A Glorious December Afternoon On Cerro Pedernal

Posted by bubbasuess on December 3, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Truchas Ridge. 2 Comments

Looking south toward Mount Shasta from the summit of Cerro Pedernal.

The first of December was a surprisingly warm day that proved irresistible and I had to take the family outside for the afternoon. We headed back out to Truchas Ridge, with the plan to climb to the top of one of the nearby peaks. Our destination was our “backyard peak” which we have dubbed Cerro Pedernal, after the illustrious peak of New Mexico. Many of the landmarks around Truchas Ridge have been given monikers that hearken to some of my favorite destinations in the Land of Enchantment and this certainly fits the mold.

The hike to the summit is not difficult but there is not trail and requires some rock scrambling. As far as we are concerned, this is a feature, not a bug. The kids happily scrambled up large boulder piles, howled like coyotes and sought what they thought might make the best den in each of the rocky outcroppings. They thrive on trips like this.

The day really could not have been more perfect. The ideal weather was only surpassed by the incredible vistas both during the hike up and from the summit of Cerro Pedernal. The 360 degree spectacle included every major mountain that rings the Shasta Valley, including prominent Oregon summits like Mount McLoughlin, Mount Ashland and Pilot Rock. Of course, Mount Shasta demands attention despite all the other landmarks that are visible. I have always had internal tension regarding whether I like the southern or northern views of the mountain best. The south has nice lines and the awesome crags of the Mud Creek basin. However, standing on the summit and looking at the north side of Mount Shasta, it is hard to think that this is not the most majestic of the mountain’s visages.

After tarrying on the summit for a while, we finally descended back down to Tesuque Valley. We wandered the ridge for a little while, checking out the recently fallen Quemado Tree and enjoying the lengthening shadows to the south. When we finally left, the sun was setting and alpenglow was beginning to make Mount Shasta radiate the warm, colorful glow. It was a must fulfilling end to an already glorious afternoon.

Foggy Sunrise At Truchas Ridge

Posted by bubbasuess on November 21, 2021
Posted in: Hiking, Mount Shasta, Truchas Ridge. 3 Comments

On Saturday morning I headed out to Truchas Ridge for the sunrise. There were a few clouds in the sky but nothing particularly interesting. However, I had not been out there for a few days and I was glad to get back out to to the ridge. While driving in from the west, the air was clear and visibility was great. However, once I was on top of the ridge, it was evident that the eastern side of Shasta Valley was blanketed in a thick layer of fog. Though moving slowly, the fog was creeping westward and looked to overtake the area around the ridge soon. This was the first time I had been to the ridge with the much fog in the valley.

I positioned myself on top of Jemez Hill and was able to catch the sunrise. Not much fog had intruded as far as Mount Shasta but thin wisps were permeating the hills the lie to the south of my position.

Further west, the fog was much more ubiquitous. While prominent peaks like the Whaleback, Ash Creek Butte and Sheeprock were all towering above the mist, the smaller hills of the Shasta Valley were almost totally swallowed up. Only a few were able to peak above the shroud.

From Jemez Hill I headed along the ridge to the Quemado Tree (which had been struck by lightning in May), which I was saddened to see had toppled in the powerful winds we had a couple weeks ago. I took a position for nearby to watch the sun come up. As the sun rose, the fog continued to thicken and rise. Soon the entire valley seemed to be consumed. Truchas Ridge is not exceptionally high but it appeared to be just high enough to rise above the fog, offering clear views.

Of course, Mount Shasta rose high above the fog, presiding regally over the spectacle as the sun breached the horizon.

Looking to the southwest, the scene was just as beautiful. The fog was a little thinner and on the horizon Black Butte, Mount Eddy and China Mountain were all hemming in the mist. The Shasta Valley really has an amazing array of peaks that hem it in!

After the sun was well and up, I headed to the back side of the ridge, and saw the valley on that side of the ridge was almost totally free of fog. The the moon was about to set behind Cerro Pedernal, the peak immediately to the north.  After watching the sun rise, I was blessed to watch the moon set. It was quiet and all the recent precipitation has made green grass sprout up everywhere. Moments like this make life rich.

Mount Shasta: After The Storm

Posted by bubbasuess on October 31, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. 3 Comments

Golden oaks embrace lenticular-crowned Mount Shasta.

A week and a half ago, I posted on the conditions as a “bomb cyclone” careened into the Mount Shasta area. Now, on the other side of the storm, it is time to assess the conditions. While there is much to say, in a nutshell, this storm was precisely what we needed. It dropped a significant amount of precipitation. It was just warm enough to keep the water from becoming snow in most areas. Consequently, there was substantial rain everywhere, with the snow rarely dipping below 7,000 to 6,000 feet. This was the ideal circumstance. The heavy rain was able to soak into the thirsty ground, which the forests really needed, while at the same time, the upper elevations were able to establish a good base for a snowpack. If the winter continues to be a wet one (please LORD!) then this was the perfect set up for conditions to build on. With more rain in the forecast, there is reason to be hopeful.

So, with that being said, let’s take a look at some of the sights and conditions during the storm and after it:


The storm was heavy throughout the area, but as is often the case, it weakened considerably north of Mount Shasta. The rainshadow that lies over the Shasta Valley often provides opportunities to view the storms at a wider angle as they happen. This is the case with the above image, looking into Dale Creek Canyon on Mount Eddy. The rain was falling heavily throughout the area but we were able to observe the storm from dry conditions. There was a lot of water falling there.


During the storm, I was able to get out during a lull and check out some of the creeks. There was the potential for flashfloods around the area and I saw evidence of heavy runoff in places where water does not normally run at all. However, my timing wasn’t great and I wasn’t able to record the water running high. I did catch Whitney Creek as it continues to carve and recarve its channel at the Highway 97 crossing. This area has been heavily graded to help keep the creek from blocking up the passage under the highway and spilling over onto the highway. In this current iteration, the creekbed had been smoothly graded but the creek washed all that work away and cut a new path once again.


While in the midst of the rains, I was able to capture a rainbow in front of Mount Shasta. It was a beautiful sight but gloriously frustrating. I kept waiting to catch the mountain clear of clouds, the rainbow bright and visible and the light brightening up the fall color in the trees. I was never able to get all those conditions aligned but it was marvelous to get catch this moment.


The storm did eventually clear and it was obvious that Mount Shasta had a lot of new snow on it. This image gives some indication of where the snowline was. Not the white on the trees – it comes down to just below 7,000 feet. Below that it was all rain. Still, there is now a hair over 2 feet of snow at the Old Ski Bowl (and the road is closed for the season). That is a great start to the winter!

Perhaps not as illustrative as I would like, these images are an attempt to show conditions before and after the storm. Lake Siskiyou rose several feet, though it is still down considerably. Parks Creek was consistently high, which is good for Lake Shastina. Perhaps most dramatic was the level of the Sacramento River’s headwaters. Prior to the storm, the river had decent flow but was pretty low. After the storm it had nearly quintupled in size. It was great to see the high water with the gorgeous fall colors.

I was also gratified to find that enough rain fell in the Shasta Valley that my favorite puddle has finally returned and is remarkably deep. May it last well into spring! This puddle never even made a hint of an appearance last winter so it has been nearly 2 years since these reflections shots have been possible. Of course, rain in the valley is great, but I have not been out to Truchas Ridge yet (life keeps happening!) so we’ll see how muddy things are out there.


So now we dive further into fall and deeper into the rainy season. As I said, there is cause to be optimistic. This has been the most beautiful autumn we have had in a long time. The colors are extremely vibrant and now the rivers and creeks are running full. That is juxtaposition of conditions that does not happen all the time. It is magnificent!

Mount Shasta: Into The Deluge

Posted by bubbasuess on October 20, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. 3 Comments

Mount Shasta, white from a precursor round of snow, on the eve of an epic storm.

In many ways, it has been a rough year in Mount Shasta. Last winter seemed good, with a fair amount of snow falling but little rain. The snow, apparently, was dry and had little water content. Much of it just blew away and never settled into a snowpack. Consequently, the summer was a difficult one. Fire was plentiful, even on the slopes of the mountain itself. Smoke filled the air and a pall of unease permeated the community. Yet that all now lies behind, time propelling us into the fall and winter, where hope demands we look to the provision of our needs with optimism.

Without knowing what the entire winter holds in store, at the very least, the first installment of that provision is upon us. An epic storm is passing through the region, pouring out rain and snow in large measure. This storm is such an answer to prayer, a relief to the parched weariness of this past year, that I want to document it in some fashion. Thus, the following images.


I had been watching the forecast and could see that a significant storm was definitely incoming. The first indication of this was on October 17th. Some rain was imminent that night, followed by a day of a gathering storm and the deluge would hit. Knowing how the weather around Mount Shasta works, I was fairly confident that that morning would have a large lenticular. I headed out early in the morning and, as I suspected, there was a magnificent formation over the mountain. It was one of the absolute best lenticulars I have seen in a long time. The colorful rings were in striking opposition to the bare tower of Mount Shasta.


Indeed, it did rain on Sunday night and on Monday, Mount Shasta was gloriously white once again, to a degree barely even seen throughout the winter of 2021. The day was mostly cloudy and the mountain not visible except for brief breaks in the storm but in the afternoon it cleared and the icy monarch glowed in the in the afternoon light. It was an inspiring scene.


Tuesday morning I headed out early for sunrise again. Tuesday night was set to see the onset of the heavy storm so I thought there might be a chance for a lenticular again. However, the real change in the weather had come on Sunday, so that formation was likely to be the only big one. This was the case but the morning was still a glorious one. Mount Shasta was my Sierra Blanca once again and the sky looked like cotton candy. The ground itself seemed to glow as the sun neared the horizon.


It was heartening to see the mountain’s glaciers covered in snow. The lack of insulating snow on these massive sheets of ice made 2021 a hard year for California’s largest glaciers. Many outbursts flooded highways and washed out roads. It is going to take a long time for some of the infrastructure around the mountain to recover.


To the west, Mount Eddy was also white once again. The few times through September that rain had sailed through the area Mount Shasta had been lightly glazed with a little snow but all the lower peaks were barely touched. Now the snow covered most of the higher peaks and the great massif of Mount Eddy was quite white.


By mid-morning the clouds were beginning to gather and the winds beginning to rip through the trees. It was obvious that a storm was gaining strength. I took the kids for one last romp along the Sacramento River before its is overwhelmed by runoff from the deluge. It was likely the last time they would play outside in the rocks and sunlight for several days.


I popped out later in the afternoon for one last look at Mount Shasta before the stormed enveloped us. A small lenticular, harbinger of the imminent flood clung to the summit. Dark clouds held sway, though areas of sunny blue sky were still visible. It was obvious that stormy turbulence overshadowed the mountain. It was a pretty awesome sight.


Oddly enough, the winds propelling the storm toward Mount Shasta also stripped much of the first round of snow off its flanks. However, it is a testimony to how much snow was already on the mountain that so much could be sheared off and it still look as white as it did. The dark clouds over Mount Shasta, though ominous in appearance, were a glad sight knowing the amount of rain and snow that were just hours away from commencing.


There is a lot of water coming…

Autumn Around The Great Basin (And The Eastern Sierra)

Posted by bubbasuess on October 19, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. Tagged: , , , , . 8 Comments

Autumn glory in Lamoille Canyon.

Fall is my favorite time of year because of the changing light, cooler days and the kaleidoscope of colors that burst into the scenery. Over the last several years we have developed a habit of taking a longer trip in the fall. For the first few years, we headed down to the Mammoth area and enjoyed the fall color that makes the Eastern Sierra magical this time of year. Last year, we got a little more ambitious and made the trek down to Arizona. This year, we decided to both return to our ways and change things up yet again. First, we headed out to eastern Nevada, to enjoy the autumn scenery of the Great Basin. We enjoyed the Ruby Mountains and Great Basin National Park, both of which were fantastic. After that, we headed back to Mammoth Lakes for a few days in the Eastern Sierra. The scenery the entire was magnificent.

The weather on the trip was off and on, generally gorgeous but we had a night of rain in Nevada and a morning of snow in California. The latter, in particular, actually enhanced our visit, since the mountains were covered in the winter’s first layer of snow. It made for many memorable vistas throughout the Mammoth Lakes region.

The Hike Mt Shasta kids had a grand time, of course. Whether it was building dragon villages along Lamoille Creek, scampering over granite waterfalls or fishing out of beaver ponds (with success!), it was a terrific experience and an awesome first in depth exposure to the allure of the Great Basin.

I don’t know what next year’s trip will entail. A roadtrip to Dallas and back has been discussed. Another possibility that has been suggested is heading back to Arizona, but this time spending the preponderance of the trip in the Sonoran Desert, which was unanimously enjoyed by family last year. Perhaps we will head up to Steens Mountain in Oregon and points east. The potential is endless.

Another Light Rain Around Mount Shasta.

Posted by bubbasuess on September 28, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. 5 Comments

A fresh dusting of snow and the light of sunrise mix on Mount Shasta.

For the third time in the last few weeks the Mount Shasta area has gotten rain. This certainly seems to indicate the accuracy of the NOAA prediction that we are headed into a La Nina winter, which if true, will bring a lot of much needed rain and snow to the Mount Shasta area. The fact that three storms have come through and left a little snow on the mountain in September lends some creedance to the NOAA’s forecast for the winter.

On this third go around, the snow from the previous two storms had mostly melted off. A little bit still clung around the summit, along with the glaciers that clung to the upper flanks of the mountain.


A day or so before the rain, I had headed out into the Shasta Valley for sunrise. They sky was clear, which lent itself to an uneventful sunrise but the views of the mountain were great. This afforded a chance to see just how much snow from the previous storm was still there. It was mostly found in the crags and crevices above 12,000 feet but, here on the shadier northern aspect of Mount Shasta, it could still be seen clearly.


Incidentally, the sunrise offered an interesting view of Ash Creek Butte. The peak, one of the 5 highest summits around Mount Shasta is not as readily visible as the other high peaks around the mountain but it can be seen from many places in the Shasta Valley. On this particular morning, it lay just above the light horizon cast by the rising son. Interestingly, the Ash Creek Hoodoo was clearly visible, even from this great distance.


The morning of the storm, I headed out early, anticipating the shifting weather conditions might produce a lenticular. While I was correct and a lenticular did manifest, it was not nearly as large as I was hoping. Nonetheless, the sky was colorful and the bright yellow of the rabbit brush made for a spectacularly gorgeous morning. Now all that was left was to wait and see how much precipitation would actually fall.


In the end, the storm did not exceed expectations and only delivered a moderate amount of preciptiation. This translated into only a bit of dusting of snow on Mount Shasta. However, unlike the previous two storms, the temperatures were much colder so, though the precipitation was not high, the snow level on the mountain was low. Snow was visible on Mount Shasta well below 8,000 feet. This made for a beautiful sunrise, since the light snow offers the perfect contrast to the dark crags on the south side of the mountain. When lit by the sunrise, this always makes for a terrific spectacle and Tuesday morning certainly delivered on that potential.


By the end of the day, much of the dusting of snow had melted off or been blown away. However, despite its disappearance in the areas under 10,000 feet, its provenance remains a hopeful indicator of what may lie ahead over the course of the coming winter.

Mount Shasta, Before And After The Rain

Posted by bubbasuess on September 20, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta. 4 Comments

A light, week-old dusting of snow lingers amidst Mount Shasta’s glaciers.

The last couple of days have seen the coming of much needed rain to the Mount Shasta area. Rain fell a week ago and then, again through most of Saturday as well as a bit on Sunday morning. Though the storm passed and the sky was clear by midday, the storm has flushed all the smoke and haze away and tamped the fires down. Though I am positive they will flare up as things dry out, this weather has, no doubt, weakened them just as they were weakened with the rain last weekend. Hopefully this will lay them low even more and things can finally settle down.

The contrast before and after the storm was rather striking and worth noting in a few images.


Prior to Saturday’s rain, there was quite a bit of activity in the sky above Mount  Shasta. There was a small lenticular above the mountain and many oddly shaped (but non-lenticular) clouds all about. The mountian was not visible from the west due to clouds blanketing the western flanks so I headed around to the northeast, which offered a clear view of the mountain as well as good light for sunrise. Frustratingly, the light never really manifested and I only got a glow around the summit for a couple of minutes. I decided to head back home when it seemed like the sun was not going to breach the clouds to the east in a timely fashion.


Heading back through “the burn” along Highway 97, the wind was powerful and ripped through the burned out trees. The air was hazy with plumes of dust being kicked up from the now burned and brushless hills. The early morning light illuminating the clouds of dust gave the area an eerie feel.

The wind itself was immensely powerful and was hard to keep my camera and tripod upright, at times. Though the video doesn’t do it justice, I tried to capture the power of the event. It definitely felt like a storm was moving in!


I resumed the drive home, but had to stop one more time near Big Springs Road. The sight of the dust blowing through a dense collection of burned out trees was strangely beautiful, in spite of the devestated forest. Looming above it was Shastina and the large dome of a lenticular that had enveloped Mount Shasta. It was a ghostly scene but not without a strange beauty.

The rain fell throughout the day and sporadically through the night. Temperatures also fell until it broked just below 40 degrees. This was all great for slowing the fires down. It also meant that there would be fresh snow on Mount Shasta. We decided to head out to Truchas Ridge for the afternoon. I forgot how beautiful it was out there with clear sky and clean air. The haze had almost become entrenched in my mind but this was a great reminder of how amazing it is out there. The sunset was rather nice too…


We hiked out to Artist’s Point, which might be my favorite place to capture images of the mountain. Though the clouds had all faded, the snow still add a nice touch to the mountain. The light was gorgeous, turning the hills and trees a glowing orange. We didn’t linger here, however, as we continued to Pecos Point.


From Pecos Point, we watched the alpenglow set in on Mount Shasta. A thin layer of clouds manifested at about 10,000 feet on the mountain, creating just a little bit of contrast. A lot of the snow that was there in the morning had already melted but the the fresh dusting, coupled with the glaciers, hinted at what the mountain normally looks like.


While there was minimal cloud activity around Mount Shasta, turning to the north that was definitely not the case. The sky was streaked with clouds that were lit up with alpenglow. It was a spectacular sunset!


We were blessed with an unexpected surprise too! As the light faded, the moon suddenly appeared, rising above the flanks of the Whaleback. There was still a purple glow in the sky that also lingered on the hills of the Shasta Valley. The wind began blowing and we were all awestruck by what a magificent sight we were all blessed to behold. My younger kids began howling like wolves, and kept it up until it was totally dark.


It was a great sunset on Truchas Ridge. The rain had cleared the crud in the air out, made the mountain white(ish) again and cooled the temperatures. It was a perfect afternoon to appreciate the beauty of this incredible region.

With fall upon us, the time is nigh for rain, some snow, lenticulars (although, there were a surprising number this summer!), gorgeous, low light and perfect tempertures. Fall is my favorite time of the year and, with the way the fires have hit us this year, I am ready to leave the summer of 2021 behind and look to the rest of the year! Right now weather experts are predicting a La Nina winter, with heaviy precipitaiton. May the Lord make it so!

A Red Sunset Over Lake Siskiyou

Posted by bubbasuess on August 17, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta, Trinity Divide. Tagged: . 1 Comment

The sun sets below Mount Eddy and the Trinity Divide.

Last week the Mount Shasta area was shrouded in an oppressive cloud of smoke. While none burned in the immediate area, there are a few fires to the west in the Klamath Mountains, the Antelope Fire to the east of Mount Shasta and the apocalyptic inferno that is the Dixie Fire to the southeast. The smoke from these conflagrations has been mixing together into a deathly soup that has stayed put over the area and seemed as though it would never go away. Thankfully the pressure off the coast has begun to shift, bringing a little relief to our corner of Northern California. While it remains to be seen how it will effect the fires, it did bring some clearer skies to Mount Shasta.

After dinner we decided to take advantage of it and head to Lake Siskiyou for some evening swimming. This was a far cry from earlier in the weekend. My wife had taken the kids to the lake on Saturday and, as expected, it was a complete zoo. Despite the smoke, a horde had descended on the lake to escape the heat. Naturally, that was not a deterrent to the kids having a good time and they loved cooling off in the water.

Last night, however, was a completely different experience. We were, literally, the only ones at the lake. At least, we were the lonly ones at North Shore. There were no kayakers or paddle boarders or anything visible. The conditions were also remarkably different. There was smoke, but it was mostly manifest as brown clouds, rather than the inpenatrable blanket that had limited visiblity a to a few hundred yards. The entire lake was cast in an unearthly yellow light. The kids once again had a blast swimming, paddleboarding and snorkeling. My wife and I sat on the shore and read while the wind blew.

Of course, the smoky conditions made the sunset a surprisingly spectacular one. There was enough haze that the sun could be gazed on directly with out any discomfort to the eyes. I could not resist pulling out my camera and catching a few images as the disc sank toward the horizon. Part of me doesn’t like photographing smoky conditions, but I can’t deny the unitque beauty the it can produce.

This has been a rough summer in a lot of ways, the fires being just one component of the challenge. In spite of this, an evening like this, where the danger that confronts us is known and recognized and the kids, blissful and blessed with a lack of concern true to their age, are still able to enjoy themselves is a helpful antidote. Between the beauty and the fun, I could put away the world for a little while and enjoy.

On Whitney Creek And The Lava Fire (Some Good News)

Posted by bubbasuess on August 15, 2021
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. Tagged: . 1 Comment

Looking across a burned area towards Whitney Falls and Whitney Creek Canyon.

The fires this summer have been discouraging both here on Mount Shasta and elsewhere in Northern California. Yet, in the midst of this gloom, there are all sorts of hidden turns of events and some unexpected good news. Such is the case with Whitney Creek on the north side of Mount Shasta.

The creek, flowing northward from the massive Whitney Glacier, is home to Whitney Falls, the destination of the lone hiking trail on Mount Shasta’s north side. The falls is one of the four large waterfalls on Mount Shasta and, like the trail that leads to it, the only one on the mountain’s north side. It is also in the heart of the area burned by the Lava Fire.

Whitney Creek has been notorious for its fickle flow and its occasional overflows from glacial outburts. While it hasn’t had the latter this year, a similar phenomenon after a period of intense rain from a passing thunderstorm. Flash floods, a danger with a storm like this, were an even larger threat following the fire. As anticipated, the creek rose to dangerous levels, bringing with it a tremendous amount of sediment and rocks. Though not quire the same as the glacial outbursts, the end result was the same. The creekbed was filled with mud and debris, clogging the passage under Highway 97 and forcing Whitney Creek outside of its banks. It was necessary to bring in backhoes to dig the debris out and allow the creek to flow freely again.

Whitney Creek at Highway 97 in 2017.

Whitney Creek at Highway 97 in 2021, after the creekbed was filled by flashfloods.

Whitney Creek at Highway 97 in 2021, after an emergency excavation.

Where the creek once flowed through a flat landscape choked with brush, it now cuts a muddy course through a channel lined with large mounds of dirt and rock. I suspect this altered landscape will persist for a while, until a flow large enough cuts the back and collapses sections of the pile into the surging water. Until that happens, this section of Whitney Creek’s appearence has been altered a fair amount. Also worth noting, whoever operated the excavator had some fun building a massive stack of balanced rocks. A new landmark, suspect.

When I was there, it was shortly after the flashflood waters had abated. Yet, even then the flow of the water was unpredictable, with surges and subsidence causing its flow to change course within its muddy channel.

While there were no obvious changes in the creekbed’s landscape, it seemed to flow like frazil ice, with channels opening, flowing and then blocking up, only to repeat the process else where in the creekbed.

As interesting as that may be, I did commit to some good news, so let’s have it! Looking at a map and seeing the waterfall’s location, it is natural to assume that the trees all around Whitney Falls burned. While the falls would no doubt survive, the view of the falls would be significantly altered by the presence of blackened, burned and dead trees. Thankfully, it appears that this is not the case.

Whitney Falls before the Lava Fire.

There are a couple of places along the highway where it is possible to see the falls. From these vantage points, it is easy to see that the trees around the falls did, in fact, survive. There are a few burned ones mixed in, but, by and large, the vista of the falls is intact!

The falls are hard to see, but the trees around it are green.

Of course, while the area around the falls is intact, the area below, through which the Whitney Falls Trail travels, is burned. This too, however, may be a net positive. The notoriously hard to follow path passed through some dense brush that was in dire need of some lopping and clearing. That is no longer and issue and the opportunity to rework the trail in the wake of the fire now presents itself.

Indeed, there are bits of good news from throughout the fires around the North State. When the massive Dixie Fire exploded to the north and burned past Chester into Lassen Volcanic National Park, the summer camp I took the boy scout troop to, Camp Fleischmann, was right in its path.

Camp Fleischmann lies between Chester and Lassen.

There was no structure protection in that inferno and I assumed the camp a total loss. In the aftermath, it has been revealed the camp (and its trees!) are largely intact!

Even the campsite my troop used, which lies on the far side of the lake from the main part of the camp, appeared to have survived the flames.

All post fire images found here.

The fires can seem overwhelming at times, and the scars left by them may be deep and long lasting, but there are still many things to be grateful for. The survival of some trees in a favored spot or the continued existence of a beloved destination are gifts in the midst of the smoky pall that hangs over all of us. There are many more out there and as the smoke clears, we will commence to look for them. When found, we must give thanks for the blessings in the destruction. We need to keep looking up.

Life And The Lava Fire Pt. II

Posted by bubbasuess on August 9, 2021
Posted in: Boy Scouts, Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta. Tagged: . 6 Comments

With the Lava Fire mostly out, small smoldering areas still create a haze around the summit.

The summer got off to a wild start for my family, as documented in part one of this short series looking at the Lava Fire. First boy scout camp, then covid and the fire raged simultaneously. Thankfully we all recovered, though the rode to health was challenging, to say the least.

At the end of that was are long anticipated, and then dreaded, annual trip to Yosemite. It was incredibly hot and our lungs, having suffered the virus, were still recovering and not what they normally are. Though we flirted with canceling, we decided to go anyway and brave the conditions. This year we were in Yosemite for 4 days followed by three more days in the Lake Tahoe area. Temperatures in Yosemite Valley were as high as 103 degrees and the water level was low in the Merced and all the waterfalls. We dealt with that by heading to the high country where cooler temps prevailed and spending a lot of time in the water when back in the Valley. In the end, we were glad we went.

We finally returned home to Mount Shasta to find the Lava Fire mostly out. It was time to poke around a bit and make my own assessment of the mountain’s new condition. Over several days, I made a few forays around the north side, along Highway 97, taking in all the changes.

While other fires in California have grown in size and prominence, the Lava Fire continues to burn in remnants

A bit blurry but you can still see flames burning above the Dry Canyon Bridge on the 2nd day of August.

One fascinating thing to watch in the aftermath of the fire is how quickly the Union Pacific Railroad was able to repair the Dry Canyon Bridge on Mount Shasta. This bridge is the tallest railroad bridge in the area (I think) and is a vital part of the rail link for the west coast. It was severelly damaged in the fire and as soon as things cooled enough to let repair crews in, work on rebuilding the bridge commenced.

Repairs on the Dry Canyon Bridge underway.

Several sections of the span were replaced and trails were back on it nearly a month earlier than anticipated. It was strange not hearing the trains running through Mount Shasta for the few weeks that the damage on the bridge made train transport impossible.

It will take some time to get used to the new conditions on Mount Shasta’s north side. I do manage to find some optimism in how things have changed. The remnant groves of aspens hidden in the lava flows have a chance at proliferating without competition and, perhaps, becoming a dominant tree on the north side. The lava flows themselves, shorn of the plant growth that has accumulated on them, will take a more prominent place in the visual landscape of Mount Shasta. This and other changed features may give the north side of Mount Shasta introduce and new and different character and beauty. Time will tell but the mountain presists regardless.