Hike Mt. Shasta

No alpenglow but the late evening light makes Mount Shasta glow.

The changes life has wrought has precluded me getting out as much as I used too. Still, when the opportunity presents itself, I will leap at the chance at even the barest of opportunities to spend some time outside. Whether exploring or just bearing witness to the beauty of the land around me, it is all enriching.

Such an chance fell to me on Saturday, the first day of June. The sky had been active all day and a cooler weather system was in bound. Consequently, the sky had been turbulent all day and there had been sporadic, lenticulish clouds about. After dinner I was able to head up to Castle Lake. There, the dogwoods and ceanothus were in full bloom and the north facing snow was still deep. Mount Shasta, still armored in ice loomed across the valley. Above it the sky was a cloudy maelstrom. It was glorious to these spectacle-starved eyes.

I perched in “the spot” and watched the sunset, capturing images sporadically as the sunlight ebbed and flowed and then, inevitably, creeped up the mountain before finally fading off of the summit. All the while the clouds swirled in dynamic knots overhead. I enjoyed it immensely and it gave me hope that more such opportunities may present themselves again soon.

Unrelated to the sunset, a few days earlier I had been checking the Mount Shasta livecam when a visitor landed on one of the support lines. Hanging out for a while before flying off, it was a humorous and unexpected episode. I have been watching the cam for years and had been observing when a bird landed on it. Who knows what else will happen soon.