Eddy: Mount Eddy and Toad Lake

Shasta-Trinity National Forest

DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3

Warm color lines for day 2. Click for interactive map

We got up a little bit early. The peak of Mount Eddy isn't so far from the upper Deadfall Lake, but we had a lot more planned. There's a loop of trails south of the mountain we were going to explore and, if there was time, might go out to see Toad Lake.

The ice grew in the night.

But it was retreating again before the sun got there.

We left the snowshoes in camp with the overnight gear. The microspikes still came along. We headed out before the sun had arrived, but it was up.

The outflow is still flowing.

There's lots of wet spots in the meadow below the mountain. Maybe not too bad a way up the lesser sloped scree, too.

There was one spot with snow halfway to our knees that presented a little extra effort to walk through. Mostly it was thin and solid enough to supply a good grip for our boots.

Nearing the top and there's an edge of bare rock to walk.

The previously unseen pond that the stream on the way up flowed from.

Once up on the ridge line, we had very little snow to contend with. There were a couple spots early on where trees still stood relatively thickly, but it really dried out as the rocks got more exposed.

Sunlight on the upper Deadfall Lake.

A view across the basin to the south, toward Castle Crags Wilderness, once the trees open up.

A little further west to spot the Trinity Alps.

One person zipped up past us in the morning chill and wind to be first for today. They headed down before we arrived, so we still got to have it all to ourselves once we got there.

The central valley was in the midst of a long spell of fog. Mount Lassen is the high middle peak of the three on the left.

Trinity Lake was a bit foggy too.

I did take a moment to ponder the Pacific Crest Trail and how it gets from here to the Red Buttes of the previous trip. If you were through hiking it in the typical northerly direction, when passing by below, you have already passed the halfway point and are still in California. Then, after a few miles and getting so close to a new state, you turn south while ostensibly going north, retreating to the Trinity Alps Wilderness, then on through the Russian Wilderness, Marble Mountain Wilderness, and on past Red Buttes Wilderness where we were recently.

Pondering three lines of the PCT. It passes between the middle and lower Deadfall Lakes below, then along the ridge of China Mountain in the middle distance, then behind the visible line of the Marble Mountains (Boulder Peak is the lighter peak toward the middle) heading north again.

Siskiyou Lake at the edge of the community of Mount Shasta.

More ridge lines from higher up.

There is one stat about Mount Eddy that is not so impressive, and that's its isolation. It is just over 13 miles to find a point higher. The thing that breaks that isolation does so in no small measure. It is Mount Shasta, standing half again as tall, or rather the broad base, that breaks the isolation. Yet somehow we were almost to the top of Mount Eddy by the time we spotted the giant towering over it.

Mount Shasta first shows itself over the edge near the rocky top of Mount Eddy.

The remnants of the fire lookout on Mount Eddy. Mount Shasta rises behind it.

The other side of Mount Eddy.

North side panorama. Snowier on the north side of the mountain.

All three of the main Deadfall Lakes.

South side panorama.

Only found a reference mark up top.

Close up on Mount Shasta as the sun comes out and it starts to generate a little weather. It's actually Green Butte, one of the foothill peaks just above the snow line on the right, that Peakbagger credits with breaking the isolation of Mount Eddy.

We got around to heading down. After all, we had a lot more trail to cover. The big mountain was just the morning entertainment.

Clark's nutcracker getting ruffled by the wind.

The trail zig-zags down the mountain.

The trees that do grow on the upper slope are a bit tortured.

They waymarked the trail with blazes on the few trees it passes near.

Half signed junction.

Back at the junction, we turned to what is officially the Sisson-Callahan National Recreation Trail to make our way to what is historically the Sisson-Callahan Trail. Upon seeing the first license plate chopped in half and posted high in a tree, I said those are for siting on to check snow levels. Long about the 4th or 5th plate half, it was abundantly clear they were trail markers. They were a mix of California plates from 1938 and 1940 and many still show the original yellow with black letters paint.

The trail down past blazed trees with license plates stuck on high. Note the yellow tag high on this blazed tree.

The line of the PCT is just discernible across the valley.

A 1938 plate, the other half stated "CAL", still looking pretty good.

Daniil suggested we might try contouring across rather than going all the way down to the junction far below. Some of the stuff along the way might turn out steeper than anticipated, but it was certainly something to think about. Then we turned a corner and saw someone already beat us to it. We absolutely had to walk it to put it on the map.

A single post marks a smaller, but distinct, alternate trail.

The trail ledge looks so good I expect it had tread work in the last 5 years. The only problem along the whole length was a single tree that has come down across it.

A single post and a couple more license plate halves also mark the trail.

Not a property line since 2014, with help from the Trust for Public Land.

Another unadorned post marks the far side of the connector.

We saved ourselves a lot of down and up as well as a couple miles of trail by taking the good, but unmapped, connector. There wasn't all that much climb to the PCT above.

Looking down the North Fork Sacramento River.

We gained the ridge at a saddle where the (officially named) Sisson-Callahan (Historic) Trail crosses the PCT and took our lunch up there beside a broken pole with a bare telephone wire. The name makes it sound like it might be hard to follow, but what we had come up and what we saw going down the other side were very obvious and a little rutted.

Mount Eddy is bigger than Mount Shasta from this angle.

It would probably be a little long for the time left, but we decided to head south to have a look at Toad Lake before finishing the loop going north. Along the way, we pulled on our microspikes and I was happy I'd pulled on dry socks in the morning.

A series of raised patches that turn into hiker footprints in the snow.

The Pacific Crest Trail winds south of Mount Eddy.

Lemmon's holly fern, or Shasta fern, making a place for itself in the snow.

Another saddle point.

We must have been climbing because just as we rounded the corner over the ridge to see Toad Lake, there was a plaque proclaiming this the highest point on the PCT north of Tahoe National Forest. It's just 7650 feet up there on Toad Ridge.

Toad Lake comes into view.

More Clark's nutcrackers came by.

Mount Lassen now shows its snow and rock, there over the Castle Crags.

We definitely didn't have the time to go visit Toad Lake, so having waved at it, we turned around and headed back toward camp. However, I did have some little spur trails to travel in the name of putting them, too, on the map.

Mount Shasta vanishing at the top and bottom.

First up was Shasta View Spring, which had a signed path to it. There was a slight challenge in following the trail as a small piece broke off to go to a camping area.

Shasta View Spring seems appropriately named.

Back across the PCT chipped out of the rock.

We crossed the saddle and the Sisson-Callahan (Historic) Trail onto new sections of trail.

The side of the ridge as everything drops before South China Mountain.

Next up was an even shorter signed spur to Red Rock Spring.

A channel helps with gathering the water from Red Rock Spring.

Russian Peak is one of those snowy, pointy peaks in the distance.

There was logging here and they left a mess.

Eventually we circled around to the bit of trail high over the lower Deadfall Lake. It was getting late.

Spotting the lower Deadfall Lake through the trees below Mount Eddy.

The mostly frozen lower Deadfall Lake with one of Mount Eddy's prominent ridges behind.

As we left the lower lake, it began to snow. I had gotten a fresh point forecast from the National Weather Service at the top of the mountain when there was plenty of signal and it stated there was no chance of precipitation. A thick cloud of fat flakes rolled through anyway.

Those white spots are snow coming down.

There's a short spur to visit the middle Deadfall Lake from the PCT and we took it.

The middle Deadfall Lake.

Maybe not quite so ice free after all. The bulk of the snow is north of us.

We got to the junction and turned right to get back to camp. We'd only seen one person so far, but the state of the trail in the snowy areas suggested many more had come by while we weren't looking. The sun was setting as we got to trail we'd seen before.

A band of red light snuck in below the clouds for a little sunset color.

The faintest color in the clouds over the middle Deadfall Lake.

Halfway to the upper lake, we began meeting people coming down. The first set stated they'd decided it was enough when it started snowing, but still thought we might be on our way up to the top of Mount Eddy. I wondered when they had started and then we met about 5 more coming down. The snow that had pushed them the way dark could not didn't amount to anything. A couple more clouds full of fat flakes came rolling by leaving an unnoticed effect in the snow accumulation. We had pretty nice cooking and sleeping in spite of it.

Continue on to the next day ⇒


*photo album*




©2026 Valerie Norton
Published 20 Mar 2026