Mt. Eddy & Dead Fall Lakes

Around 14 miles of great, paved country roads separate Interstate 5 from the trailhead to Dead Fall Lakes.

Take the Edgewood & Gazelle exit 751, just north of the town of Weed and proceed Northwest up Stewart Springs Rd. Very shortly turn left turn to continue on Stewart Springs Rd and head towards the mountains.

Resetting your trip counter here is a good idea since it's about 4.7 miles from here that you'll take a right turn onto Forest Road 17 (aka Parks Creek Rd). Continue along this road and use GPS to locate the trailhead and parking area, on the left side of the road.

From here at the trailhead the journey proceeds on foot. The single-track route begins very close to the roadside and is labeled with a Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) sign.

Keep to the narrow trail which runs parallel to the road before curving to the left. Ignore the wider faint fire road which heads straight for the mountain.

Continue along the narrow PCT trail which continues at the other side of the fire trail.

From here to the Dead Fall lakes there's only an increase of 400ft elevation gain, meaning you can put most of your effort into admiring the wide landscape vistas over the nearby terrain and the more distant Trinity Alps to the South West.

The 3 mile hike to Dead Fall Lakes concludes here, just past a small creek.

Meltwater from the remaining snowpack on the mountains which now surround you on three sides have a great impact on this area, which means that finding the continuation of the trail might be difficult here.

If you're continuing on to climb Mt. Eddy - a further 2½ miles and 1800ft from here - then take a left turn at this junction and continue on a route which follows the general direction of our trail.

Dead Fall Lakes is also a great place to pitch a tent and enjoy some great backpacking country.

After climbing a steep hill, bear left and head for the summit trail - a relatively pleasant uphill walk, rarely rocky, and with switchbacks making the final part of the climb as straightforward as the rest.

After 2,225ft of uphill climbing, you've finally reached the 9,025ft summit of Mt. Eddy!

Views from the summit are superb, and include the first and only views of Mt. Shasta that you'll see from this trail.