Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta is a beautiful mountain in Northern California, about 4 hours north of San Francisco. The town (also called Mount Shasta) is a cute, hippy place with an unusually high concentration of crystal shops.

*** = recommended by Luke/Liz

Places to Stay

  • ***MountINN - www.shastamountinn.com, our favorite place to stay, David is a wonderful host and has thought of everything to make your comfortable in this cozy, beautiful, quiet place

  • McCloud Hotel - a nice, quaint B&B in McCloud (the next town over from Shasta)

Places to Eat

  • ***Bistro 107 (formerly Billy Goat Tavern) - 107 Chestnut St, garlic & sweet potato fries, "wino burger" is great, nice pulled pork too, bistro107.com, closed Tues/Wed, open 11-9 Thurs-Mon

  • Trinity Cafe - 622 N. Mt. Shasta Blvd (Mt. Shasta), 530-926-6200, somewhat fancier place, nice food, was closed for a while but open as of September 2016, dinner only, closed Sun/Mon

  • ??El Bululú Arepera - Venezuelan arepas, M-Sat 10-5, 530-859-6656

  • ??Wassayaks (former site of Yaks) - coffee shop that also serves breakfast & lunch www.wassayaks.com

  • Mt. Shasta Supermarket - barbeque on Saturdays

  • Seven Suns - coffee/pastries, south end of Shasta (near Lilys/Casa Ramos)

  • Berryvale Cafe/Grocery - organic grocery store with hippy cafe www.berryvale.com

  • ??Lucile's Tavolino - former site of Strings restaurant, www.lucillestavolino.com, not open yet as of September 2016

  • ?Casa Ramos (Mexican) - 1136 S Mount Shasta Blvd, 530-926-0250, small family chain, Seafood Molcajete rec'd, www.casaramos.net (one chowhound rec's Lalo's at 520 N Mount Shasta Blvd instead...)

  • ?Lilys Restaurant (formerly Shasta Pinnacle) - 1013 S. Mt. Shasta Blvd, 530-926-3372, www.lilysrestaurant.com, possibly overrated?

  • ?Mount Shasta Pastry - pastry shop that has breakfast (and weekday lunch) www.mountshastapastry.com

  • ?Wayside Grill (?? popular on Yelp)

  • ?Burger Express - rec'd by some CHs

  • ?Poncho & Lefkowitz - Mexican?

  • ?Phuket Thai - ?

  • ?Andaman's Healthy Thai Cuisine (popular on Yelp, but probably go to Sengthorn's instead?)

  • [Mike & Tony's - Italian restaurant, doesn't look great]

  • ***Maruti Indian Restaurant - www.maruti-restaurant.com, 530-918-9399, closed Tues/Wed, dinner only, vegetarian, the chef used to work at Dosa in SF and makes the best Indian food in the area; don't miss the tikka masala and rajmah --> alas, closed!

  • The Skillet - 610 S. Mt. Shasta Blvd, 530-926-4047 (closed?)

  • Piemont (Italian) - 1200 S. Mt. Shasta Blvd, 530-926-2402 --> closed!

  • In Dunsmuir (~12 min south)

    • ***Sengthong's Blue Sky Room (Thai) - 5855 Dunsmuir Ave, 530-235-4770, sengthongsrestaurant.com we ate here once, it was very good...although service was a bit slow, Thurs-Sun 4:30-9 PM (dinner only), used to be two restaurants (Sengthon's and the Blue Sky Room...chef is the same as Sengthon's

    • ***Cafe Maddelena - 5801 Sacramento Ave, 530-235-2725, www.cafemaddalena.com fancier place but probably one of the best restaurants in the region, local and fresh (now owned by Trinity Cafe people...used to be Sardinian), open Thurs-Sun 5-9 PM (dinner only)

    • ??The Wheelhouse - www.thewheelhousedunsmuir.com, (started by former Dogwood Diner employees), mostly breakfast stuff, closed Mon/Tues, open Sun/Wed/Thurs 6-4, Fri/Sat 6-9.

    • Friday Barbeque at Manfredi's Food & Gas Depot - rec'd by CHs, especially for tri tip (e.g. see this thread)

    • ?Yak's on the 5 - gourmet burgers

    • ?Dunsmuir Brewery Works www.dunsmuirbreweryworks.com

    • ?Cornerstone Bakery & Cafe

    • ?Railroad Park Resort Dinner House and Lounge

    • ?Burger Barn

    • Mexican: La Perla De Nayarit

    • Dogwood Diner --> closed

    • Salt H2O - 5740 Dunsmuir Ave, 530-235-4988 [closed?]

  • In McCloud (~16 min east):

    • ...not much rec'd on Chowhound (shasta sunset dinner train is closed), but places popular on Yelp:

      • White Mountain Cafe, Historic Mercantile Building, 245 Main St, deli/diner

      • Sage Restaurant at the McCloud Hotel - mccloudhotel.com/the-inn/dining/, Wed-Sun 5:30-8 PM (dinner only)

      • Aaron's @ McCloud River Lodge, 140 Squaw Valley Rd, (530) 964-2700, www.mccloudlodge.com --> closed

  • In Castella (~18 min south): Chevron station with deli in back, good burritos (say CHs)

Things to Do/See

  • Sacramento River Headwaters - in Mount Shasta City Park, people bring jugs to collect the water http://msrec.org/city-park/city-park-headquarters/headwaters-spring/

  • Mount Shasta Downtown

    • various crystal shops; the Crystal Room has perhaps the most impressive collection but many others are interesting as well

    • Sereni-tea is run by a tea-loving German expat

  • Shasta-Trinity National Forest - a large area that includes the mountain itself

    • Mount Shasta - the mountain itself features hiking, etc; head up the Everitt Memorial Highway to get to the trailheads. Between November 1st and when the snow melts you can only get as far as Bunny Flats, but outside of that time you can drive all the way to Panther Meadow.

    • McCloud River - easy hiking and small waterfalls

    • Little Glass Mountain - obsidian mountain, about 1.5 hours from downtown Mount Shasta...this volcano is a newer eruption from an older caldera which is now Medicine Lake...north of here is Lava Beds National Monument, which features rock art petroglyphs (although they may be inaccessible due to vandalism?)

      • note that it's illegal to remove obsidian, but Modoc National Forest, another 1.5 hours away, has obsidian mines where it is legal

  • McArthur-Burney Falls State Park - a beautiful waterfall

  • Mossbrae Falls - a very wide waterfall that goes down a moss-covered canyon wall, in Dunsmuir