Hike Mt. Shasta

A lenticular over Mount Shasta alight with alpenglow.

Summer is typically the least active time of year when it comes to lenticular clouds over Mount Shasta. Often the sky is completely devoid of any clouds at all, particularly when it is hot. Every now and then, conditions turn just right to bring about a fantastic summer lenticular. This was true last week, when Mount Shasta was graced with an epic, day-long display of lenticulars.

I tend to be an early riser which has had the benefit of often catching spectacular Mount Shasta sunsets. However, the summer sunrises come so early, I often just wake up and check the webcam to see if I am tempted to head out. On this occasion, I had been up late but still woke up around 5 AM. I checked the webcam and too my surprise there was a magnificent formation over the mountain. I leaped out of bed and was on the road in a couple of minutes. I got to a good vantage point quickly and was able to capture an image just as the light was beginning to fade. I am grateful to have made it when I did!

Being early and wide awake, I headed out into the Shasta Valley to get another perspective. The valley was a little hazy from the fires but the view was still great. Another marvelous morning vista.

Though it continued to fluctuate throughout the day, the cloud was persistent. Often the lenticulars will fade around mid-day and sometimes, with great frustration, just before sunset. This was not the case, fortunately. It hung around all day and I was able to get more images as it progressed.

By evening the cloud had shrunk but was still hanging on. I was confident it would last through sunset, so I headed up to the old nordic park vista. As I go there, it looked like a new formation was building higher up, above Mount Shasta. Alas, it was not to be and it dissipated without getting too big.

In spite of the secondary cloud’s demise, the original lenticular persevered and made for terrific sunset spectacle. Eventually the sun faded away and both mountain and cloud were left in the fading glow of dusk. By morning, the lenticular was gone, having graced us with a superlative sight for only one day…but what a day.