Hike Mt. Shasta

A glowing sunset highlights a lenticular-clad Mount Shasta.

Holy Kinarsey, December slipped by quickly. I had a in mind 3-4 posts in the queue but never got any of them off the ground. Between business, family, Christmas and numerous other commitments, it was not the most productive month when it comes to writing. The last few months have just been a really busy season.

Now it’s New Year’s Eve and I have decided to shelve a lot of those posts for the time being. For now, I want to clear my spindle of images and prep for the end of the year posts. This post will be bereft of commentary and just move through the images of December in chronological order. Sorry for taking the easy way out!

The beginning of December started with a bit of lenticular activity. It was all heralding a storm that was approaching the area. None of the clouds were particularly well-formed or awesome, but it was nice to see some activity on the mountain.

The lenticular activity peaked the sunset before the storm. The cloud itself was not huge but it was a nice, clean disk. The alpenglow, however, was fantastic. This was the best sunset of December, in my opinion.

Even Black Butte got into the action. When the sky is full of color like it was at this sunset, I really like it when bands of clouds are in shadow. It makes the whole scene look somewhat like a reverse negative.

The morning after the storm, Mount Shasta was gorgeous. The valley being filled with low clouds, I headed up onto the mountain to get a good view of sunrise. I was not disappointed. The snow wasn’t too deep but the spectacle of morning light, blue sky and fresh snow was pure magic.

I love snow banners in general and even more when they are catching the light of the rising or setting sun. The banners on this morning weren’t sustained particularly dramatic but I couldn’t resist getting video of them anyway. Again, pure magic.

Looking back off the mountain, the region was hard to see because of the low clouds. However, at one point they did open up enough to catch a view of the Castle Crags. The snow was not deep at lower elevations but the north side of the Crags was still white and the glow of the morning sun highlighted the rocky spires.

A few days later, the best lenticular display of the season was manifest on Mount Shasta. I managed to capture a few images of it but I was not well and didn’t spend the time I should have trying to get to a better place from which to document the clouds. I am grateful for what I was able to document through.

The morning of Christmas Eve was a glorious one. I headed out into the frosty Shasta Valley, where the color around the mountain was notably evident. There was an intriguing wave formation above Mount Shasta soaking in the morning light, making the sunrise standout in my mind of all the sunrises of the past month.

The week after Christmas witnessed a series of rain storms pass through Mount Shasta. Though no snow was deposited down low, there was plenty of rain and the higher elevations got a good dose of the white stuff. I headed out to the Shasta Valley for the second to last sunset of the year, hoping that the rain had returned my puddles to me. It had, but the rain still fell, rippling the reflection. Still, the rain and the glow and the texture of the evening was glorious and I was glad, once again and as I always am, that I can be a witness to the testimony.