Sattitla Flow

• Visit with respect for a sacred place. This area includes portions of the ancestral homelands of the Pit River (Ajumawi—Atsugewi) and Modoc Peoples (Mo Wat Knii—Mo Docknii) and is of deep cultural significance for them and many other Indigenous peoples, including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana, and individual tribes that are members of these groups.
• The route can be ridden from when the area is snow-free in May or June through October. The Pit River Tribe holds a gathering on the third weekend of July each year. Camping will not be available, and the route should not be ridden to respect culturally important sites.
• Start from one of the four campgrounds around Medicine Lake. Vehicles can be left at a reserved campsite used on the night of arrival. Other nearby parking areas are day-use only, but there are pull-offs of Forest Service roads away from the lake.
• Nearby the Jot Dean Ice Cave is a convenient place to stash water when driving to the route.
• Little Mt. Hoffman Lookout is a reservable historic fire lookout. If you’re lucky, staying there would be a great way to start the trip. Otherwise, be respectful if you choose to ride to the summit of anyone you’re sharing the views with.
• There are lots of off-bike exploration opportunities on sharp volcanic basalt. Use extreme care if wearing sandals or bring close-toed shoes.
• Donations to Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center can help advocate for the protection of this area and enable the region’s first co-stewardship management plan to be created for Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. National conservation non-profits and direct outreach to elected representatives can also make your voice heard for the permanent protection of national monuments.

• For the night before the trip, there are four Modoc National Forest campgrounds around Medicine Lake that are reservable through recreation.gov or on site for $15 per night.
• For the first night, free campgrounds with vault toilets exist at Paynes Spring, Blanche Lake, and Bullseye Lake. All are beautiful.
• Dispersed camping without water access is possible on the route, excluding day-use areas.

• There are no services on route and very few in the area, the closest restaurants being in McCloud or Tulelake.
• Campgrounds around Medicine Lake have spigots. Filterable water from a spring-fed pond exists at mile 9. Each campsite on the first night has access to filterable water.
• No water exists between mile 9 and 40. However, water can be stashed before starting the route at mile 22 nearby Jot Dean Ice Cave on the drive in. Hide water containers to avoid a visual disturbance, do not leave anything inside the ice cave, do not leave any food or gear due to bear activity, and do not abandon anything in the forest after your trip.

Begin the trip on the beautiful shores of Medicine Lake. The expansive lake lies at the bottom of the Medicine Lake Caldera and has no outlet for its crystal-clear waters. The lake and its surrounding highlands are part of the creation story for the Pit River Tribe, and they are a spiritual center for healing, ceremony, and culture for the Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, and Klamath. In 1999, some 33,000 acres were designated as a Traditional Cultural Property under the National Register of Historic Places, which was expanded to 73,000 in 2007. The now 224,676-acre Satittla National Monument you will experience is a testament to the scale of Indigenous connection to this place. Circle the lake on a paved road, then start climbing to the rim of the caldera. Medicine Lake Volcano is the largest volcano by volume in the Cascades and created this massive crater when it erupted 100,000 years ago.

From the rim, a stunning view is just a steep climb away at the Little Mt. Hoffman Lookout. The now-reservable lookout provides views down to Medicine Lake and of the lava flows of the next day’s riding, with Mt. Shasta and the southern Cascades towering in every direction. The sights are well worth the trip up, but so is the dirt descent to the day’s first lava stop.

Pull off to the left at Little Glass Mountain and feel the obsidian, rhyolite, and pumice. Be careful on lava flows and handle obsidian with care. Obsidian from this flow was not used by Indigenous peoples for tool construction because it breaks too erratically. The road turns into washboarded pumice before you turn to briefly descend on a paved road.

Pass fresh water at Pumice Stone Well and colorful views of Pumice Stone Mountain and Paint Pot Crater at Tilted Stone Lava Flow before turning into the open meadow of Grasshopper Flat. From here, climb up seldom-used dirt roads to the border of Giant Crater Lava Flow. This flow is 28 miles long and has one of the longest lava tubes in the world at 14 miles. Explore the vents of this flow for some giggly fun at Shastice Crater, where, if you and a buddy explore just right, you can look at each other through a 50-foot-deep hole.

An excellent lunch stop is Jot Dean Ice Cave, where you can refill water for the afternoon if you stashed containers here on the drive in. Dropping below the surface, you’ll quickly feel the cool air that lets ice persist year-round at the bottom of the cave. Start the afternoon with a fun descent and adventurous climb through the shaded woods. The second half of the day involves climbing much of what the morning descended on, with ridable grades and partial shade.

Just as the afternoon heat starts to feel heavy on your back, look to the right at Burnt Lava Flow and find Yellowjacket Cave, cozier but just as hospitable as Jot Dean Ice Cave. Continue around the perimeter of Burnt Lava Flow with views of High Hole Crater. A shortcut up 43N17 along the likely dry Paynes Creek will save some miles and climbing before camp.

Climb up through old-growth ponderosa pine from the east side of the monument to return to the volcanic highlands. At the top, three excellent camping options are available. Paynes Springs offers a meadow near a stream, while Blanche and Bullseye lakes both have abundant spots near the water. Each have pit toilet but otherwise feel far away from civilization; the area is one of the darkest and quietest places in California.

The next day begins with a speedy descent and pedal out to some of the limited pavement on the route. A viewpoint to the right gives a commanding view of the Modoc Plateau before an easy-to-miss left turn back onto dirt. You’ll get your first views of Glass Mountain peeking out of the red fir forest at the highest elevations on the route.

Just 950 years ago (that’s not old, and neither are you), Glass Mountain erupted and flowed from the caldera rim down the slope of the shield volcano. Stop at a bulldozer cut to explore this nascent landscape. Even if you brought your all-terrain bike, the sharp obsidian will be unfriendly to tires, and it is best to navigate on foot. Obsidian quarried within Sáttítla Highlands National Monument was an important resource in a broad Indigenous trade network throughout northern California, the California Coast, and southern Oregon. Leave stones behind, but appreciate the massive scale of the lava flow perched at 7,000 feet.

Depart on dustry, well-traveled roads back down into the caldera. On the right, you can spot a site used for geothermal energy exploration with a California Prop 65 sign about dangerous chemicals. The creation of geothermal power plants relying on the heated water of Medicine Lake Volcano and sprawling with transmission lines and large footprints has been and remains the greatest threat to the natural environment and Indigenous cultural significance of the Sáttítla Highlands. Geothermal development risks contaminating the area’s massive aquifer and altering hydrology that could dry up last night’s campsites, springs, and lakes, or destroy the sacred healing properties of Medicine Lake. Surface development would destroy cultural sites and Indigenous access, but also ruin your recreational experience of biking through this peaceful landscape. After protracted resistance by tribes and environmental groups since geothermal leases were issued in the 1980s, legal victories, and the 2025 monument designation have kept development off the land and water. Now, as federal agencies orient toward increasing resource extraction on public lands and challenging existing monument designations, environmental regulations, and tribal relationships, the threat is as real as ever.

By now, volcanic dust coats your bike frame and sunscreen-clad body. As you roll your last few miles, consider the role you play as a recreationist in advocating for the places you connect to. Bikes may be simple machines, but the relationships they bring us into are intricately complex. Make a left on a snowmobile track that parallels the last flow of the trip, Glass Lake Flow. Alternatively, for a little more volcanism or reflection, continue straight on pavement to the Fourmile Hill Tree Molds and return on NF Rd 77 with a quick hike to Crater Glass Flow and Pumice Crater Geologic Area.

End the ride back at Medicine Lake with a swim that will feel like the best thing in the world.