Hoffman Crosscountry

Getting There

First you have to find Medicine Lake. Take one of these routes.
Four primary routes access Medicine Lake Highlands:
1) From the town of Tulelake on Highway 139, follow the signs to the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge; then proceed south through the Lava Beds National Monument and follow the signs along Forest Road 49 to Medicine Lake. This route is a part of the Modoc Volcanic Scenic Byway
2) From 17 miles south of Tulelake on Highway 139, take County Road 97 and travel 22 miles west to Medicine Lake.
3) From Highway 299, travel north on Highway 89 just east of Burney. Follow Highway 89 north to Bartle and take Forest Road 49 northward.
4) From Interstate 5, take Highway 89 eastward from Mt. Shasta City to Bartle, then northward on Forest Road 49.

Now that you are at Medicine Lake head north from the National Forest Campground about 7.5 miles on road 49 to the intersection with road 44N01. Turn east and go 2.9 miles to a small access road on your right and turn south up this road. I was only able to go about 1.0 mile up this road before I was stopped by down trees across the road.

Route Description

I followed the road from where the trees blocked the road and in .5 mile turned right towards a geothermal well site. At the geothermal well site, turn directly towards Mount Hoffman and head into the forest. Make sure you have a good compass bearing or a GPS waypoint set on Mount Hoffman to keep you on course. The entire hike is through a forest canopy with little to use as landmarks. Just keep heading uphill. You have to climb about 1,300 ft in 1.5 miles to get to the summit. From the summit you can see Medicine Lake to the southwest. The easy part is finding the summit. The hard part is finding your car…

Essential Gear

The 10 essentials are always required. Make sure you have a map to find Medicine Lake and you know how to use a compass or GPS in finding Mount Hoffman. The forest is thick enough to obstruct views and it would be easy to get lost or turn in the wrong direction. There are black bears in the area, and I saw one on road 49 driving to Medicine Lake. Take proper precautions.

Images

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