Hike Mt. Shasta

Sunset light illuminates a lenticular cap on Mount Shasta.

Last weekend the changing weather conditions around Mount Shasta produced one of the better and longer-lasting lenticular formations that has manifested this season. The sustained winter weather has meant that the frequency and scale of lenticulars around the mountain has not been great this year. The few times there have been decent formations, they have been a bit more fleeting than in the past, often dissipating before the sunset light could really highlight them.

The cloud was not present at dawn but by midmorning it was forming over the mountain. Unfortunately, between a belt of clouds just around treeline and the cloud’s propensity to belch out to the west a large plume of cloud the lenticular had a low visibility from the west. I headed north to the Edgewood pools and got a nice view of the cloud, though the wind meant that a clear reflection was not to be had. It was, nonetheless, a good perspective on the formation.

The cloud was particularly stormy on the west side, where the large plumes continued to erupt to the east. It seemed that the turbulence that helped form the spectacular cloud was also kicking up a lot of snow. Hidden Valley and West Face Gully looked like pretty inhospitable places at this time.

It was hard to pull myself away from the ever-changing spectacle but I resolved that if the cloud persisted to the evening, I would head out to Truchas Ridge for the sunset.

Conditions at the ridge were awesome, though the ground was a bit muddy in places. The north-facing aspect of all the hills were still covered in snow and the nearby lake was quite full. It all provided a gorgeous sight, especially when playing foreground to the awesome peaks that lie to the east, west and south.

In the end, the lenticular collapsed a bit, making it less interesting than it had been and partially obscuring Mount Shasta in the process. In spite of this, the entire scene, come late afternoon and sunset, was fantastic and made for one of the prettier sunsets I had seen in a while.