Topped by snow and glaciers, Mount Shasta rises up above everything else when you approach it from the north.

As soon as I saw it, I wanted to be up there. We were coming south from Oregon, after driving across the country from Michigan. A detour to northern California before heading home seemed like a good idea to both of us.

"I wonder if we could climb it?" I asked. John just nodded his head quietly, agreeing not to the climb, but to the fact that he was wondering the same thing. I checked the map. Mount Shasta is 14,162 feet above sea level. I liked the idea of climbing that high.

"Have you ever climbed a mountain," John asked me. I thought about it for a while. "Not really. A lot of hills though."

Mount Shasta City

"Oh yes," the old woman at the visitor's center told us, "people climb Mount Shasta all the time." John pointed out the glaciers on the map she had given us. "Oh, well, did you bring crampons and ice axes?" John looked at me, and I could only say, "I've heard of these things."

We did have some gear: backpacks, sleeping bags, and a tent. John had good hiking boots, but mine were more like high-top shoes. Neither of us had ever used crampons or an ice axe, so we went the few blocks across town to see what the guy at the climbing store had to say.

"Have you done any climbing before?" he asked us.

"A little," I answered, remembering the buildings we used to climb on as teenagers, and the rocks we had recently scrambled up in Oregon. I figured we were ready for Mount Shasta.

"Well, you can't put crampons on those boots," he said to John, "and you sure can't put them on those," he told me, shaking his head at my shoes. Crampons apparently need rigid boots - our mountaineering lesson of the day. We could rent them, but only if we rented real mountaineering boots also. "And you'll need ice axes, of course." I felt a pain in my wallet.

Backpacking On Mount Shasta (Too Poor For Climbing)


A speeding ticket in North Dakota had strained the budget, and Mount Shasta was another detour from the route and the budget. We could, we decided, hike up the mountain and do a little backpacking. Still, I had to ask, "Do people climb Shasta without gear?" The store owner realized that the sale was lost.

"It's been done," he answered impatiently.

"It's been done," I reminded John as we drove up the road to Mount Shasta. He didn't answer, which was a good sign. I watched the Pine trees go by, and absentmindedly poked a finger through a hole in my shoe.

"Old Ski Bowl Trailhead," John said. I looked over at the sign. "7,900 feet." We were at the trailhead, along with forty other cars, and it was early enough to hit the trail.

Mount Shasta Poop Bags

We looked at the registration forms, and had a decision to make. There was a $10 fee to hike or climb above "Horse Camp," at 8,400 feet. John pointed to a pile of paper bags, each with a handful of cat litter in it, and a plastic bag to put it in. These were for carrying our excrement off the mountain, a requirement above 10,000 feet. That clinched it. We put $10 each in the envelope and dropped it in the slot. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to poop in a bag in the mountains. I took two for myself, in case of good luck.

An easy trail took us to the hut and spring at Horse Camp. We filled our water bottles. The dayhikers looked up at the mountain through cameras, while the climbers cooked noodles and discussed weather reports. They looked at my shoes and smiled at each other when I mentioned we might climb Mount Shasta.

After Horse Camp the trail gets steeper and rockier. The trees end at about 8,500 feet, leaving only grasses, flowers, and other tundra plants. Then the trail gets lost in the rocks just before the steep climb up to Helen Lake.

Wind And Rain At Helen Lake

There is no lake. Helen lake is a more-or-less level area of snow and ice. At the edge, overlooking Horse Camp far below, there are dusty clearings in the rocks