Hike Mt. Shasta

Wednesday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. It is a little ironic that the day that inaugurates the summer season is also a day that is so bittersweet. This stems from the fact that even as we move into the warmest part of the year, with the best weather up in the high country, we have begun the long, downward slide into short days and the cold winter. After the Long Winter, a shortened warm season doesn’t sound so appetizing. Nonetheless, the solstice arrived and passed and as it faded into the past, it faded with the latest sunset of the year.

The weather wasn’t really conducive to a great sunset but I headed out into the Shasta Valley to see what I could see and hoping it might be a beautiful setting of the sun. My first stop was near Edgewood, where a couple hundred Arabians make for an epic sight at the foot of the mountain. It’s hard to get more western than that! This was not my final stop, however, as this area tends to darken a lot before the mountain gets much more color than the warm afternoon light.

By the time I reached a good vantage of the mountain, the light had receded from the area where I took position but the hills to the south were still bathed in warm, low, light. A few clouds were forming in the sky but nothing exceptional was really going to mark the solstice sunset. Nothing exceptional except Mount Shasta, of course, which is magnificent even in a clear sky at midday.

Shadow finally fell on the valley floor but the mountain turned shades of pink and purple as the sun sank below the Little Scott Mountains to the west. Keen eyes could see the color on vestigial patches of fresh snow that had fallen a couple days before. The clouds had closed in a bit, giving the mountain a little more contrast against the drab sky. It was not the greatest sunset ever, or even particularly noteworthy in terms of beauty, but it was the solstice sunset and its timing is intriguing.

With summer now started, the snow is still deep, especially at high elevations. The weather has been surprisingly cool and wet too, with a fair amount rain coming from consistently appearing thunderstorms. This has meant the snow has lingered longer. Hopefully this trends continues through the rest of summer and we have a reprieve from the dangers this season has generated the last few years.