Rhyolite Ridge Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Fall Colors · Views · Wildflowers

There are no amenities at the roadside pull-out on BLM Road 40-2E-33. There is a vault toilet at the Pilot Rock Trail a little farther down the road.

This short hike gives you splendid views of Mount Shasta and the Shasta Valley at almost any time of the year. The views are often sharpest in late fall and early winter when the air is clearest. In late spring and early summer, the ridge hosts a number of delightfully colorful wildflower species.

The shortest access is from where the PCT crosses BLM Road 40-2E-33 (the road to the Pilot Rock Trail) just one mile east of the old Siskiyou Pass Highway. Parking here is in pull-outs alongside the road. From there, it's a mile south on the PCT to where the trail to Rhyolite Ridge veers off to the right (south). The trail is actually a very old, faded two-track road.

Follow the trail along the west side of Point 5401, through a patch of forest, to where the view opens up on the south side of Point 5401. Mount Shasta will stand out to the south, the impressive west face of Pilot Rock will fill the eastern horizon, and Mount Ashland and the Siskiyou Crest will be to the west.

To reach its southern end, start at the Pilot Rock Trail, walk up the Pilot Rock Trail to its junction with the Lone Pilot Trail and the PCT: Highway 5 to Highway 140 (near Fish Lake). Cross the PCT and go about 500 feet south on the Lone Pilot Trail then turn right (west) up the slope to the ridge top.