LightBackpacking.com

As I said in my last post, I figure we can get into the mountains for backpacking or hiking early this year, based on the snowpack and my trip this past week to visit a friend in Weed, a tiny town at the foot of Mount Shasta.

Shasta, which is more than 14,000 feet, is absent of snow from about 8,000 feet down. That’s just my observation.

By mid April — if warm weather continues — you might consider heading for Mt. Eddy. I hiked to the top of the 9,000 peak a few years ago on the recommendation of Tom Stienstra, author of Foghorn Outdoors California Hiking: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,000 Hikes and outdoor writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. This is one of his favorite hikes.

From the trailhead, you hike three miles to Deadfall Lake where you can create a basecamp. From Deadfall, you can walk up the four miles, along switchbacks, to the top.

Your prize when you summit the peak (just a large flat area which requires no technical skills or scrambling) is the feeling (in the words of one geologist) like “you are on top of the world with panoramic views of Mt. Shasta to the east, Mt. McLaughlin to the north (in Oregon), the Trinity Alps, Castle Crags and even Mt. Lassen to the south.

Unfortunately, the year I went forest fires just about everywhere in the area obliterated all but the tiptop of Shasta and left an ugly haze over the Trinity Alps.

Be light. Be safe. Be one with the pack.