Major Places I Visited

Mount Shasta Burney Fall Lassen National Volcanic Park Lakes Basin

Interstate 5 (the boring 300 miles): I could only depart at 1:00pm on Saturday to the northern California drive trip. I would make it a rule to take Niles Canyon shortcut to I-680 to go north/east direction unless it was early in the morning. It was two hours later when I finally went through the traffic jam, traffic accidents, and toll plazas. There were little traffic on the I-505 and I-5; I was cruising the interstate highway at comfortable 70 miles per hour. That was very comfortable feeling but only lasted an hour. After all, I-5 is boring to drive; it runs through the (boring) central valley. Finally, near the town of Red Bluff, the interstate crossed with the Sacramento and several other rivers. Wow, that was exciting. Then, the Mt. Shasta appeared in my view. It must be a pretty tall mountain since it is still about 100 miles away.

Peak of Mount Shasta.

Interesting looking clouds in Nothern California.

All the stuff I missed along I-5: As the Mt. Shasta got larger, the scenery turned prettier. The I5 crossed the Shasta Lake, a large reservoir with odd-looking shape. The Shasta Dam is said to be the tallest dam in the US (three times taller than Niagara Falls). There should be some more attractions around this area but I just kept driving. The road became winding as well. This area could be described as thick forest and gentle mountains. Except Castle Crags State Park contains exposed rugged granite peaks, reminding me of that of Sierra Nevada. I'm sure that the park and surrounding national forest offer abundant of hiking trails, fishing, hunting opportunities, and beautiful sceneries. I also ignored the area as well.

It was the town of Dunsmuir I decided to look for a motel. I ended up in a small cabin for $39 for a night. Good price. The cabin sat right next to a creek. It had functioning shower, toilet, and comfortable bed, but I could call it a little too rustic. Hmm, what else do I need for a night? A TV with HBO, alarm clock, and a refrigerator would be nicec The time was 7:30pm. I drove only 300 miles with 6 and half hour. Kind of depressing to think that I could drive only 50 miles/hour in average. What a drag to drive through a large city.

Mount Shasta is only 10 miles away from here. I could still make it before the sunset. First I tried to find a good spot near Siskiyou Lake. After 30 minutes, I had no luck with finding a spot I could see the Mt. Shasta and the lake. Then, I rushed to the Everitt Memorial Highway to get to the highest point I could get to without walking. The sun settled beneath the ground before I reached the point. But there were still some glare. It was apparent that this was the place to be at the sunset.