Autumn glow along Lake Siskiyou while my family paddles toward the inlet.
Though it has been getting cold at night, the days have been perfectly warm. The forecast portends a change in weather next week, with temperatures dropping. My wife and I gave our son a paddle board for his birthday and yesterday was the best day to take it out and give it a try. Our younger kids rode with my wife while our son took his board for a cruise. They had a great time, though my son was already exhausted from hanging out with grandparents and hiking with the outdoor education class I teach on Fridays. Nonetheless, he took off around the lake on the board’s maiden voyage.
While my family was having fun on the water, I enjoyed the view of the setting sun from the lake. While the fall color in the area has been erratic, it is in full force at Lake Siskiyou right now. It is absolutely gorgeous. All the oaks and willows are turning shades of red, orange and gold. In the afternoon light all the trees just glowed. If you have the opportunity over the weekend, be sure to hike around the lake. The color is good in many places but it is particularly good along the north shore.
As my wife and kids paddled, I got to enjoy the sunset from a location I don’t often take advantage of. Normally, if I observe the sunset from Lake Siskiyou, it is from the south shore, where there is a great view of Mount Shasta. This time, on north shore, the best view is to the west, where Mount Eddy, Porcupine Peak and the braided folds of the Trinity Divide dominate. Naturally, these were not lit up with alpenglow the way Mount Shasta is at sunset since the sun set behind these mountains. Nonetheless, the sinking sun put on a brilliant display of light beams and contrasting shadows.
Of course, we eventually had to head home, but did so just in time to see the alpenglow on Mount Shasta come to an end. I was able to grab a quick shot before it was completely gone. It was a perfect evening. Now, tonight, I am taking the Cub Scouts up for an evening hike at Panther Meadow then we’ll watch the sunset from the Old Ski Bowl. That sounds like two ideal autumn evenings in a row!
Hike Mt. Shasta 
I envy you!
I have never seen Porcupine Peak labelled on a map (It is directly above Porcupine Lake) Our family has called it “Sgt. Pepper Peak” after our corgi Sgt. Pepper made it to the top of it years ago.
Beautiful – thank you!
Texas doing its flooding thing right now. Thanks for posting from a season I never really get to see.
I talked to my best friend last night and he had gone down to Sugarland for the weekend. He said it rained really, really hard the whole way down there. During my four years in Texas, I thought October was the nicest month out of the whole year. It’s a bummer that is not the case right now. As far as having fall color or anything, when November rolled around I always headed to New Mexico or the Ozarks when I had time off from school. The latter had surprisingly good color, especially along the Buffalo River. If you can time a trip to Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls when the leaves have turned, you won’t regret it!
Our weather is getting weirder and weirder. 3rd hottest summer on record followed by record flooding. Austin is under a boil water notice for the first time in history.