Hike Mt. Shasta

Mount Shasta looms beyond an eastern branch of Mud Creek.

Mud Creek is the largest creek to spring from Mount Shasta. It begins at the Konwakiton Glacier and flows into the gaping maw of massive Mud Creek Canyon, the largest canyon on the mountain. It is quickly joined by runoff from the nearby Mud Creek Glacier as the creek enters the canyon. Midway down the canyon, Clear Creek adds to its flow and then on south, through the lower canyon until Mud Creek enters the McCloud Flats. From there the creek flows south, passing beneath Highway 89 and onto Hearst land, where it eventually flows into the McCloud River.

Over the years, the glaciers at the head of the creek have awakened periodically and belched out mud and rock, crashing down the canyon and depositing the debris into the McCloud River. After many years of relative inactivity, in 2014 the Konwakiton Glacier spewed forth another large debris flow caused significant damage to Forest Road 31 and nearly overwhelmed the bridge on Pilgrim Creek Road. This led to another bridge being installed, one with significantly more clearance that made allowances for large mud flows like the 2014 event to pass underneath.

Sunrise at Mud Creek Meadow, 2019.

Near this bridge was a large meadow with a spectacular view of Mount Shasta. Unofficially known as Mud Creek Meadow, it was a great spot to witness sunrises on Mount Shasta. Several seeps at the south end of the meadow would combine to form small streams flowing north, contra the southward flow of Mud Creek. Though the setting was often graced with a bovine presence, the majesty of Mount Shasta, the sound of nearby Mud Creek and the lush green of the meadow combined to make one of the prettiest spots on the south side of Mount Shasta…until the summer of 2022.

The bridge over the mud-choked former channel of Mud Creek.

Though the winter had not been a drought level winter, the snowpack was not particularly deep and the summer temperatures were high. Early in the summer season of 2022 the Konwakiton glacier begin to spit out large amounts of debris again. This time, however, it was not a singular event but a sustained issuance of rock and sand. Soon the bridge that had been built was overwhelmed, the debris filling the channel all the way to the level of the bridge. Upstream from the bridge, the rocks and mud that flowed down the creek built up dams, causing the creek to leap out of its banks and flood the forest, spreading debris everywhere. The creek carved new channels, only to have them soon block up and it would seek out a new route elsewhere.

On one visit to Mud Creek, I happened to witness the creek changing flows, as it jumped out of one channel and began to flow into an older channel that had previously been blocked off. In the background, the sound of Mud Creek’s main channel can be heard.

Once the creek was outside of its original channel, it had nothing to keep it from burying the road under tons of rock and sand. Moreover, the flat terrain meant that the creek was free to spread out over the landscape at will. Consequently, the meadow was fair game for Mud Creek. By early summer a new channel was being cut along the west side of Mud Creek Meadow. The water would fan out in waves, covering more and more of the grass under the detritus of Mount Shasta. By midsummer nearly half the meadow was inundated, by the end of the summer three quarters was consumed. Only the cooler weather and the cessation of the glacier’s steady output kept the meadow from being completely over run.

Before the mudflows:

Halfway through summer:

End of summer:

In the above images, note that not only was the meadow buried, but significant amounts of mud flowed through the forest on its west side as well. In some places the flows were over 5 feet deep. The roots and the base of the trees in the overrun forest were smothered in mud and all but the large old growth trees died, giving the forest a ghostly feeling, as ashen mud mixed with the orange of dried pine needles.

Mud Creek flows through the ghost forest. Note the layers of mud around the creek.

By the end of the summer, Mud Creek had split into two channels. The main flow had jumped the banks and flowed on the west side of the old bridge. A secondary, but still significant, channel had worked its way to the far eastern side of the the meadow, depositing ever-more debris on the once lush landscape.

The secondary branch of Mud Creek flows into what was once Mud Creek Meadows. Note the water flowing over the edge of the road.

The muddy east branch of Mud Creek flows through the mud washed off of Mount Shasta.

It seemed the entire meadow was doomed. However, the cooler weather of autumn finally arrived and the flow of the creek decreased. As a result, the main channel west of the old bridge was now the only channel with water flowing through it. It was uncertain what the fate of the meadow was or what the creek would do when it rose again during the next warm season but for now, the landscape had been altered in bizarre and fascinating ways.

What had once been a lush meadow was now a moonscape, a ruined land where nothing grew. By summer’s end, even the water no longer flowed through Mud Creek Moonscape. The meadow was now silent and desolate. It was time now time for the other, gentler aspect of nature to take over and heal. In a few years, there may be meadows on this moon…

Click to enlarge:

Part II of the account of Mud Creek to follow soon…