I vividly remember sitting along the shore of Upper Deadfall lake while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 2011 and looking over at my friend Scarecrow and telling him how awesome it would be to come back here and really enjoy it. While hiking the PCT I was often in a hurry. Looking back I wish I would have spent more time in some areas and less in others. The opportunity to go back came when another guy I hiked with, Moses called me and wanted to backpack for a few days. He mentioned Mount Eddy and I remembered seeing it on a PCT map, shortly after I realized it was directly below the Deadfall Lakes. I couldn't have been more excited.
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| Upper Deadfall Lake |
After kicking around a few different ideas of what we should hike in the area, summiting Mount Eddy was a must, after that we would go where the wind took us.
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| Sunset at Parks Creek Trailhead |
I spent the first night at the Parks Creek Trailhead (
directions) and in the morning I headed down to Weed, CA to meet Moses and grab some breakfast. After heading back to the trailhead we set out southbound on the PCT.
Normally I give milages for hikes, but this trip I didn't really keep close track and we wandered a lot, so this will be more of a run down of places you may want to visit in the area.
Shortly after starting our walk south we hit Deadfall Creek. The creek itself was only about ankle deep and one could easily avoid getting their shoes wet.
Almost immediately after the crossing of Deadfall Creek we came to our trail junction toward Mount Eddy. There was quite a few people in the area around both Upper and Lower Deadfall Lakes, so Moses and I took some photos, ate a snack and pushed on toward Mount Eddy.
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| One of about 6 tents along Upper Deadfall Lake |
Not sure of what we would find up the Sisson-Callahan trail toward Mount Eddy we were excited to come across another, albeit smaller lake. Referring to our topographic maps we noticed there was one more lake just above this one. We figured that the relatively steep trail probably kept most people away from it, and we set out for the next lake.
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| The much smaller third lake |
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| The fourth uppermost lake |
After setting up camp and filling our water from a spring near camp, we headed for the highest point in the Klamath Mountains.
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| The spring above the fourth lake |
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| Deadfall Lakes from above |
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| The trail up Mount Eddy was exposed and relentless |
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| Epic view of a nearly cloudless Mount Shasta from atop Mount Eddy |
Seemingly endless outstanding views await you atop of Mount Eddy. From the nearby Mount Shasta to the distant Trinity Alps one could spend an hour or more looking out over this incredible area of Cascadia.
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| The distant Trinity Alps |
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| The old fire lookout |
Not really wanting to leave, but knowing we should get back to camp we started to descend down the switchbacks.
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| View of the Mount Eddy Trail from a saddle below |
Back lakeside, we relaxed and explored around the lake and spring above it. There were many wildflowers and relatively rare Foxtail Pines.
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| Foxtail Pine |
The sun setting while I was cooking dinner and charging my phone on the BioLite Camp Stove(
full review here) was a perfect end to a great day. Previously I had forgotten my iPhone USB cable, but this trip I did not. I was pretty impressed with the charging time of my phone, I was using it for music and taking pictures while it charged and it still went up about 20 percent in an hour. It took quite a bit of wood to maintain the BioLite because it was fast burning Foxtail Pine, but with other wood it would require less work. The BioLite seems to be the perfect stove for taking on long trips, I'll continue to post updates as I use it more.
We travled to another spot on the PCT just south, but I will save that for another entry.
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