Hike Mt. Shasta

A smoky sunset on Mount Shasta. 

With the Carr Fire continuing to expand, I was anticipating the sky to be smoky around Mount Shasta. Surprisingly, the smoke was pretty thin and the sky blue. The hike to Cliff Lake with the Cub Scouts was a lot of fun.

Since the smoke was relatively (emphasis on the relatively) sparse, I took my family up for a picnic dinner at the Old Ski Bowl. We figured thin smoke would get thinner and the temperatures were bound to be cooler. This proved to be the case and the conditions were quite nice. However, there was a wall of smoke to the south, obscuring almost everything from view. Mount Eddy and Porcupine Peak were visible but only through a very thick haze. Everything else to the south was obscured by an utterly impenetrable wall of smoke. My kids had a great time scrambling on the rocks, oblivious to the ongoing ordeal continuing to the south. I almost felt guilty enjoying the moment.

If you are looking to escape the smoke, heading up onto Mount Shasta or the Trinity Divide appears to be a good option.

As far as what the fire did today, it seems to have slowed its advance to some degree. The live map shows some advance to the south, but the firefighters look to be making a strong stand at what I would call the Igo Salient. The small community is threatened on three sides but the backfires lit earlier today will hopefully keep the main part of the fire at bay.

The Carr Fire as of 10:00 PM

Hopefully the significant decrease in the red area is indicative of the fire activity decreasing somewhat. I would imagine that the gentler terrain, less dense vegetation and more road access will make containing the fire much easier in the south. We’ll know tomorrow morning. Keep praying.