Clear Creek Summit Route
by Steve Lewis, author of Climbing Mt. Shasta

This article was featured in the Northern California Trails Magazine
Posted July, 1997

• Elevation: 6,480 feet to 14,162 feet.
• Trail: Maintained trail to timberline (8,500 ft.), from there you're on your own.
• Trailhead: Located on the southeast slopes of Mt. Shasta.
• Difficulty: Nontechnical, your physical condition plays an important role.
• Equipment: Crampons, ice axe, and ski poles.
• Time: One day trips to the summit average 8 to 12 hours.
• Ascent: 7,682 vertical feet
• Comments: No rope travel or glacier crossing experienced required.

Just stop for a minute and close your eyes; now imagine that you are standing 14,162 feet above sea level gazing out over much of northern California. There are 17 established routes, each with several variations, that lead to the summit on Mt. Shasta. Clear Creek route, or Route #15, is located on the southeast side of the Mountain. The route is accessed from logging roads that lead off Highway 89, east of the town of McCloud and of the Ski Park Highway. You can drive a car to the trailhead, although a pickup or 4-wheel drive is advisable. Since this route is located off the beaten path, it offers peace and solitude for hikers and climbers looking to get away from it all.

From McCloud, drive east 2.8 miles to Pilgrim Creek road, you will see a sign that says Mt. Shasta Wilderness; turn to your left and follow that road for 5.2 miles to another sign located on Forest Service road #41N15 at which time you will make another left. Follow that road for 4.9 miles to a 4-way dirt intersection at the #31 road, and then continue straight on road #41N61. Follow the Clear Creek Trailhead sign for 0.7 miles to road #41N25Y. Follow the signs again for 2.2 miles until you reach the trailhead. You can take a more scenic route by taking the Ski Park Highway north of Highway 89 until you run into the #31 road. The #31 road takes you around the east side of the Mountain, crossing Squaw and Mud creek, for 11.5 miles until you reach the intersection of #41N15 and #41N61. Once you're there just follow the Clear Creek Trailhead signs while also watching for big Mule deer (Bucks) that inhabit that area!

You must have a visitor's permit before climbing the Mountain or entering the Mt. Shasta Wilderness Area. All of the area above 8,000 feet and some of the area below timberline is located within the Mt. Shasta Wilderness area. Permits are currently free for camping in the Wilderness area and are issued from the Mt. Shasta and McCloud Forest Service offices locally called Ranger Stations. Permits for day use are self-issued at the trailhead or just outside the main entrance to the Mt. Shasta Ranger Station.

As of Memorial Weekend 1997, a program has been implemented by the U.S. Forest Service to collect fees for climbing and parking at the trailheads. A Mt. Shasta Summit Pass cost $15.00 per person for anyone climbing above 10,000 feet and is only good for up to three days from the date of purchase. Also, there is a daily $5.00 charge for parking at Clear Creek, North Gate, and Brewer Creek trailheads; fortunately Bunny Flat is exempt. If this sounds expensive then you can do as I did, and take advantage of the Annual Pass for only $25.00. In addition to the Wilderness permit, Parking permit, and Summit Pass, climbers are encouraged to fill out a Climber's Registration card, which is only available at the Ranger Station. The information you supply on this card gives the Ranger Station some additional information about where you're climbing if you need to be contacted or a rescue should have to take place.

When you finish signing your name, you may feel like you'll need a briefcase to carry all of these permits. And one more thing, they are asking you to use their newly developed Human Waste Packout System in an effort to decrease and eventually eliminate the human waste contamination in the snow. I call it the "pack out your poop system." You should check with the Mt. Shasta Ranger Station, (530) 926-4511, for any changes in the permit requirements.

The weather on Mt. Shasta is the most important factor in planning your trip. Your checking ahead for the weather conditions before climbing is the most important preparation you can make. Climbing with unstable weather conditions should not be attempted unless you are a well-seasoned, experienced climber who is aware of the hazards of mountain weather. As with any mountain, the temperatures will drop approximately 3º F for each 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Winds generally will increase as you ascend and can be sometimes strong enough to blow you over, especially above 12,000 feet. A good reliable source besides the Ranger Station is by calling The Fifth Season mountaineering and sport store in Mt. Shasta City. They have a 24-hour recorded climbing and skiing report (530) 926-5555; the locals just call it the "snow phone."

The Clear Creek trailhead, elevation 6,480 feet, starts out through some of the Mountain's pristine timber country. It somewhat resembles the trail to Horse Camp (Avalanche Gulch route) and is comparable to a well-traveled backpacking trail which is suitable for hikers of all ages. Forests of white firs and Pacific silver firs (locally known as silver tips), and a few mountain hemlocks can be seen standing next to some towering Shasta Red firs.

The trail to timberline passes above Mud Creek Falls located in the oldest and most spectacular canyon on Mt. Shasta. Mud Creek Canyon in some places is more than 1,000 feet deep, extending below timberline and stretching up to the Red Banks at an elevation of more than 12,000 feet. It takes about 30 minutes of hiking to reach the rim of the Canyon. Once you're there and get your first glimpse of the Falls, hike the trail just a tad more and you'll have a magnificent view of the Canyon and Mud Creek Glacier. There is a flat rock along the west edge of the trail that makes for an excellent photography and resting point. This particular side of Shasta offers hikers a splendid, and by far the most scenic, view anywhere on the Mountain. You'll have the feeling as though you are in another world as you watch the waters of Clear Creek and Mud Creek, and all the other surrounding springs empty into the gullies below.

Following further up the trail to timberline is like walking on an old abandoned road that was purposely built for the avid hiker. Although years ago the road built for logging did lead to timberline but is now gated at the trailhead, mainly to stop the hunters and firewood cutters while also protecting the Wilderness area. While you're hiking the trail listen closely to the sounds and you may hear the hairy and white-headed woodpeckers hammering on Shasta's fir trees. The woods are full of sounds, such as the mountain chickadee whistling "chick-a-dee" to its mate and the great horned owl bellowing out in the night. The gray jays are plentiful and their sounds echo through the forest with an occasional whistling of an Alpine breeze.

While hiking below timberline, you may encounter a black-tailed jack rabbit, coyote, or fox, and maybe even see a pine martin or a black-tailed deer (a subspecies of mule deer). The number of mule deer that once flourished has dramatically decreased because of increased hunting on Mt. Shasta, but it's still possible to see some of Shasta's big Bucks roaming the countryside. Up to the timberline you will encounter gray squirrels living in the forest with their cousin the western chipmunk, locally known as the yellow-pine chipmunk. The chipmunks on Mt. Shasta have black and white pinstripes running down their back. They make their home up to an elevation of at least 12,000 feet where you can see them running in high gear looking for food. I call these critters "Pretzel Thiefs," and I most often treat them to a Pretzel lunch; they love it!

Several species of plants, flowers, and shrubs grow on the slopes of the Mountain. The most dominant of the shrubs is the greenleaf manzanita bush which grows everywhere around the Mountain, thinning around the timberline area. Wildflowers such as the red knotweed comes immediately alive after the snow melts. The most radiant of the wildflowers is the western paintbrush, locally referred to as Indian paintbrush and the Pensteman newberryi, locally known as Pride-of-the-mountain which happens to be my favorite. Some of the more common of the fragile wildflowers are the alpine buckwheat, Douglas phlox and the northern mountain laurel, locally known as red heather. Pine lupine, locally known as Shasta lupine, with its white to purple-tinted flowers can also be seen along the trail up to an elevation of 8,500 feet. If you decide to hike off the trail, try to avoid crushing these delicate wildflowers with your big mountaineering boots.

Timberline is roughly about 8,500 feet and once you're there you have the option of climbing the rugged and rocky Wintun Ridge overlooking Wintun Glacier, or you can traverse along Clear Creek's gentle slopes overlooking Mud Creek Glacier. For those of you not going to the summit there is a world of exploring including Konwakiton and Watkins Glaciers which are within a day's reach for anyone looking for a strenuous climb. Before you ever think about climbing, you'll want to stop and just marvel over the magnificent view that lies ahead of you.

Above timberline, the route continues with both a spacious and gradual gentle slope that leads up the Mountain. You'll have a superb choice of base camps in this wide open bowl, with water that you can filter from the creek. This route is particularly favorable in the late Spring and early Summer when there are snowfields to travel on. With direct southern exposure, the early Summer corn snow also makes for exceptional skiing, allowing skiers to climb with climbing skins on most of the route. If you climb late in the summer you will have to struggle through the sand and talus, also, you'll be giving up one of the best glissades on the Mountain.

Using your map, you should start climbing the hill just left of Watkins Glacier, staying to the right of Mud Creek Canyon. Although there are no marked trails above timberline, climbers will always leave fresh footprints in the snow or trekking marks in the volcanic talus. Once you climb the first hill, you will roughly be at about 11,000 feet and standing directly on the shoulder above Watkins Glacier. Follow the shoulder (north), taking the easiest path, until it merges with the Wintun Ridge route at around 13,000 feet. Watch closely for a hardy, but beautiful, white-blossomed flower called the Shasta Jacob's ladder, botanically known as Polemonium pulcherrimum which grows alone in the cold, shaded, rocky crevices. From this point on, stay centered between Konwakiton Glacier and Wintun Glacier until you reach the Summit Plateau at 13,800 feet, keeping a constant awareness of rockfall. Once you're on the Plateau, follow the odor of the Sulphur Springs ascending the icy summit pinnacle to the right.

Nestled in a wind-protected area between the two pinnacles are the famous Sulphur Springs. They are famous because the well-known author and naturalist John Muir once spent the night there. John Muir and his partner Jerome Fay, a hardy and competent mountaineer, were caught on the Summit in a fierce snow storm in 1877. With howling winds and darkness upon them, Muir concluded the only way to stay alive without descending was to lie in the hot pockets of mud and gravel. The hot pockets of mineral water are not very deep, and Muir could not fully immerse his almost frozen body in one. When the mineral water got too unbearably hot, the two would stand up and brave the violent winds, thinking they faced certain death. In Harper's New Monthly Magazine of September 1877, John Muir writes,

"We lay flat on our backs, so as to present as little surface as possible to the wind. The mealy snow gathered on our breasts, and I did not rise again to my feet for seventeen hours. We were glad at first to see the snow drifting into the hollows of our clothing, hoping it would serve to deaden the force of the ice wind; but, though soft at first, it soon froze into a stiff, crusty heap, rather augmenting our novel misery." John Muir.

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