The surface elevation of Castle Lake is 5,440 feet above sea level. The lake itself is beautiful, backed by a huge glacier carved area of granite. I was truly in awe of all the natural beauty around us, that often gets missed because we are to busy to notice! We decided to go hike first, even though the kids wanted to swim first (I was afraid we wouldn't get them out of the water to actually hike!)
Side note: once we were up there, I couldn't log on to check the map of the hike on the website.... Future reference, I will definitely be printing the directions/map/trail info next time we area going into an area we have never hiked...
Needless to say, we took the wrong trail, however I think where we ended up was one of the most beautiful locations I have ever been in my life!!
We hiked up and over the ridge, climbing a good 1000+ feet in elevation!!! It was pretty steep and if you do this hike, make sure you have good traction, close toed shoes... This hike was not for sissies!!!! I did have to take a few breaks along the way... (I'm still fairly out of shape from bed rest and heart issues.... And the extreme elevation was seriously working against me..... Plus I was packing my chubby monkey boy on my back while my hubs had the 2.5 yr old on his)
Up and up and up we went... And up some more.... The kids joked that we were hiking to the top of the world! Little did they know, we actually were!!!! We hiked up past the timber line! (Now on the actual Mt. Shasta, the timber line stops at 8000ft but I am not sure we were that high.) But once we got to the top you could see everything!!! It was truly the most beautiful view I have ever witnessed in my life!!!
The kids found Bigfoots signs (stacks of rocks they swear he left), succulents growing in the rocks they swore only grew in the desert, and views for miles..... No joke, you could probably see for a couple hundred miles up there!! Pristine Views!!!!! We could see everything from where we were, Mt Shasta to Mt Lassen to Mt McLaughlin, the Eddy Range and even Castle Crags!!!! What an amazing and breath taking world we get the privilege of living in!!!!
We spent close to an hour at the top, just looking and watching and being present!! I caught this rare moment of the two oldest just being buddies and hanging out! A priceless moment that I could never have planned and that I will always cherish!!!!
We then hiked back down the side of the ridge, and here is where good traction shoes comes into play the most. Coming down the granite and shale slope was a little tricky packing a babe.... But only one of the kids fell coming down and it was because he jumped off a ledge and landed in some loose shale.... The hike made everyone nice and sweaty, so even though it was only 75 degrees and the water was fresh snow melt, everyone got into the water in the lake!
We ended the day with dinner at a local, family owned restaurant in Mt Shasta. Everyone worked so hard on the hike, they were starving by dinner!!
All in all, it was an amazing day with pristine views!!!!!!
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