Miscellani

There are a number of routes that you may use to climb Shasta. The most used is the Avalanche Gulch or "AG" route, which is one of the most climbed routes on any mountain in the U.S. The route is marked on the map in red arrows. You drive to the trail head at "Bunny Flat" which is 6950 feet and walk from there. Some people choose to camp out at Lake Helen which is 10,400 feet and then make their summit attempt first thing in the morning. This requires that you carry all your gear up there and it is always windy up at the so-called lake (there is no water in the liquid form). I can't imagine that there has ever been a good night's sleep at Lake Helen. Based on our guide's experience we started at midnight from our hotel after a few fit full hours of sleep and were going to go up and down in one fell swoop. We all started with some dexamethasone at midnight. It was a beautiful big full moon.