Eddy: Pacific Crest Trail

Shasta-Trinity National Forest

DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3

Purple lines for day 3. Click for interactive map

We didn't have much to do for the third day except head on out. Daniil decided he wanted to go up the mountain for the early morning rays on Mount Shasta. Shasta was a no-show, but he stayed up there a while. He was bundled up well. I decided to take a larger tour around the upper lake to visit all the little ponds of the area.

No new ice on the lake this morning.

There's a nice rock ramp heading up the hill from our camp, so I took that to start the big loop.

It takes energy quickly, but the rocky slope is pretty stable.

The curlleaf mountain mahogany's view.

Once up on the shelf I had seen above the camp, I found an unexpected bonus pond, frozen solid.

A tidy little depression.

The rest of the ledge I had climbed to below Mount Eddy's ridge.

I followed the ledge the other direction to find that I had overshot the elevation of the pond I'd ultimately been aiming for. Though larger, this one also looked rather solid at first.

A pond below.

Not totally solid pond in the cleft of land between scree slopes.

The upper Deadfall Lake. The ice reflects with the water, but without the same brightness of colors.

From there, I followed what could be game trails along toward the meadows that were visible from the Eddy Peak Trail and which we had seen a little on our original explorations around the lake. There were streams and moist spots to navigate, preferably without getting into the water since I had only brought one pair of dry socks and had already used them.

Streams in the late fall dead upper meadows.

Another stream surges with water in its tiny channel.

Stumbling across a camping area. Lots of fire rings considering there's really not enough wood around to be burning it.

Numerous depressions of water in the meadows.

Lots of flow through this area.

From there, I wasn't too far from the trail and caught it for a climb up to the ridge line and then a little wander upward along it away from Mount Eddy, at least for a short bit. The last few feet of climb on trail had become hard ice with all the feet traveling it the day before. I should have got the microspikes out for it. I didn't manage to get another weather report while I was there.

The upper Deadfall Lake from a view point just off the trail.

Mount Eddy from the saddle.

The central valley in too much dynamic range for my little camera sensor.

Beside the foxtail pines.

I headed back down, then cut down along a trail that appears to be considered the "winter route" for skiing up to the mountain. There were ski tracks in the old snow along the trails up the mountain and here. This got me to the pond that was mostly hidden in the trees from above.

Dropping to one more frozen pond.

At first glance, this one, too, looks frozen through. Then I noted the holes where it looks like someone has fallen through. At least at first glance. They might actually be maintained watering holes. If you are an animal that doesn't sleep through the winter, it can be very important to maintain a little open water for drinking.

At the edge of the pond.

Fallen through or drinking water?

There's lovely wood in ice sculptures around the edge.

I followed this drainage downward finding a few more pools I hadn't expected. They weren't very big, really puddles in the meadow. I left the drainage there to cut over to the trail without going all the way to the soggy meadow it crosses, then made my way back to camp along the usual route.

A couple more little pools.

The soggy meadow below where the trail goes through. People used a couple different routes.

Back to the pond beside the upper Deadfall Lake.

I found Daniil breaking camp and set about taking down my own. Then we headed down the trail.

Back past the frozen ponds.

At the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail, we turned northbound once more. I wanted to see the more popular approach to day hike Mount Eddy. Between the PCT or Deadfall Lake Trail for the approach, I liked Deadfall Lake Trail better.

The crossing of Deadfall Creek is messier at the PCT.

The PCT is well traveled and maintained.

Look across to the ridge where the northbound trail travels southbound.

China Mountain now in view past the road cuts. The cut below is the forest arterial Parks Creek Road, paved, and above is an old road that crosses the PCT.

There's frequent water along here, at least in this season.

Trail crosses scrub on increasingly steep slopes, then finds a bit of forest. The forest gets thicker before transitioning back to scrub. There was one tree down on the way with an easy walk around.

Distant Trinity Alps, Russians, Marbles through the trees.

A look back up toward Deadfall Lakes.

Thick forest for a bit.

Much more open forest.

Once to the trailhead, we had a look around at all the points. It is a signed and developed trailhead with large parking area and toilets and bulletin board.

The view north where Eddy Creek Trail takes off from the PCT. It has some visibility here.

The continuation of the PCT which will turn south in a mile or so.

The Parks Creek Trailhead.

It turns out we could have backtracked on the trail and followed an old road cut down to reduce the road walk along 1.5 lane asfault. We had the road all to ourselves, so it wasn't so bad.

The road walk with the finish sort of in sight.

*photo album*




©2026 Valerie Norton
Published 21 Mar 2026