Backpacking in Castle Crags Wilderness

[Harlen]

Hello out there. Can we get some information about access points, and good trails to explore in a 1 week trip to the Castle Crags Wilderness of the Shast-Trinity NF? What we are after is great views of the Castle Crags, and of Mt Shasta to the east. This is a group of us who would not want to hike more than about 5-8 miles per day, as with our ornithologist friends Carleton and Diana, we'll be birding every step of the way. A good base camp to day hike out from would possibly be part of the plan.

I linked some descriptions and photos from an online source, and what strikes me most from it is the photo of the Castle Crags from Castle Dome. At least, that's how I read it, with the words "Castle Dome" set beneath the photo, and it seeming to be a dome-like landfrom where the shot is taken from. Anyone with exceptional Google Earth skills out there to search out this same place? I really love that image, and would like to camp right there to gaze at it through the sunset.

Anyone who knows this area, please give us some advice on a nice route through it- water sources too would be good to know. I've yet to find the maps for this area, though Caltopo would work, I suppose. Thanks a lot.

* this will likely be a spring or summer trip, not winter.

https://peakvisor.com/park/castle-crags-wilderness.html

[c9h13no3]

Go in the spring, summer heat can be ruthless there. The PCT is mostly on south facing slopes as well, so it sets up right for spring.

I've only been once, hiking in via Castle Lake. Castle Lake is heavily used, but the road is plowed in the winter if you want to make it a *very* early spring visit.

I enjoyed the scramble up to the Wilderness Prominence Point, and the granite arch was cool.

The view you may be looking for is from Girard Ridge Lookout, across the valley to the east. You can rent it out for the night if you enjoy playing the permit game.

IMG_1736.jpg

[giantbrookie]

I haven't backpacked in Castle Crags Wilderness but Judy and I did some dayhiking there in 1991 and 1992 with the obvious objective of fishing. We focused in the northern part of the wilderness where the lakes are, visiting Little Castle Lake, Timber Lake, Heart Lake, and Scott Lake. From various highpoints the views of Mt Shasta are very nice, too. I seem to have a nice view heading to Heart Lake, which was frozen over as of our visit in May 1992. We were there to get a bit of a tune up before climbing Shasta the next day. Scott Lake, I recall, was a bit off trail, and in 1991 had really large rainbows. It is, however, dependent on air drops and I don't know if it's getting the regular air drops. On the other hand, Timber,Terrace, Little Castle, and Upper Cliff may benefit from no longer getting air dropped---it's possible there may be some big brookies in there (medium sized as per our visit). Anyhow, I think there are nice places to backpack in that area but this is not an extensive area, so it isn't a place you can really script a long backpacking trip.

You can also connect a hike between the Castle Lake area and greater Seven Lakes Basin area. It was in the latter area that Judy and I did a memorable short dayhike above Cliff Lake with off trail hiking to Upper Cliff and Terrace Lake. My notes say that the "traverse between Terrace and Upper Cliff is one of the most spectacular anywhere". I'm guessing it was scenic class 2, rather than class 3, otherwise my notes would have mentioned that.

[Harlen]

Giantbrookie wrote:

You can also connect a hike between the Castle Lake area and greater Seven Lakes Basin area. It was in the latter area that Judy and I did a memorable short dayhike above Cliff Lake with off trail hiking to Upper Cliff and Terrace Lake. My notes say that the "traverse between Terrace and Upper Cliff is one of the most spectacular anywhere"

That's exactly the king of advice we were looking for. Thanks to you too Sam. BTW, I have to think you climbed up and over that cool arch!
I didn't realize how small the Crags proper area is. Maybe we'll combine it with another romp up Shasta, as you did John.

@giantbrookie John, if you are still there, can I get your enlightened interpretation of this statement, found in the Castle Crags website that I included above:

Though many of the mountain ranges and rock formations surrounding the Castle Crags Wilderness consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rock, the Castle Crags themselves have a distinct and unique geological history.

Located in the Klamath Mountains geomorphic province, rocks surrounding the Castle Crags consist mostly of Ordovician period oceanic crust. In fact, the granitic columns of Castle Crags are the remnants of a pluton, or intrusive igneous rock, that formed when magma cooled and solidified underground....

The part I questioned was the "Ordovician period oceanic crust." In my mind that is very unique, as I thought that no oceanic crust existed that was much above 200 million BP? The Ordovician Period is roughly from 480 to 440 BP. What do you make of that John? Thanks, Ian.

[giantbrookie]

Giantbrookie wrote:

You can also connect a hike between the Castle Lake area and greater Seven Lakes Basin area. It was in the latter area that Judy and I did a memorable short dayhike above Cliff Lake with off trail hiking to Upper Cliff and Terrace Lake. My notes say that the "traverse between Terrace and Upper Cliff is one of the most spectacular anywhere"

That's exactly the king of advice we were looking for. Thanks to you too Sam. BTW, I have to think you climbed up and over that cool arch!
I didn't realize how small the Crags proper area is. Maybe we'll combine it with another romp up Shasta, as you did John.
@giantbrookie John, if you are still there, can I get your enlightened interpretation of this statement, found in the Castle Crags website that I included above:

Though many of the mountain ranges and rock formations surrounding the Castle Crags Wilderness consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rock, the Castle Crags themselves have a distinct and unique geological history.
Located in the Klamath Mountains geomorphic province, rocks surrounding the Castle Crags consist mostly of Ordovician period oceanic crust. In fact, the granitic columns of Castle Crags are the remnants of a pluton, or intrusive igneous rock, that formed when magma cooled and solidified underground....

The part I questioned was the "Ordovician period oceanic crust." In my mind that is very unique, as I thought that no oceanic crust existed that was much above 200 million BP? The Ordovician Period is roughly from 480 to 440 BP. What do you make of that John? Thanks, Ian.

Note the ca. 200 Ma limit is for preserved ocean floor in modern ocean basins. Much older remnants of oceanic crust are preserved on land as a result of closure of various ocean basins by subduction; the oceanic crust that survived was on the upper plate of such subduction systems. The Trinity ophiolite (the serpentinite encountered in Castle Crags Wilderness, and parts of the Russian Wilderness and Trinity Alps is part of this), which makes up oldest oceanic rocks in the Klamath Mtns. actually has oceanic crust of a variety of ages, including Ordovician. There are much older ages in the 600 Ma range, too. There is Ordovician oceanic crust in the southern Sierra foothills, including the rocks just east of Fresno at Pine Flat Reservoir (Kings ophiolite) as well as further south (Kaweah ophiolite). There are also super old rocks (ie about 600 Ma) found near Sierra Buttes, although no Ordovician ophiolite has been found in that part of the Sierra yet. One of the neat thing about the older rocks of the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Mtns is the relatively recent (ca. 2005) realization that they did not form near this side of North America. Instead they were formed on the other side of the continent and have some links to rocks in the Scandanavian region ("Baltica"). There are similar rocks in the Appalachians, particularly the northern Appalachians. They are thought to have made their way around what would now be the northern margin of the continent, associated with island arcs migrating westward and then southward. In addition to the Trinity ophiolite and related rocks in the Klamath Mtns., these "exotic" components include the rocks in the Sierra Buttes to Grouse Ridge area. I guess you could say they bring a different meaning to "Lost Sierra".

[Harlen]

Well thanks again John. Live and learn. I guess I was stuck on the great lesson of the relative young ages of the oceanic crust, compared to the great ages found on the Earth's continental crust, and how that served as one of the linchpins proving continental drift/plate tectonics. I should have remembered another great geologic truth-- that the highest rock formation on the planet is oceanic limestone, containing marine fossils-- sitting up there on the summit of Mt. Everest/Sagarmatha.

John wrote:

....There are also super old rocks (ie about 600 Ma) found near Sierra Buttes, although no Ordovician ophiolite has been found in that part of the Sierra yet. One of the neat thing about the older rocks of the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Mtns is the relatively recent (ca. 2005) realization that they did not form near this side of North America. Instead they were formed on the other side of the continent and have some links to rocks in the Scandanavian region ("Baltica"). There are similar rocks in the Appalachians, particularly the northern Appalachians. They are thought to have made their way around what would now be the northern margin of the continent, associated with island arcs migrating westward and then southward. In addition to the Trinity ophiolite and related rocks in the Klamath Mtns., these "exotic" components include the rocks in the Sierra Buttes to Grouse Ridge area.

Fair enough John, however, this business above about the wandering island arc bringing these cool rocks to the west coast from way back east, is too farout for me. I reckon you made this part up.