Hike Mt. Shasta

Friday morning I was up early to continue my quest for a sunrise lenticular. Though the season has thus far continued to underwhelm, I remain optimistic that things will improve and the mountain will finally yield a really epic display. I’d love for it to happen soon, since this seems to have overtaken any other subject I write about. One can hope.

When I awoke it was still dark, but I could tell there were clouds. The occasional blackness where there should be stars was enough to alert me to the fact that I might want to be out for the sunrise. I headed towards town, noting that a small wispy lenticular was flowing across the summit of Mount Shasta. With these kinds of clouds, it is sometimes best to head toward a side that catches early morning light. This means the east, south or southwest. In this case, I only made it as far as town before I decided to catch the sunrise from there. It turned out to be a gorgeous morning with lots of warm light glowing on Mount Shasta and lighting up the Trinity Divide.

Though it was small, there was a notable lenticular floating to the southwest of Mount Shasta. It was too far out of way to get it in a decent image with Mount Shasta so I decided to head north. Though the mountain would still be in shadow, I might be able to catch an interesting perspective. Unfortunately the floating lenticular fluctuated in size too much to get an good shot at it. In spite of this, view from the north side of Mount Shasta was fantastic. The Shasta Valley, falling away to the north, was shrouded in fog while the peaks above it, including Cottonwood Peak and Oregon landmarks like Mount Ashland, Pilot Rock and Mount McLoughlin, were all glowing with pink light. Turning back to Mount Shasta, the small wisp still streamed from the summit of the mountain. It might not have been what I had hoped for once again but the morning was grand and I had no complaints.

I kept an eye on the floating lenticular all day. It remained for most of the day and, come afternoon, I headed out to see what it might do. Maybe this would finally be the sunset that illuminated a large lenticular.

In the end, it was a near miss. Mount Shasta was grand as always but the lenticular just could not hold on until sunset. It may have been a near miss but it was a most magnificent one. I remain optimistic that the time is soon when conditions will hold and my quest will finally come to an end!