Hike Mt. Shasta

The edge of a storm surges against the base of Mount Shasta. 

There really isn’t too much to this post, other than to populate it with some images of Mount Shasta that I have been able to capture in the midst of an otherwise very busy month. Once again, the lethal combination of clinic, school and Christmas trees has kept me pretty occupied and limited the amount of time I had to do anything. This wasn’t a unbearable, since much of the month was punctuated with storms. These left Mount Shasta with a solid blanket of snow, which has fully restored it to its winter glory after the summer. It is notable, however, that this is the first winter in quite a few years we haven’t had any snow at all at lower elevations. There has been none at my house. Given how wet the month has been, it is just notable, not concerning. For the last 5 days or so it has been gorgeous weather and that looks like a trend continuing into December.

A couple weeks ago, during a break in the storm, my wife and I headed up into the Shasta Valley to watch the sunset. We opted to not go to Truchas Ridge but stayed nearby. The color on the mountain turned out to be quite nice and we were glad we had made the quick trip out there after all the rain had fallen.

One more storm passed through the area about a week ago and this one yielded a classic look at the way the storms often halt right on the divide separating the Sacramento and Klamath River watersheds. The Shasta Valley was bright and sunny while the dark clouds piled up over the mountains. At my house it was raining but only 15 minutes to the north it was sunny and dry.

The rainshadow was obvious but equally dramatic. Only the base of Black Butte was visible in the midst of the swirling storm. It looked like a giant wave breaking and then dissipating into the desert of the Shasta Valley. Rain was visibly falling in the mountain canyons but it never really forced its way into the valley.

Since that last storm a week ago, the temperatures dropped and the sky cleared. It has been frosty and cold but the sunlight has made the days beautiful. My youngest son and I went tromping along the Sacramento River, where everything was covered with a patina of ice but the river was flowing strong. Mount Shasta was beautifully snowy in the distance.

A few days later, my older son and I climbed up to Panorama Point at Truchas Ridge. We haven’t been up there since March which is strange, considering we used to go there weekly. Hopefully we will return to that kind of frequency but the wheels of justice grind slowly… Nonetheless, it was great to be out there with him and the conditions were beautiful. There had been a lenticular over Mount Shasta earlier, but it had collapsed before we got there. The clouds were still quite interesting though. Being back up there, with its top-of-the world- views in all directions was a good reminder of how spectacular that area really is. Over the last year or two we have favored Echo Point for a variety of reasons but this outing was a good reminder that the length of Truchas Ridge is worth spending time at.

In the end, the color turned out to be beautiful and the time with my son worthwhile. Lenticular or no, it was a great sunset. We plan on heading out there again soon. For now though, it’s Thanksgiving and I have to get to work! Have a blessed day!