Our Shasta area map will help you get oriented to area.
Best Places to Go Around Shasta
- Lake Shasta: The area's best attraction, this beautiful, clear lake has over 350 miles of shoreline and is a popular place for fishing, water sports and houseboat rentals. You'll find no less than ten marinas and resorts on its shores.
- Shasta Lake Scenic Byway: Exit I-5 at Shasta Dam Blvd. for a three-mile scenic drive through the city of Shasta Lake to a overlook with a view of the three famous Shastas: Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake and Mt. Shasta. Continue to the dam for a guided tour.
- Shasta Sunset Dinner Train: This three-hour train ride over the historic McCloud Railway is a fine way to end the day. The beautifully-restored Pullman cars are upstaged only by the scenery.
Other Places to Go Around Shasta
In order from south to north:- Castle Crags State Park: Good hiking and camping beneath jagged granite peaks.
- Dunsmuir: Originally known as Pusher for the extra locomotives added to the train here to get it up the canyon, Dunsmuir boasts a historic main street dominated by the marquee of the old California Theater. The Cornerstone Bakery here is one of the best places in the area for breakfast or lunch. Railroad buffs will find the only remaining working railroad turntable in the U.S. here. The best catch-and-release trout fishing in the area is found on the stretch of the Sacramento River below Box Canyon Dam from Cantara downstream past Dunsmuir.
- McCloud: An old lumber town, McCloud boasts a small early 1900's historic district that is on National Register of Historic Places. If you've got a sweet tooth, don't miss the candy store on the old mercantile building. The McCloud Hotel has a nice restaurant, or you can catch the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train here, and in winter, you can enjoy skiing and snowboarding at the nearby Mt. Shasta Ski Park.
- Mt. Shasta City and Mount Shasta: Take a scenic drive to the Everitt Vista Turnout for the closest look you can get at Mt. Shasta.
- Weed: Drive northeast on US 97 from here for some of the best views of Mount Shasta's classic shape. The adventurous can also explore Plato Cave, a subterranean lava tube. Located about 12 miles northeast of Weed, it's marked with U. S. Forest Service signs.
