Hike Mt. Shasta

Holy Kinarsey, what a crazy month October was. I have been planning on posting all month, but every facet of life seemed to intrude on my time and it wound up being one of the busiest months I have had in a long, long time. Whether it was kids, business, school, church, boy scouts or whatever, there was always something not just needing attention but demanding it urgently. In the little down time I had built into the month, we had guests from out of town. There was only time to get out for anything a few times during the month. And to cap it all off, I was in charge of cutting 250 Christmas trees for the annual fundraiser. That was on November 1st. It went well, with perfect weather. If you are in the Mount Shasta area and want a high quality/low priced Christmas tree (silver tip/red fir variety), be sure to come to the Christmas tree lot between the Black Bear and Starbucks the weekend after Thanksgiving!

So, all that being said, I will keep the words to a minimum and just focus on the images. Suffice to say, summer departed, and autumn hit with its full, beautiful force. Brief storms leaving Mount Shasta white, low angled light, colorful trees were all in abundance and it was glorious. As I write now, we’re heading into a week of copious rain and Mount Shasta will probably get really white. As I write that autumn is upon us, it is really winter that is upon us now.

A summer sunrise. Not great but making an effort…

As September drew to a close there were a progression of small rain storms forecasted to sail through the area. I had planned on my usual before and after type post but that definitely didn’t happen. So I am starting out with the remnants of summer.

Click to enlarge and scroll through the progression:

The mountain was bare, with just a few patches of snow left on it. The incoming storms augured to cover the mountain with snow. The question was how much and how low. Before the storms came, the changing of the tree color had already begun. It was slow, but definitely “in the air”. The sun was getting lower in the sky and temperatures cooler. You could feel the season changing. The first storm finally rolled through and left the mountain with a small but glistening layer of snow. It was nothing like what comes in winter but it looked cold. I love it when the snow is low enough that the rock layers on Mount Shasta really jump out. The light snow and dark rock create an awesome contrast. Also, when the snow first came, the trees changed color in earnest.

The changing weather meant the sky got a lot more interesting. I wasn’t able to get out much but the few times I did, there were some pretty interesting things to capture in the sky. I am still waiting for an epic lenticular display, however. Those don’t seem to be coming quite as frequently as they used too…

As is often the case, when it is storming in Mount Shasta, it is still clear over the Shasta Valley. During one of the storms that passed through the region, this was demonstrated in dramatic fashion. It seemed as though Black Butte was holding back the entire storm. When I left my house it was raining hard but out in the valley near Truchas Ridge it was sunny and dry. The microclimate effect is fascinating.

Of course, it would not be autumn with out the color in the trees. The aspens were not good this year but many of the other trees, especially the oaks, were fantastic.

Ok, no fall color in this image, but I couldn’t separate it out from the other images of the same lenticular event. 

Overall, a pretty amazing array of colors. As noted, a lot of rain is set to come through the area. The trees that still have color on them probably won’t by the end of that storm so these images just about sum up what we got in 2025. Not a bad year, though I wish I had been able to get out more. Nonetheless, I am, as always, grateful for the opportunities I had.