Hirz Cabin
Lakehead, Shasta County, California. Cabin.
Details
- Where
- 100 Hirz Bay Rd., Lakehead, CA. Directions
- Getting there
- I-5 north to exit 698 (Gilman Road), 10 miles on Gilman Road to the Hirz Bay Campground sign, right on Hirz Bay Rd, cabin is the first road on the right.
- Fees
- $16 daily fee to use the boat ramp.
- Access
- Vandalism has ended solar power; the fridge, oven and hot water heater still operate, but general power (outlets, fans, lights) no longer works.
- Walk-in or reserve
- Call (530) 275-8113 one week before arrival for entry code.
- Phone
- (530)275-8113
- Managed by
- Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
Hirz Cabin stands among manzanita and oak on a hilltop above the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake. The way in leaves Interstate 5 at Gilman Road and runs east ten miles by one set of directions on the reservation page, eleven by another, to the Hirz Bay Campground sign. The cabin is the first road on the right off Hirz Bay Road. Its door opens by a code given out by telephone a week before arrival, and the parking area holds one boat with its tow vehicle and four cars.
Inside are three bedrooms, two upstairs and one down, and two bathrooms. Two queen beds and two twin beds sleep six, with room for inflatable mattresses on the main floor. There is no bedding, so guests bring sleeping bags or blankets. The cabin has a full kitchen, a laundry, a dining table with four chairs, a sofa, and a large deck for lawn chairs. The Shasta-Trinity National Forest lists it as non-electric. Vandalism ended its solar power. The refrigerator, oven and hot water heater still run, but the outlets, fans and lights do not. There is no Wi-Fi, amplified sound is not allowed, and poison oak is abundant.
The Hirz Bay boat ramp is about a mile away and charges $16 a day. Resorts on the lake rent watercraft and sell fuel. Lake Shasta lies at 1,067 feet and has 365 miles of shoreline. The forest lists trout, catfish, Chinook salmon, crappie, bluegill, white sturgeon, brown bullhead and bass in its waters. The two-mile Hirz Bay Trail starts at the campground. Farther along the McCloud Arm, at a place called the Grey Rocks, the privately owned Lake Shasta Caverns give tours daily.
The lake and the town of Lakehead lie within the Shasta Unit of the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, about 123,100 acres of unincorporated Shasta County. A county planning staff report says Congress authorized the recreation area in 1965 under Public Law 89-336. The Planning Commission resolution that accompanied the report, adopted May 11, 2023, gives the year as 1967. In 1967 the county laid its own zone district over the private lands inside the unit.
Hirz Mountain Lookout, also rented through the forest, stands nearby at 3,500 feet. From it the views take in Mount Lassen and the snow on Mount Shasta, the second-tallest peak in the Cascade Range.