- Shasta Cascade
The Shasta Cascade region of
California is located in the northeastern and north-central sections of the state borderingOregon andNevada , including far northern parts of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The area is centered onMount Shasta in the CaliforniaCascade Range , near theTrinity Alps . Mount Shasta is a dormantvolcano ; nearbyLassen Peak is recently active.The civic "capital" of the Shasta Cascade area is Redding; other cities and towns are Alturas, Biggs, Chico, Dunsmuir, Mt. Shasta, Red Bluff Oroville, Weed, Fall River Mills,
Burney , and Yreka. Counties included in the Shasta Cascade region include Butte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity.There are seven national forests in the area:
Klamath National Forest ,Lassen National Forest ,Mendocino National Forest ,Modoc National Forest ,Plumas National Forest andShasta-Trinity National Forest , as well as theLava Beds National Monument .The area is also well-known for its numerous lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, including
Shasta Lake ,Trinity Lake ,Lake Almanor ,Eagle Lake , andLake Siskiyou , theSacramento River ,McCloud River , and Trinity River, as well asMossbrae Falls , theMcCloud River Falls , andBurney Falls .Numerous parks and recreation opportunities fill the area including
Shasta Lake ,Lake Siskiyou ,Castle Crags State Park , a new park atUpper Soda Springs , theTrinity Alps ,Lava Beds National Monument ,Clair Engle Lake ,Castle Lake ,Lassen Volcanic National Park ,Caribou Wilderness ,Thousand Lakes Wilderness , and of course climbing Mount Shasta.Geologically, this region is similar to the main
Cascade Range , dominated by volcanism.Historically, the Shasta Cascade region was home to Native Americans of the
Modoc ,Maidu ,Okwanuchu ,Paiute ,Shasta ,Wintu , and Yana tribes, and sub-groups of those tribes.The first non-Native Americans entered the Shasta Cascade region by coming south along the
Siskiyou Trail fromOregon , or north along the Siskiyou Trail from central California or theSan Francisco Bay Area . These earliest explorers were likely British and American fur-trappers and traders in the 1820s and 1830s, although it is possible that Spanish explorers reached the southern edge of the Shasta Cascade region before 1820.The discovery of gold in 1851 at Yreka (and throughout Siskiyou and Trinity counties) brought
California Gold Rush -era prospectors up the rivers of the region in search of gold, leading to the first non-Native American settlements in the area, including at Old Shasta, Portuguese Flat,Upper Soda Springs , Weaverville, and Yreka itself.The poet
Joaquin Miller writes in detail about this area in his 1870s novel, "Life Amongst the Modocs," based on his own experiences as a young man living at the base of Mt. Shasta.ee also
* [http://www.museumsiskiyoutrail.org Museum of the Siskiyou Trail]
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