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7 Wagon Creek Falls
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Location: Mt. Shasta City, Shasta National Forest, Siskiyou County
Height: 38 ft.
Access:   
Distance: 6.0 miles (RT)
Elevation: 3800 ft. (+1100 ft.)
Season: Apr-Jul
Difficulty: 
Lat/Long:41.33738, -122.40818
Directions:From I-5 at Mt. Shasta City (62 miles north of Redding), take the 2nd exit to Mt. Shasta City (W. Lake St.). Turn left (west) on W. Lake St. (Hatchery Ln) and drive 0.5 miles to N. Old Stage Rd. Turn right and drive 2.6 miles to Davis Place Rd. Turn left and drive 0.8 miles to the trailhead, located at a sharp left turn of the road, and a green gate on the right. Park at the pullout beside the gate.
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Wagon Creek Falls is a very nice little 38 ft. high waterfall on Wagon Creek, near Mt. Shasta City, but it is a pain (literally) to get to.
From the trailhead on Davis Rd., the trail climbs up to the top of Rainbow Ridge, a small mountain. It is a very steep and strenuous climb, 1100 ft. in about a mile. The trail does not fool around, climbing straight up the mountain, and I mean straight up, a very steep ascent all the way to the top. When you finally get to the top of the ridge (and it will take a while), notice the great views around you of Mt. Shasta and Black Butte, in between trying to catch your breath. Shortly after reaching the top, you will reach a junction. Head right, and you will not be happy to learn that the trail starts descending back down (that means you have to go back up on the return trip). Fortunately, it is not so steep a descent, but it is not too flat either. In fact, there are pretty much no flat spots on the entire trail, you are either going up or down (or both).
After about 2.75 miles, you will reach another junction. The main trail makes a left turn and starts ascending again after a downhill portion. Take the right trail, which is a road making another very steep ascent up towards Wagon Creek. This road goes up and then back down in a steep descent to Wagon Creek. Just before Wagon Creek is a small creek or ditch. Cross this and continue to the edge of the Wagon Creek drainage. Look to the left and you will see Wagon Creek Falls, dropping off 38 ft. In the spring, it will be a very impressive torrent of water.
Getting down to Wagon Creek Falls will be quite difficult, especially in the spring, I suspect. Scramble upstream through the brush, looking for a descent route to the creek. Once down at the creek, it will be difficult to get up to the falls due to all the brush. I had to cross Wagon Creek, and scramble up the embankment on the other side. This may be very difficult to do in the spring. When I was here (winter) it was fairly easy, and it gave me a very nice overlook of the waterfall.
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Other waterfalls nearby:
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