Northern California Alpine Road Trip: Everything Between Lake Tahoe and Mount Shasta
Northern California Alpine Road Trip: Everything Between Lake Tahoe and Mount Shasta
Why This Drive Became Its Own Part of the Story
When people ask about my seven day solo project through Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta, they usually picture the mountains themselves. The ski lines, the summit push, the big alpine shots. Nobody asks about the driving. But the truth is that a huge part of this trip happened behind the wheel of my van, moving between locations, thinking through the next shot, and adjusting plans on the fly. The road between Lake Tahoe and Mount Shasta is not just a way to get from one mountain to the next. It is part of the project itself.
I left South Lake Tahoe at the start of the week with a general plan and a lot of flexibility built in on purpose. I knew I wanted to reach Mount Lassen first, spend a few days there shooting and skiing, and then continue north toward Mount Shasta for the bigger climb. What I did not know exactly was how the weather, the road closures, and my own energy level would shape the actual route day by day.
That flexibility mattered almost immediately. On day two, I found out the south entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park was closed, which meant an extra hour and a half of driving to reach the north entrance near Manzanita Lake instead. Plans like this rarely survive contact with the actual mountain, and the drive between Tahoe and Shasta taught me that early and often.
Living and Working Out of the Van Between Stops
A lot of the actual work on this trip happened in the van, not on a trail or a summit. Between driving stretches, I used the time to handle editing, review footage from the day before, and take care of the administrative side of a multi brand project. Solo work does not pause just because you are covering distance. If anything, driving days became some of the more productive hours of the whole week, since I had fewer distractions than I did once I reached a shoot location.
I also slept in the van most nights along this route, in a normal full sized bed rather than a sleeping bag setup. That made a real difference in how rested I felt heading into physically demanding days. A tired photographer makes worse decisions, and a long drive followed by a bad night of sleep is a fast way to ruin the next day of shooting before it even starts.
Some nights I parked on public land, picking a spot that let me wake up early without needing to drive far to reach my first location of the day. Other nights were shorter stops, just enough rest before an early alarm. Planning where to sleep became its own small daily puzzle, one that mattered just as much as planning the shots I wanted to get.
What the Landscape Actually Looks Like Along the Way
The drive north from Tahoe toward Lassen and then on to Shasta moves through a huge range of Northern California terrain. You pass through forested stretches, open volcanic landscape, and small towns that most people driving through never stop to look at closely. I found some of my favorite unplanned moments of the whole trip happening along this route, not at the big named landmarks.
Mill Creek was one of those stops. I pulled over there on a foggy morning when flying my drone was not really an option, and ended up with some of the quieter, more honest shots of the entire project. That kind of stop only happens when you give yourself permission to slow down along a drive instead of treating it as dead time between the real locations.
The terrain also changes the way you think about a shoot before you even arrive. Watching Lassen and later Shasta come into view from a distance gave me time to think about angles, light, and how I wanted to approach each mountain differently. By the time I actually reached a trailhead, I had already been thinking about the shoot for hours, which made the actual work once I arrived feel less rushed.
Handling Supplies and Logistics on the Move
A trip like this requires more supply planning than people expect. Food, water, fuel, and camera equipment all have to be managed across a week where you might not see a real grocery store for days. I used stops in small towns along the route to restock what I needed, including a supply run into the town of Mount Shasta itself before starting the bigger climb.
That same stop in town was also where I handled getting a summit permit for Mount Shasta, along with catching up on editing and admin work in the van. Combining logistics like this into one stop saved time I needed later, since every hour spent on errands was an hour not spent shooting or resting before a demanding climb.
I also used driving time to think through gear needs for the next stage of the trip. Moving from ski focused days on Lassen into a two night alpine push on Shasta meant switching mental gears completely, from ski gear and lighter days to crampons, an ice axe, and a much heavier pack for a longer, more serious climb.
Why the In Between Moments Matter for the Full Story
When I look back at this whole seven day project, the driving days are not the ones anyone asks me about first. But they were essential to how the rest of the trip actually worked. Without the flexibility of the van and the ability to adjust plans on the road, a closed park entrance or an unexpected supply run could have derailed the entire schedule.
The road between Tahoe and Shasta also gave me time to process what I had already shot and think honestly about what was still missing. Editing a little each day, even during a driving stretch, kept me from arriving at the end of the trip with a pile of footage I did not fully understand. It is a small habit, but it made a real difference in how organized I felt by the final day.
I think anyone planning a similar trip through this part of Northern California should build in the same kind of flexibility I did. Do not treat the drive as just a way to get from one mountain to the next. Give yourself room to stop, to adjust, and to actually look at what is around you along the way. Some of the best material from this entire project came from moments I never planned for on a route I thought I already understood.
Looking back, the drive between Lake Tahoe and Mount Shasta ended up teaching me as much about this project as either mountain did on its own. It forced me to stay flexible, to treat logistics as part of the creative process instead of a chore standing in the way of it, and to notice the smaller moments that do not show up on a map but end up mattering just as much as the summit shots everyone expects to see.
Dalton Johnson is a commercial photographer and director of photography based in South Lake Tahoe, California. Over the last decade he has worked with brands including Patagonia, GoPro, Arc'teryx, Four Seasons, Nike, Rivian, and Big Agnes across all seven continents. He documents adventure, travel, and the outdoors through photography, film, and writing. Follow along at dalton-johnson.com.