Sacred Sites of California

California holds one of the densest concentrations of mythologically significant landscapes in North America. From the volcanic peak of Mount Shasta — revered by the Shasta, Modoc, and Wintu peoples — to the ancient bristlecone pines of the White Mountains and the sandstone caves of the Chumash, these sites connect deep geological time with living Indigenous traditions. Each entry maps the myth to the place and traces what archaeology and scholarship reveal.