Ash Creek

Ash Creek on Mt. Shasta is called that because it is always full of volcanic ash so the water is sort of gray from it all year long. Mt. Shasta is volcanic so there is plenty of it to wash down 24 hours a day all year long for thousands of years. I suppose this is sort of amazing in it's own way. The easiest way to reach Ash Creek further down off the mountain is to drive out Highway 89 past McCloud to Pilgrim Creek Rd and then head up Pilgrim Creek Rd towards Mt. Shasta. Eventually there is a bridge over Ash Creek and you can stop there and visit it if you want. I suppose someone could walk up the creek up to the Glaciers on Mt. Shasta that it springs from too if no one got upset with you. It is very remote there. When you reach the Pilgrim Creek Bridge over Ash Creek you are already almost 10 miles from the nearest Gas Station or anywhere you can buy anything. When you cross Ash Creek there is no longer phone lines or even any Electricity either. You are very remote.

I used to own land in the 1980s in the Mt. Shasta Forest Subdivision and a friend of mine still does today. The reason I got to thinking about this is a Friend from the little City of Mt. Shasta was going to play music at a Wedding at Cold Creek today which is very remote too. If you go to Google maps and drill down in on it eventually you can find Ash Creek and follow it up onto the mountain. I've been in a 4 wheel drive up above the water falls where Ash Creek first comes out of the glaciers on the mountain but I'm not sure the Forest Service still has those back roads open anymore. But, if you like remote places there are a lot of them around Mt. Shasta up to about 9000 or 10,000 feet on the mountain. But depending upon where you are around the mountain you can reach places about 7000 feet to 9000 feet by 4 wheel drive depending upon what roads are still left open by the Forest Service there.

Another fairly remote place that can be reached mostly by paved road is Medicine Lake.(If you go in and out via Highway 89 it should be paved completely both ways.) A few years ago I went to Lava Beds national Monument on the back side (Northeastern side) of Mt. Shasta, and then I cut across the sometimes paved roads from Lava Beds National Monument through Medicine lake where we saw a Bald Eagle up close all the way to Hiway 89. Just make sure you have enough gas to make it there because there are no gas stations along the way until you reach either McCloud or Bartle on Highway 89. But, it is very pristine and beautiful all along these roads including Medicine lake. There is also a glass mountain near Medicine Lake where local tribes of Indians gathered Flint for arrow tips and knives there too. The whole small mountain is made of Obsidian. However, I'm not sure about it now because I haven't been there in about 20 years at least at this point so I don't know how much obsidian has been hauled out of that remote place by people passing through by now.

Recently, within the last month or so I took my Tundra 4 wheel drive truck up Everitte memorial Highway from the city of Mt. Shasta by going in at 7 mile curve on the dirt road over to McGinnis Springs which is very beautiful. Then we walked over to Wagon Camp Creek where we found a Tibetan Stupa had been built. Since both my friend and I have walked over the Himalayas where Tibetan Stupas are common at higher altitude we prayed as we circled the Stupa. Stupas usually contain the ashes of Tibetan Saints or Tulkus sort of in the same way that often Catholic churches put bones of Saints in the Altars of their churches to bless the church.

After this we walked up Wagon Camp road back to McGinnis Springs where my truck was parked an then went up a 4 wheel drive road towards Panther Meadows. We weren't sure whether we could reach Panther Meadows this way. About 1 mile from Panther Meadows or less there are trees that have blown down across the road so it isn't possible to get through this way to Everitt Memorial Highway. However, we walked over to to Panther meadows Creek and cooled down with no one around for at least a mile or more so this is a very remote place as well. IT was a warm enough day for me to walk barefoot over the volcanic soil and I felt very healed by the experience on every level because of the pristine remoteness.