Mount Shasta City Park: A Walk through Nature
Just outside of Downtown Mount Shasta, you’ll find a bio-diverse sanctuary home to the head waters of the Sacramento River.
Photography by Gregory Farrar
Throughout the many visits to Mount Shasta as a child, going to City Park was always a fond memory. The photos taken and the memories serve as how much can happen in just one place. Although some things have changed over the years, the quick nature hike loop feels just as it was more than two decades ago. Walking along the wooden walkways, under a thick canopy of diverse trees, while the short reeds of a species of the surrounding bamboo feel like a disconnect from the typical mountain ecology. This microcosm of biodiversity shows just how much can grow in protected and maintained environments.
At one end of the park just beyond the play structures, you’ll find one of the few headwaters springs that eventually feed the Sacramento River. This local watering hole has been a sacred place for a long time. The water seems to rush forth from out of the side of the ground. Much different from the typical vertical bubbling of a spring. Although I know there was a time before the signs warning of the untested water quality of the springs, you’ll still find travelers refilling their jugs and containers of the sacred water. In years recent you’ll also find an interesting band of individuals that hover around the resource. Wandering nomads, eclectic artists, and interesting folk seem to use the area as a place for gathering and community under the shade of some of the oldest trees in the city.
The park has hosted different events in the past and continues to be an important favorite for visitors and residents alike, although other spots around the city have equally gained popularity. Although city park isn’t the best place to cool off, as wading in the water is prohibited, occasionally on a hot summers day, you may find the large sprinklers working to keep the park grass green. Just be careful, the water is cold, and the grass is slick…
Photography by Gregory Farrar
