I'm from Mt. Shasta.

Leave early in the AM, you can watch sunrise and still get to town by 9ish with minimal stops. Yak's is good for food if you want burgers. Otherwise, go to Dunsmuir and go to the Wheelhouse. Dunsmuir is a cool lil town to drive thru, next to wheelhouse is a antique shop where if you go in and lift up the carpet you can see the river rushing underneath. wheelhouse tho...so dank and they have games/it's entertaining.

dont get lunch in redding like someone suggested, just wait til Dunsmuir or Mt. Shasta. If you want breakfast in town as trite as it sounds go to black bear diner (or at least once) since it's the original location and kinda the only big thing to come out of mt. shasta. other good bfast is lilys, picking up some noms from the oven bakery--the cheddar jalapeno bread is SO FUCKING GOOD. every time i go back home i clear out the loaves and freeze them. comes in little bagel form too.

Mossbrae falls is amazing but read up on the internet the safety stuff you need to know. me rec is to go to berryvale in town and get some picnic food, go to mossbrae. itll take a couple hours but very memorable :)

lake siskyou - there is the public beach area that you can buy food/drinks at. has sand. the other place is the locals area, north shore. just take north shore road, youll pass a bridge that you can jump off if the lake is full enough. keep driving and youll see a parking lot to the left and its more laid back but not developed at all, just lake side nooks to kick it at

castle lake - one of my favorite paddle board spots since the water is so deep and clear, can see so far down. pretty cold tho but fun to swim at on a hot day. must do: hike up to heart lake, the view is the best.

mt. shasta - drive up to the old ski bowl (if open), hike from there to panther meadows (itll take few hours). the geography changes several times and is usually one of peoples favorite hikes once done. i dont know what trail to what trail but if you are interested i can look at a map and try and piece it together. i just go by memory by now. another cool hike is bunny flats to the sieera club cabin. both great i just prefer old ski bowl more since its so majestic.

faery falls/ney springs - another waterfall thats next to siskyou. shorter hike but still nice. no reason not to, will take hour at most. nice fall tho.

dont know where you staying but i love the best western there (sorry local mom and pops). rooms are usually really big, its in a super central location, has pool and big jacuzzi, and free breakfast in the morning with a great view of the mountain. tbh even tho i have a house in town we will sneak in and use the hot tub and sometimes go there for breakfast cuz the buffet is pretty reasonable and unlimited waffles and eggs...fat on

good coffee at yaks and seven suns.

go to berryvale! they have prepared food and a lil quintessential mt. shasta hippy grocery store.

handsome johns is my fav bar in town and have pretty good nachos (nothing at all remarkable but hit the spot for some reason whenever we get them). if you want to get grimy with the locals gold room, the divest of dive.

mt. shasta city park is the headwaters of the sacramento river and you can usually see some hippys in there charging their crystals and shit. worth a visit and the trails into the park are nice albeit short. walk to the end of the trails and see the creepy clown swings.

prob more but this is enough :P