Squaw Valley (on Mt. Shasta)

It is also called likely either South Gate Valley or North Gate Valley by people trying to be more politically correct but likely more than anything is just confusing everyone more and more who isn't a Mount Shasta local or who has been one in the past until 1992 like myself.

So, Today 2 friends and I drove up to the old Ski Bowl and took off on the trailhead than CAN take you to Squaw Valley. However, it might be helpful to have someone local go with you so you don't get lost on the wrong trail.

First you go up to the Saddle which is at least a 1000 foot vertical ascent or more so likely at that point you are at 9000 feet. Then you go down the hill the other side to about 8000 feet once more and you keep sloping down remembering you have to go to the left of Red Butte. This is very important because if you go to the right of Red Butte you will be lost unless you have a map or a gps finder of some kind.

So, as you are traveling to the left of Red Butte, eventually Squaw Valley if you follow the right trail over many rocks and trees you eventually wind up at Squaw Valley or whatever else people are calling it now who don't actually live here.

However, here is the other problem. Usually about 9 months of the year this is under snow. Even now there was some snow I had to walk around getting there and even some snow in Squaw Valley  which fell last Thursday or Friday.

So, very soon likely the road is going to close and it won't be practical to go to Squaw valley at all for most people because it will be under 2 or more feet of snow (up to 10 feet or more) within 3 to 4 months or even more than that.

Even at Bunny Flats I have personally seen 40 feet of snow and skied on top of it looking at only Tree tops in the 1980s with a friend of mine when we both were on metal edged mountaineering skis. And bunny Flats is only 6900 feet while Squaw Valley is likely 8000 to 9000 feet in elevation as it slopes up towards the top of Mt. Shasta. So, you can only imagine how much snow is there some years.

But, right now, if you are watching the weather patterns very carefully so no snow storms are going to snow you in unexpectedly it is still possible to go there if you are watching what the weather is doing so you don't get snowed in up there. For example, at 7pm PDT at the old Ski Bowl parking lot above Panther Meadows it was 61 degrees tonight Wednesday October 25th  and it was already dark which was quite surprising. However, Los Angeles was 104 degrees today along with Burbank and Anaheim as well.

And down in Town today in Mt. Shasta it was supposed to be 79 degrees at it's height which is unusual for this late in the year so we are having extreme Global Warming at this point everywhere.