Heart Lake (via Castle Lake)
Mount Shasta (Trinity Divide) · near Mount Shasta · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,175 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Late June–Oct snow-free; also a winter snowshoe (road plowed to Castle Lake)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- Shasta-Trinity NF; no fee or permit. Leashed dogs allowed.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Iconic Mt Shasta reflection · Alpine tarn above Castle Lake · Granite cirque & wildflowers · Half-day payoff
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Go at sunrise for the mirror; by midday wind ripples the surface and kills the reflection.
The guide
The single most photographed reflection of Mount Shasta comes from this tiny pond perched above Castle Lake — the peak mirrored…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Heart Lake (via Castle Lake) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.2296, -122.3808