South Gate & Panther Meadows
Mount Shasta upper slopes · near Mount Shasta · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 4.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 875 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–mid-Sept · Upper Everitt Hwy gate opens ~late June; wildflower peak mid-July–Aug
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- Shasta-Trinity NF; none below 10,000 ft. Panther Meadows is a sacred Winnemem Wintu site — stay on trail, never enter or drink from the springs. Dogs legal (leashed) but discouraged.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Spring-fed alpine meadows · Wildflower carpets · Shastarama Point & Thumb Rock · Sacred ceremonial springs
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Never walk through or drink from the meadow springs — they're sacred; skirt the edges on the trail.
The guide
The lushest ground on Shasta's flanks — spring-fed meadows that erupt in wildflowers just as the rest of the high country dries…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to South Gate & Panther Meadows — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.3585, -122.1975