Jot Dean Cave

I might have liked to call this article, Medicine Lake which was where we were trying to get to but the snow got too deep even in 4 wheel drive in my truck. No other truck made it all the way there either lately. But, people with snowmobiles likely have because I saw their tracks along the road heading up further. So, after a very tricky manuever  to turn around in deep snow. Basically we were on a hill with snow reaching up almost to my undercarriage on my Tundra 4 wheel drive and we noticed that the road ended and no one made it any further and I knew I didn't want to get stuck out there. So, we backed up carefully to where the snow was a tiny bit melted out where someone else had successfully turned around their 4 wheel drive too. So, I warned everyone on board that it might snap their necks a little when I snapped the wheel and made the car go sideways skidding so I could do this more easily. The put their heads up against their headrests and I backed up and snapped the wheel. Luckily, I didn't get stuck and I was able to make the turn around in about 3 tries because of the sideways move.

Earlier in the day (we didn't know Medicine lake was snowed in from Cars and trucks) we climbed down into Jot Dean Cave.

Note: Basically, there are lava tubes around parts of Mt. Shasta, so we visited one of these called the Jot Dean Cave which is an Lava tube and Ice cave. When you go in (usually any time of year) the temperature hovers around 28 to 30 degrees. I talked to a lady whose grandad had kept the deer he killed for eating in their year around way back when to keep the meat refrigerated for eating later there in Jot Dean Cave but this likely was 70 or more years ago. This is an extremely remote area and so you must prepare to go into an area like this in case you have a car breakdown. So, you need water, food, and anything else you might need. My daughter said she could only get about 1 bar on her Iphone5 which allowed her to download maps part of the time. Maps with Gps coordinates are helpful in actually pinpointing where some of these caves are even though the Jot Dean Cave is clearly marked and right next to the road. I was pretty impressed with the cave and so were my friends and my daughter who is around 25 now. They went deeper than I chose to because they had to slide down a frozen water fall hanging onto rocks frozen in the frozen waterfall to get to a place to the left where they said they went another 30 feet down into the lava tube.

We also found two other lava tubes that we could walk through 100 feet or more in one entrance and out the other. My friend was saying there is one lava tube that is 18 miles long. I told him I wasn't going to walk through it even if we found it.

We took headlamps and a few flashlights and clothes and boots for this kind of situation. I suppose you could take ropes in but most good climbers who are safe enough won't need ropes. But, just remember a human didn't built this place and every single rock of the lava tube could come down on you (all or one or none) any given moment while you are doing this sort of thing. So, there is some risk involved even if it is on that day not banging your head on low rock outcroppings above you or not sliding on the ice on the rocks in some places underground. My friend fell 5 feet into a hole at one point because he didn't have his headlamp on right then for example. But, he didn't break anything luckily.

To get there (very remote) about 30 miles from the nearest gas station or civilization of any kind.
Go down hiway 89 from Mt. Shasta passed McCloud to Bartle then left on the road towards Medicine Lake. Some of the Ice cave lava tubes are on the way to medicine lake. Also, I think during the summer you can also drive 45 miles at one point all the way to Lava Beds national Monument if you are fairly brave and are okay going that remote with a vehicle. Be sure to be prepared for anything for best results and a happy trip there.

Note: I did this one spring or summer  a few years ago in my Gold Lexus SUV full time 4 wheel drive that I used to own from Lava Beds back to Medicine Lake. At the time I had planned to go back to Lava bed after seeing  Medicine Lake but when I found the roads were paved south from Medicine lake I decided to go to Bartle and out to Mt. Shasta city on Hiway 89 as it was much shorter then than having to go back to Lava Beds and back that way.  One of the really cool things we saw at Medicine lake (the entire trip we maybe saw about 5 cars) from Lava Beds to Bartle was seeing a full grown Golden Eagle up close eating a fish at the edge of Medicine lake (what a treat!) end note.

2nd note: My friend called me and told me 2 feet of snow has fallen at Sand Flats on Mt. Shasta so the cross country skiing up at Bunny Flats and on up to Panther Meadows and Horse Camp should be good soon if not now.

3rd note: Likely there is now at least 2 feet of snow part of the way from Bartle to Jot Dean Cave as well so be careful if you try to go there now so you don't get stuck without any help  out there.