Mount Shasta around Memorial Day 2018: a lot less snow!
I knew that some rainy weather was in store for Sunday, but I honestly did not anticipate snow at lower elevations. Nonetheless, it happened. I have not been into town and my house is a few hundred feet higher up, so it may not have stuck there. Up on the pass, however, we got about an inch of snow. Thankfully we opted not to plant our tomatoes yesterday, which we had planned to do!
This snow does not really impact the trails around Mount Shasta much. It will melt off quickly, the weather will warm up tomorrow and the snowpack at higher elevations will continue to thaw. What we may see, though, is an early influx of PCT thruhikers. The ones at the front of the pack are approaching the Domeland Wilderness and will soon be at Kennedy Meadows, the last outpost before heading up into the High Sierra. In an average year, the snow will have melted out in most of the High Sierra, leaving the way north open. However, this year, as in 2017, the Sierra Nevada is still deep in snow and will necessitate thruhikers skipping around and doing the trail in segments.
That means that we here in Mount Shasta may start to see thruhikers popping up in town in a few weeks, a month or more earlier than normal. The snow is deep just about everywhere. The only really viable section of trail to hit right now is from Old Station by Hat Creek up to I-5. From there, some of the Trinity Divide, Siskiyous and the Soda Mountain area may be open or opening soon. Other than that, they are going to have to wait out the melting. Of course, further up in Oregon and Washington, things melt out much later so the season is no further along than it is down here. Not the best conditions to be on the PCT this year!
Hike Mt. Shasta 
Those who skip the Sierras may find that there’s still quite a bit of snow here in the Oregon Cascades. Fallen trees may also be an issue if that snow keeps trail crews waiting. Thru-hikers should expect it to be harder to “make their miles” until mid-June or later.
I agree. The only long section that is totally viable at this point is from Lassen to I-5. I am not sure the exact distance but most of that stays well below 5,000 feet and is pretty much snow-free. I would guess I-5 through Howard Prairie might be clear too. Other than that, if I was down south on the trail, I would head to Vegas or Moab for a couple of weeks.
Yep, I’m hoping for a much lower snow year next year. Or at least not nearly as much late season snow. The woman whose blog I’m following this year hit Kennedy Meadows a couple of weeks ago and got pretty well socked in with a snow storm around Whitney. She didn’t have to bail, but was pretty close.
I used to think I was in the “purist” camp and wanting to go straight through from Mexico to Canada, but I think now I’d actually be ok with flipping up and mixing up sections if the weather isn’t ideal. I’ll just have to see what 2020 throws at me.
Well, from a local point of view, I would be happy with a light year too. Less clearing of snow would be a nice change of pace. Not good for the ski park though. When you get up here on your journey, I will buy you dinner at Yaks. It made yelp’s top 100 restaurants in America!
WOW11 so ready for summer, however the mountain is beautiful.