Hike Mt. Shasta

Dawn’s light illuminates the fringes of a Mount Shasta lenticular.

I was up early prepping some material for a class I am teaching at church, as well as putting the finishing touches on my Gateway Trail Phase II review, when I noticed the clouds where of such a nature and position to produce a sunrise shadow. These are among my favorite phenomena. I hopped in the car and headed north, which is usually the best orientation from which to enjoy the shadows. Little did I know that the mountain also boasted a nice lenticular crown. I raced to one of my easy-to-get-to spots and and set up my camera as the morning light really began to hit the clouds.

As I endured the frigid morning (the car said 23) I watched the color get more intense and light up the clouds above Mount Shasta. Soon the edges of the lenticular itself were glowing. It was a gorgeous sight, which I enjoyed in the solitude of the dawn. The lenticular began as a classic disk, but as the color intensified, it lost some of its well-defined edges as it expanded. Nonetheless, the change in shape was not disappointing as it retained a pleasing form and the summit of Mount Shasta just poked through the cloud and caught the morning light.

In the midst of this, the sun finally reached a position where its light was cast at the angle necessary to create a shadow. Frustratingly, there were no clouds positioned immediately above Mount Shasta, so the shadow was not as readily observed. However, there were clouds higher up for the shadow to manifest. This, coupled with the lenticular, was an awesome sight and made for a truly beautiful morning. However, the cloud cover was thicker than ideal and the sun’s light was quickly obscured before the full sky was illuminated and the colors were lost. I was glad to have seen the fleeting event.

Click to enlarge:

We may not be getting much snow, but there sure has been a lot of spectacular activity around the mountain lately!