Junked abndoned cars, Box canyon trail. Siskyou lake, shasta California.

Exploring the Car Graveyard of Mt. Shasta - Active NorCalThe famous abandoned car graveyard near Box Canyon in California is located along the Box Canyon Trail near Box Canyon Dam and Lake Siskiyou in Mount Shasta. Location: Mount Shasta, California (Siskiyou County), just off W.A. Barr Road near the Box Canyon Dam. The Graveyard: Roughly a quarter-mile to a mile into the hike, the path leads past an old historical dumping site tucked into the woods where vintage refuse, rusted mid-20th-century automobiles, trucks, old buses, and broken appliances (like washing machines) rest down the slope. History: Decades ago (dating back to the 1930s and subsequent decades), local residents and area hill-dwellers used the steep ridge above as an informal dumping ground, rolling broken-down cars and appliances down into the forest edge where trees and moss have since grown directly through the metal. The history of the Box Canyon car graveyard is rooted in the early-to-mid 20th century, before modern municipal waste systems and environmental regulations were established in the region. Historically, the site served as an informal community landfill for the residents of Mount Shasta City and the surrounding rural communities. The Birth of the Dump Site From the 1930s through the 1960s, local residents used the steep bluffs above the canyon edge to discard large, unwanted household items and vehicles. Because the canyon walls were incredibly steep, the easiest method of disposal was to push the heavy objects over the ridge. Old classic American sedans, delivery trucks, school buses, and appliances (like washing machines and rusty barrels) rolled down the incline, crashing and embedding themselves into the earth below. How Nature Reclaimed the Metal At the time the vehicles were dumped, this specific hillside was largely barren and clear of thick timber—potentially cleared out by historical logging operations or early grazing. This lack of foliage gave the heavy steel bodies a clear path down the bluff. Over the decades, a heavy forest of pine, oak, and cedar grew over the hill, altering the landscape entirely. Organic Integration: The forest completely enclosed the graveyard. Large tree roots have physically wrapped around axles, and massive trunks have grown straight through the engine blocks and floorboards of the vehicles. Stripped and Salvaged: Before the cars were pushed over, most were stripped of their high-value parts, tires, and internal engines. Over time, souvenir hunters removed chrome details and hood ornaments, leaving mostly empty steel shells. The Erosion Control Myth Among outdoor circles and hikers, a popular alternative theory persists: that the vehicles were intentionally placed there by a county effort to create a breakwall to mitigate trail erosion and slow mountain runoff. However, archival history points strictly to it being a standard, early Mount Shasta City dump that predated the construction of the nearby Box Canyon Dam and the creation of Lake Siskiyou. Today, the site remains legally untouched because the cost and environmental disruption of hauling the deeply embedded, century-old metal structures out of the delicate canyon ecosystem outweighs the benefit of leaving them as a bizarre piece of local history.