Black Butte
Mount Shasta (beside I-5) · near Mount Shasta · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 5.2 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,800 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- May–October · Brutally hot and exposed midsummer — spring/fall or a dawn start
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- Shasta-Trinity NF; none. No water and full sun — risky for dogs in heat (leashed allowed).
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Perfect cinder cone beside I-5 · 360° summit staring into Shasta's west face · Talus & rock-hopping · Old lookout site
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Carry more water than you think (2+ liters) and wear real shoes — the tread is loose scree and the last stretch has mild exposure.
The guide
The dark, symmetrical plug cone jammed against I-5 is irresistible, and the trail delivers a relentless spiral up talus to a su…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Black Butte — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.373, -122.327