Gray Butte (Mt. Shasta)
Mount Shasta (Panther Meadows) · near Mount Shasta · Shasta Cascade
Hiking · Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3.4 miles
- Elevation gain
- 800 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–October (high trailhead, snow-free window)
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Distance
- 6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,100 ft
- Best season
- July–October (snow-free up high)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit for the day hike (climbing Mount Shasta itself requires a summit pass and is a mountaineering objective). Starts high at Panther Meadows on the flanks of the volcano.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
- How the permit works
- No permit for day running below the wilderness climbing zone. A free self-issue wilderness permit and (above 10,000 ft) a summit pass apply to the actual Shasta climb — not needed for the Gray Butte / Panther Meadows trails.
What is here
- Features
- High on Mount Shasta's flanks · Sacred Panther Meadows · Views over the Cascades · Wildflower meadows in summer
- Features
- High trails on a 14,179-ft volcano · Sacred Panther Meadows springs · Wildflowers & alpine air · Views across the Cascades
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Panther Meadows is a sacred site to local Native tribes and an extremely fragile subalpine meadow — stay strictly on the trails and treat it with respect. The high starting elevation means altitude can affect you; take it slow. This is a short-season hike — the access road and meadows are snow-free only roughly July through October.
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- singletrack
- Intl tip
- Drive the Everitt Memorial Highway from the town of Mount Shasta up to Bunny Flat / Panther Meadows. The actual summit climb is a separate, serious mountaineering objective (climbing guide). Combine with Burney Falls and Lassen (hiking guide) for a far-north volcanic tour. Respect the sacred meadows — stay on trail.
The guide
Gray Butte is the accessible way to experience the high slopes of Mount Shasta without a mountaineering expedition — a moderate…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Gray Butte (Mt. Shasta) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.356, -122.202