Hike Mt. Shasta

Here we are at the end of January and things have been unseasonably warm and dry. Strangely enough, though the month has felt more like March or the end of April, the dryness has not struck a perceptibly ominous chord at this point. Thankfully, we got a lot of rain in November and December (and a decent snow storm on Christmas Day). That, and the solid winters we have had the last few years, has meant that the overall water situation remains pretty good, despite the lack of a deep snowpack.

Even Shasta Lake is looking good. The lake has been drawing down to make room for more water should the weather turn more precipitous. The same is true for Lake Siskiyou, which would be full if not for the intentional draw down. With February, March and April yet to go, I am confident we will need the extra room in the reservoirs.

I can look back to previous years where January was drier and warmer than typical and those winters, particularly January 2011, still turned out rather well. That year the month was completely dry and the temperatures were in the low 60’s. Nonetheless, the storms came in February and then with even greater force in March. The latter half of that month saw the second largest storm I have ever experienced in Mount Shasta, leaving upwards of 6 feet of snow. Four feet fell the first night. Of course, this is all just recollection.

In the years subsequent to 2011, I began this website and can track the weather a little more concretely. In particular, the winters beginning in 2014 and 2015 were exceedingly dry winters overall, not just in January. Articles referencing the dry conditions for 2014 can be read here and here, while 2015 conditions can be read here. The former is interesting because we didn’t get any snow at all until April!

Despite the dry conditions, the month was still beautiful, with a host of interesting conditions.

The most spectacular event of the month came 4 days after the New Year. Incredible lenticulars formed all around Mount Shasta. In hindsight, I think this was the breaking of the wet weather that had been common over the previous couple of months and the coming of the dry weather system. It sure made for some special scenes in the sky.

Naturally, I wanted to document the spectacle from Truchas Ridge, so I headed up to Echo Point. It was a great view, though the light and clouds weren’t quite as grand as I had hoped they would be.

I had been up there a few times over the previous month but that typically been when the ground was frozen. I didn’t think that the warmer, thawed conditions might mean. It meant mud and a lot of it. The mud on the ridge is a special thing.

In the middle of the month, we took the boy scout troop camping at Orr Lake. The conditions were gorgeous, but it sure was cold. We could hear the wolves from the Whaleback Pack howling. Orr Lake is such an underrated destination. There should be more trails out in that neck of the woods.

Overall, the month was beautiful. It can be easy to slip into complacency and not appreciate the incredible beauty of this land but sometimes I just get overwhelmed with a sense of awe and the need to respond accordingly. I try to preserve that state with my camera, however inadequately. Psalm 19 comes to mind.

At the end of the month, there was one, intense burst of rain that lasted for a few hours. Though midwinter and cool, it still felt almost like a summer thunderstorm in its fury. There were, of course, some lenticulars leading to the build up of the storms power. Sense then, the sky has most been relatively sedate. As of the writing of this post, the weather seems to be holding for another week before some precipitation finally sets in. Lets hope the snow comes after the rain and the rest of the winter yields a decent snowpack.

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Incidentally, today marks the 13th anniversary of the launching of this website. This year also marks the 10th year sense I hike all the trails for my Northern California book. There’s been a lot of changes since, both in life, in the land and in how I have written the blog on this website. I hope to spend the year sporadically reflecting on some of those things. Thanks to everyone who has been reading it, whether from the very start or who just subscribed last month. It’s been a lot of fun keeping this things going.