Medicine Lake Highlands (Glass Mountain)
Medicine Lake Volcano, Modoc/Shasta-Trinity NF · near Bartle / McCloud · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3 miles
- Elevation gain
- 400 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–September · High (~6,700+ ft); snowbound and roads closed much of the year
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- Modoc/Shasta-Trinity NF; no permit (developed campgrounds have fees). The obsidian is razor-sharp — sturdy boots, no sandals; do not collect obsidian (protected). No marked trail on the flows (cross-country). Leashed dogs allowed.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Caldera of the Cascades' largest-volume volcano · Glass Mountain obsidian flow (~900 yrs old) · Little Glass Mountain · Medicine Lake — swimming, camping, dark skies
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The obsidian is razor-sharp — wear sturdy boots and gloves, never sandals, and don't collect or remove obsidian (it's protected). Treat it as cross-country travel; there's no marked trail on the flows.
The guide
Medicine Lake sits in the caldera atop the Medicine Lake Volcano — by volume the largest volcano in the Cascades. The showpiece…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Medicine Lake Highlands (Glass Mountain) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.5876, -121.6072