Hike Mt. Shasta

What a odd month August has been. It began beautifully, with explosive wildflowers at high elevations on Mount Shasta. Though the early part of the month was still afflicted with smoke, we continued to head up to the Old Ski bowl to enjoy the clear air and the ongoing riots of wildflowers. My wife and I like to take our kids up in the evening and have dinner up at the Old Ski Bowl. Sometimes we prepare it there, other times at home but we always enjoy the meal with our family and then hike around. One of those post-repast jaunts took us down to the upper portion of Panther Meadow. The flowers were in excellent form.

The conditions were fantastic but it seemed like the flowers just a hair shy of peak. It’s always hard to catch it at “peak” because the different flowers open at different times. The flowers at this time were mostly paintbrush, sneezeweed, onion and some lupine. The lupine was much more profuse in drier areas but there was some at the meadow too.

I went back up a few days later and caught the meadow about as peak as I have ever seen it. It was a magnificent kaleidoscope of red, purple and yellow against the lush grass green, all crowned by the magnificent tower of Mount Shasta. The light was thick and glowing, imprinting the entire scene indelibly on my memory.

Of course, I could not limit this trip to Panther Meadow. The Old Ski Bowl demanded attention too. The wildflowers there were still in excellent form. The lupine were particularly thick. It was as thick as I have ever seen it there, even better, perhaps, than the epic tree line spring of August 2017. There was more snow on the mountain and everything was greener but the wildflowers weren’t as thick.

A few very difficult weeks passed by. My family and I suffered some hard loses but we endured the ordeal and on the other side of them we were blessed with an unseasonably cool storm that gave us lots of lightning and rain and, on Mount Shasta, snow! I have seen it snow on Mount Shasta in August only a handful of times, and generally speaking it is just a light dusting. The last time I saw it happen was August, 2022, the year it snowed on Mount Shasta every month of the year.

This time, however, it was not a mere dusting. It was a full-fledged wintery storm. There were several inches of snow deposited on the mountain, going all the way down below the tree line. It was a white mountain once again! However, the day after the storm passed, the mountain was mostly left in the clouds, only peering out a few times. I was able to catch some images of the mountain but would have to wait until the next day for better conditions.

Naturally, I had to head out for the sunrise on the white mountain. Though it had been cold all the previous day, already some of the snow had melted or blown off by the wind. Nonetheless, it was great to see the mountain with the morning glow on the white flanks and dark towers. This was not a normal August sunrise!

The vantage point I went to was one I frequent in the winter and spring but have, to the best of my knowledge, never utilized for a sunset in August. Such was the rare nature of the occasion. Of course, with all the snow, I was not going to leave it at that. I needed to go up to the Old Ski Bowl!

This was as beautiful an August morning as I have witnessed up at the Old Ski Bowl. Not only was there a lovely layer of snow everywhere, but the wildflowers were there. The lupine weren’t as thick as they had been a few weeks earlier but some of the clusters still had profuse blossoms on them. However, the real star now was the rabbit brush.

The yellow flowers of the rabbit brush struck a bright contrast against the white snow. Vast fields of the yellow blossoms seemed so much more obvious against the snow than it normally is. At least it seemed that way.

Seeing the crags of Mount Shasta blanketed in white was also stunning. Though deeper snow is always desirable, I like conditions best when there is plenty of snow on the mountain overall but none on the spires and protruding strata. This permits the crags and strata lines to be bold and make them pop visually. This amount of August snow achieved this.

And yet, to think that this was August, with fresh snow on the mountain with crags highlighted and the showy flowers still thriving seemed so incongruous. It was a terrific morning.

Of course, morning wasn’t enough. My wife and I decided to head up for another dinner at the Old Ski Bowl. It’s not every evening we can enjoy a sunset with wildflowers and snow at the same time!

After dinner we roamed the rocky slopes. My younger kids scampered across the rocks playing some of their favorite mountain games. My wife and I drank in the beauty. I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was still shocked by how much the snow had melted. It still remained thick on the higher flanks of Mount Shasta and provided a glorious contrast to the thick blanket of flowers at the tree line.

The sun slowly set as we enjoyed the spectacle. We were reluctant to leave and call it a night (note my kids running around, easily spotted by my daughter’s white hat!).

Finally, with the sun well below the horizon and the alpenglow fading on Mount Shasta, we bade farewell to the wonder that we beheld. We knew this was one of those rare and unusual sights that so frequently yet uniquely grace Mount Shasta. I have no idea when we might see such a mix of dense wildflowers and fresh snow in August, but this has been a mighty gift to a weary family. For these things and many others, we are filled with gratitude. We drank deeply from the well of beauty and are renewed and ready to tackle the coming school year. Thank you Lord.