Hike Mt. Shasta

We are in the midst of a series of small atmospheric rivers traveling through the Mount Shasta region. This is nothing like the torrents that swept through last year, but it has meant a steady dose of precipitation for the last several days. Wednesday was the crescendo, with more than two inches of rain falling. It has not been any where as copious as last winter, but the amount of moisture is slowly building into a decent snowpack.

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous and I was able to get out for a couple of hours to continue playing with my new lens. This was a real treat, since the passing storms have left Mount Shasta’s crags rime-encrusted, rendering them as glittering jewels amidst the winter sunlight. I can’t not capture these…though I confess I am still getting used to the new lens and my framing may not be very good. Nonetheless, I think this is an interesting perspective on Mount Shasta.

The images of Mount Shasta’s features are worth enlarging and zooming in, to see the rugged detail.

With Bunny Flat up close to many excellent features on Mount Shasta, that seemed like the natural starting point for this visual exploration of the mountain. I always gravitate to Casaval Ridge, one of Mount Shasta’s most rugged features. Massive rock towers line the crest of the ridge which resembles and andesite stegosaurus.

A haze hung around the summit of Mount Shasta. It was hard to tell whether it was cloud or fresh snow being blown up into the air. The swirling gave the mountain a kinetic feel, obscuring crags and revealing them again.

Shastarama Point was a highlight of the view from Bunny Flat. From the west, the looks like a massive molar jutting up from Sargents Ridge. Interesting at all times, now Shastarama Point was covered in rime ice, the frozen residue of passing clouds. The ice highlighted every crevice and rib on the rock.

Moving south, Shastarama Point remains prominent, rising in the close foreground beneath the spires clustered around Thumb Rock. These formations are remnants of early eruptive activity that formed the Sargents Ridge eruption cone.

This edition of my survey of Mount Shasta’s frozen heights concluded with a view of the northwest side of the mountain. Here the crags of Shastina are in line with the summit of Mount Shasta. All glazed with rime ice, they glistened in the sunlight. For a long time I have thought that Mount Shasta, when viewed from this angle through a telephoto lens, looks more like an entire mountain range, than a solitary peak.

The next day brought turbulent weather. The sky seemed sedate in the morning but grew more and more chaotic as the day progressed. By evening, there was definite lenticular activity afoot. I had to get out to document it…

The position of the cloud when I headed out made the northern perspective the best place to go. I considered heading up to Truchas Ridge but when I saw how still the air in the valley was I decided the reflection pools were a good bet. When I got there, there were actually three lenticulars forming: one stack over the mountain, a bulbous cluster to the east and an elongated one hovering to the west. It was certainly one of the better lenticular formations of the season.

As the alpenglow set in, the clouds suddenly collapsed. The small formation to the east was gone, but the stack and western, elongated cloud to the west began to reform. In short order they had merged together, combing elements of both the stack and the long cloud. The light was fantastic and reflecting in the pools it made for a glorious sunset. It was certainly one of the best ones of the year thus far!

The turbulence that had produced the lenticular was heralding the coming of a new storm system, the one we are currently in the midst of. The next morning, the sky was full of awesome clouds and fantastic color. Sadly I had to both take my kids to school and then stay there and teach Latin for the next hour and a half. Any chance of getting out to document the spectacle was gone. All I could do was stop and capture an image showing only a fraction of the interesting things going on. It is much, much better than nothing, but still I lament the missed opportunity.

After class, I felt unleashed, so headed out to see how the clouds had progressed as the power of the incoming storm intensified. The western side of the mountain had a nice dome of a lenticular on it, but it seemed the north might be more interesting, so I headed in the direction. When I got to a good vista, the wind was buffeting my car powerfully. Overhead, waves of cloud washed over the summit of Mount Shasta. The massive canyon between the summit and Shastina was cast in a strange half light.

Lower down the flanks of Mount Shasta, the same wind the propelled the clouds was whipping the snow into an incredible frenzy. Swirling in the air and blowing in streams along the rocks, the it was an incredibly kinetic display of wind power and one that was strangely beautiful.

I tried to document the wind-driven snow but even using my car as a shield against the wind, my tripod was still buffeted by powerful winds. In the clip, note how the snow blown into the large gully in the center flows like water down the gully, rather than continuing on to the precipice on the left.

Heading back home, I stopped to capture video of the clouds sailing past the summit of Mount Shasta. Though never precisely replicating their shape, there was an obvious repetition as the flew past the rock. It makes me wonder at the air currents propelling the cloud forward.

I decided to make one last stop at Springhill Road. The lenticular over the mountain had extended itself out into wispy tendrils, casting linear shadows on Mount Shasta. It was a really effect, one I had not seen before. These may have been an exaggerated form of the ways I had seen to the north, but from a different perspective.

In the end, it was a dramatic day in the sky above Mount Shasta. Where before I had been focused on the frigid heights of the mountain and then the lenticulars that followed, it was a great day seeing both elements combined. I have lived at the foot of the mountain for 16 years now and I continue to be surprised by the grand mountain and its domain.