Castle Lake to Heart Lake

Near: Mt Shasta
Elevation: 5400 - 6000 (Heart Lake) or 6600 ft (Overlook)
Distance: 2 miles (Heart Lake) or 3 miles (Overlook)
Vegetation: Forest
Last Visit: February 2015

Castle Lake is a lovely alpine lake situated in a small valley just north and west of the Castle Crags and across I-5 from Mt. Shasta.   This hike follows an established trail from Castle Lake to Heart Lake (a smaller, higher lake), then takes a short cross country climb to a nearby highpoint on the ridge, about 600 feet above Heart Lake.  Some nice views down over Castle Lake can be head from minor high points right around Heart Lake, and from the hight of the ridge, there are some excellent views of Mt Shasta, the Castle Crags, and the Trinity Alps.

If you driven up I-5 near Mt. Shasta, you've probably noticed the Castle Crags, which appear as a dramatic cluster of spires looming above the highway to your left as you approach Mt. Shasta from the south.  Sadly, no dogs are allowed on trails in Castle Crags State Park.  This hike was recommended to us by some locals with a truck full of Malamutes as we bumbled around a different trailhead nearby searching out the best dog-legal view of the Crags.  The first rule of hike club is ALWAYS heed the advice of locals at trailheads.

Rules

This is actually a tricky one.  The trailhead is in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, but this hike crosses private land on the east side of Castle Lake.  The Forest Service makes this clear on its information page for Castle Lake, and asks visitors not to trespass on this property.  I can't find any evidence of any actual structures or private use of the land in question, however.  We didn't see any "No Trespassing" signs or any attempt by the land owners to dissuade us, and the hike remains quite popular (we saw four other small groups out on a holiday Monday).  So until the land owners make some effort to shoo people away, or do literally anything with this land that a few hikers might disturb, I say go.  Maybe don't camp along this route, but there is an established campground just shy of the lake.

If you are uncomfortable with passing over private land without explicit invitation just on principle, than you can still enjoy Castle Lake by walking along a short trail along the western shore, maybe a half mile or so.

Either way, on most trails in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest dogs can be off leash if under effective voice control.

Trailhead

Castle Lake trailhead on Castle Lake Road. From the Lake Siskiyou dam, take a left on Ney Springs Rd and a quick right on Castle Lake Rd.

Route

Caltopo Map: http://caltopo.com/m/21AM

Take the trail on the east side of the lake, which will soon start climbing to the south.  In the trees the trail is obvious and easy.  As it exits the trees and heads towards a saddle point on the ridge.  As we hiked this route in the winter, we found it degenerated into a half dozen boot tracks through the snow, but there is a maintained trail mapped here likely quite obvious in summer.  The objective was obvious enough in the snow and we headed straight for the saddle above us.  From there the various tracks started to converge up the ridgeline to the southwest.  Over a nobby rise at about 1 mile in you hit heart lake.  Most folks seemed happy to stop here, with nice views of Castle Lake, but we continued up the ridgeline wrapping around Heart Lake and topped out on a minor peak overlooking both lakes.  We happily needed some traction on this last climb, so I didn't feel so silly for bringing snowshoes on hike that started with extremely thin, melting snow.  We enjoyed a nice picnic up here and enjoyed the 360 view and the beautiful day.

The Castle Crags to the Southeast

Looking east to the Crags and Mt Shasta