Siskiyou County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Siskiyou County

Four hydroelectric dams were demolished on the Klamath River through Siskiyou County in 2024 — Iron Gate, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2, and J.C. Boyle — completing the largest dam-removal project in United States history per the Klamath River Renewal Corporation final-completion report (October 2024). The result is a 240-mile free-flowing salmon-and-steelhead corridor from Upper Klamath Lake (Oregon) to the Pacific that had been blocked since 1918, and the Klamath River drive from Hornbrook to Happy Camp on CA-96 is now the longest free-flowing river-following highway in northern California. Siskiyou County is the fifth-largest county by area in California at 6,287 sq mi and is the historical home of the proposed 51st-state movement 'State of Jefferson' — the serious 1941 secession proposal (Siskiyou + Curry OR + Del Norte CA + four others) that elected its own governor in November 1941 before Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) abruptly ended the campaign. Highway signage along I-5 and CA-96 still flies the Jefferson green-and-gold double-cross flag at private businesses.

Mt. Shasta (14,179 ft) rises on the county's southern boundary inside Shasta-Trinity National Forest and is the second-highest volcano in the contiguous US after Mt. Rainier, with the Bunny Flat trailhead at 6,860 ft serving as the standard summit approach. Castle Crags State Park accepts rigs to 30 ft on 76 sites with no hookups, on the I-5 corridor 6 miles south of Dunsmuir. Klamath National Forest and Shasta-Trinity National Forest both permit 14-day dispersed camping under standard Forest Service regional regulations; CA-96 along the Klamath River carries informal dispersed-camping pullouts every 5-10 miles between Hornbrook and Happy Camp, with most accessible by rigs to 30 ft. Yreka (population 7,498, the county seat) holds the only Walmart, full grocery, and propane refill within 60 miles. The county's 80% federal land ownership (Klamath NF, Shasta-Trinity NF, Six Rivers NF, plus Lava Beds NM and the Marble Mountain Wilderness) supports extensive backcountry travel, but US-97 and I-5 are the only paved through-routes spanning the county.