Dunsmuir, CA

Dunsmuir is a Siskiyou County city in the upper Sacramento River canyon, at about 2,350 feet below Mount Shasta. The 2020 census counted 1,707 residents. Travelers were already using the Siskiyou Trail here in the 1820s, and the Gold Rush increased traffic before the railroad and Pacific Highway gave the canyon a more permanent transportation role. Interstate 5 now passes through town, but the river and rail line still tell the older story. Amtrak stops at the classic depot, and Dunsmuir’s long, narrow shape follows the canyon rather than a broad flat grid. Water is the local calling card, from the Upper Sacramento’s trout runs to nearby Hedge Creek Falls, Mossbrae Falls, Castle Lake, Lake Siskiyou, and the wider Mount Shasta country.

ATTRVisitor7 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Dunsmuir City Park and Botanical Gardens sit along the river, with Tauhindauli Park and Trail linking the town to the canyon landscape. Railroad Days, Dogwood Daze, and other seasonal gatherings fill in the community side, while fishing, hiking, climbing, skiing, and cycling bring people through. Dunsmuir is a small mountain city whose everyday map is part railroad stop, part river town, and part gateway to the waterfalls and lakes above the Sacramento.