Castella is a small, unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 town of 240 in the upper Sacramento Canyon of Shasta County, California

Shasta County, California

Shasta County is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The county occupies the northern reaches of the Sacramento Valley, with portions extending into the southern reaches of the Cascade Range. As of the 2010 census, the population was 177,223, up from 163,256...

. It is located 46 miles north of Redding on Interstate 5

Interstate 5

Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...

, and is home to Castle Crags State Park

Castle Crags

Castle Crags is a dramatic and well-known rock formation in Northern California. Although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of rocks of volcanic and sedimentary origin, granite bodies intruded many parts of the area during the Jurassic period...

. It has a Chevron

Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

 gas station/store and a post office. The ZIP Code is 96017. The community is inside area code 530

Area code 530

North American area code 530 is a California telephone area code that covers Auburn, Chico, Colfax, Davis, Grass Valley, Marysville, Oroville, Placerville, Redding, Red Bluff, Susanville, Truckee, Woodland, Yuba City and South Lake Tahoe....

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Commerce and tourism

Located in the Shasta Cascade

Shasta Cascade

The Shasta Cascade region of California is located in the northeastern and north-central sections of the state bordering Oregon and Nevada, including far northern parts of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The area is centered on Mount Shasta in the California Cascade Range,...

 area of Northern California

Northern California

Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

, Castella sees many visitors and has a number of summer homes in the area. Visitors use Castella as a base to engage in nationally-recognized trout fishing in the nearby Sacramento

Sacramento River

The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...

 McCloud

McCloud River

The McCloud River is a river that flows east of and parallel to the Sacramento River, long, in northern California in the United States. It drains a scenic mountainous area of the Cascade Range north of Redding...

 and Klamath

Klamath River

The Klamath River is an American river that flows southwest through Oregon and northern California, cutting through the Cascade Range to empty into the Pacific Ocean. The river drains an extensive watershed of almost that stretches from the high desert country of the Great Basin to the temperate...

, Rivers, or come to see and climb Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...

, Castle Crags or the Trinity Alps

Trinity Alps

The Trinity Alps are mountains in Northern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located to the northwest of Redding. Elevations there range from to at Thompson Peak. The Trinity Alps Wilderness covers , making it the second largest wilderness area in California...

. Visitors also engage in nearby skiing (both alpine and cross-country), or bike or hike to the waterfalls, streams and lakes in the area, including nearby Mossbrae Falls

Mossbrae Falls

Mossbrae Falls is a waterfall flowing into the Sacramento River, in the Shasta Cascade area in Dunsmuir, California. The falls are accessible via a mile-long hiking trail along the Union Pacific Railroad, which begins at the Shasta Retreat on Scarlett Way in Dunsmuir. Mossbrae Falls is one...

, Lake Siskiyou

Lake Siskiyou

Lake Siskiyou is a reservoir formed by Box Canyon Dam on the Sacramento River, in far northern California, near the town of Mount Shasta, California. It is the site of local recreation, as well as being used for watershed protection and flood control....

, Castle Lake

Castle Lake (California)

Castle Lake is a glacial lake located in northern California along the eastern edge of the Klamath Mountains, in Siskiyou County, near the city of Mount Shasta. The outlet of the lake drains into Castle Lake Creek, and then into Lake Siskiyou; the lake is part of the headwaters of the Sacramento...

 and Shasta Lake

Shasta Lake

Shasta Lake, also called Lake Shasta, is an artificial lake created by the construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Shasta County, California...

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Politics

In the state legislature

California State Legislature

The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...

 Castella is located in the 4th Senate

California State Senate

The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...

 District, represented by Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 Doug LaMalfa

Doug LaMalfa

Doug LaMalfa is an American politician currently serving in the California State Senate. He is a Republican representing the 4th district, encompassing Del Norte, Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity, Tehama, Butte, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, and Yuba counties, as well as parts of Nevada and Placer counties...

, and in the 2nd Assembly

California State Assembly

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 District, represented by Republican Jim Nielsen

Jim Nielsen

James Wiley Nielsen is an American politician from California and a member of the Republican party. Nielsen served on the Yolo County Republican Committee before winning election to the California State Senate in 1978...

. Federally, Castella is located in California's 2nd congressional district

California's 2nd congressional district

California's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of California. The district contains much of the far northern part of the state, north of Sacramento. It is the largest district by area in California...

, which has a Cook PVI

Cook Partisan Voting Index

The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...

 of R +13 and is represented by Republican Wally Herger

Wally Herger

Walter William "Wally" Herger, Jr. , American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1987, representing the California's 2nd congressional district. The second district is physically large...

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