45mins there and headed towards home. On the way, we stopped at Red Bluff for dinner and filling gas. We reached our home, sweet home, at 11:40pm.

I drove 1020miles in 2 days. This was the longest trip for our car (Camry). It was an exciting, but hectic trip for us. Good part is we made it to all the attractions as per our plan.

Click on the hypertexts for trip planner and album.

[All the above places are awesome and not to be missed.]

Tips:

• We took travel cooler box in this trip and it was really helpful, especially given the hot temperature outside. In addition, it saved our time in shopping.
• No electronics/bags of any kind allowed in the dam tour. Leave as much as you can (except keys) in your vehicle. I noticed a guy, who shuttled last minute to the car to keep his mobile phone.
• Lake Shasta Caverns has lot of stairs to climb. Prepare yourself, especially if you have children or elders (seniors) in your group.
• Lake Siskiyou beach can be accessed at multiple places. I would recommend accessing from Lake Siskiyou camp resort as the view was spectacular from there. The entrance fee at camp resort is $1 per person, but it is worth it.
• Candlewood suites is pretty good. I liked it and my wife loved it. I booked directly at the Candlewood suites hotel website, but you can try priceline for approximately half the price. I noticed that one guest has booked the hotel for $50 through priceline.
• Hike to Crater lake on Cleetwood Cove trail is strenuous, especially with children. Prepare yourself and allow some buffer for rest throughout the hike.
• There are lot of water (boating, etc) activities in Lake Shasta. Three day trip would be more relaxing and give time to explore other activities. If you wanna save a PTO, then 2 day trip is possible, but it would be hectic.
• Kirti got insect (perhaps, mosquito) bites during this trip. Take proper precaution (insect repellent, et al) for your children.
• I wish I had learned more tricks to take panaroma shots (multiple shots stitched to make a panoromic one).