Hiking

Posts pertaining to hiking, both in the Mount Shasta area and beyond.

Four Sunsets From Truchas Ridge

Posted by bubbasuess on May 31, 2026
Posted in: Cascade Range, Desert, Hiking, Mount Shasta, sunset, Truchas Ridge. 1 Comment

Another month has rocketed by and, sadly, the remodel is not yet completed. A couple more weeks, I think and we will be just about done. In the mean time, the only outside time I have had has been spent out at Truchas Ridge. It is hard to believe that it has been 3 years since “The Incident” and a rapid reduction in our activity out there. We are nearing the end of the subsequent legal process and I will probably write a lot more about the ridge and what happened out there once things have been worked out. Hopefully by the end of summer it will finally be done!

In the meantime, I have been working out at Truchas Ridge for the first time in 3 years. I used to have a trail out there but the fallow time has caused it to completely revert back to nature, except for the rock steps I built. Fortunately I had put out cairns to help mark the route as well. Now, since I had to start over, I have been able to reroute a lot of the path, making it a bit more interesting and less rocky in some areas. I have also added 2 loops, forming something of a figure eight.

I have actually been out there for a number of sunsets this month but between working on the trails or clouds obscuring the mountain, I have only recorded 3 sunsets. None of them had particularly great light or interesting clouds but the scenery is nonpareil and just being out there with the wind blowing, the nighthawks diving and the magnificent mountain all lit up was its own reward and worth documenting.

The first sunset was the second day of May. A storm was looming and a lenticular-like cloud hung over the valley. While it didn’t coalesce into well formed event, it did cast an ominous pall over the hills and heightened the anticipation of the coming storm. The clouds still let the light through and the alpenglow on Mount Shasta was terrific.

The second sunset began an interesting trend in the month of May. For whatever reason, the clouds consistently obscured Mount Shasta on the north side. At times the clouds were thick, others they were light but they regularly blocked the summit from view. Nonetheless, the sunset still illuminated the landscape and the scenery was stunning, regardless of whether one could see the summit.

 

The third sunset I recorded was especially memorable because I was absolutely beat. I had been clearing the path and moving large rocks for the trail, but had still managed to haul my camera and tripod along with the tools I was using. Once again, clouds blocked the summit, though it did manage to pop out from time to time. This was probably the prettiest sunset I took in from the ridge in May, 2026.

It has been gratifying to get the trail into such good shape. In the past it has only been an out and back but now it is something of a figure eight – 2 loops connected by a short path. The above images are all from the original out and back, though all of the refurbished path in May. After a little more work, I may post some of the other loops and their vistas, of which there are some grand ones.

The last sunset happened to be the last one of May. I headed over to the Keyhole at Pecos Point. This area is a family favorite though I have written about it little or shown very many images from here. The Keyhole is a pretty cool rock formation with brilliant green lichen on it. My kids like to climb the rocks in this area, having spent countless hours doing so over the years. The views from this area are jaw-dropping.

After the Keyhole, I headed to the summit of Truchas Ridge and then over to New Artists Point. The clouds that had surrounded Mount Shasta earlier were now entirely gone but the alpenglow was marvelous.

I am grateful to be back out working on Truchas Ridge again after so many years. We have a lot of plans out there and I am sure I will be writing about it more as we work them out. In the mean time, May has gone and June is now here. Hopefully I can get more than one post out…

April Flew By…Again

Posted by bubbasuess on April 30, 2026
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, Truchas Ridge. 3 Comments

Another month has come and gone and I am barely getting a post out before change the page on the calendar. I have an excuse this time though. Not only has all the usual stuff been swirling around but a major renovation has been afoot in our house. Both bathrooms are being redone at once, as well as all (yes, all) the plumbing under the house. Add it all up and I have barely had time to do anything outside, let alone get any good pictures of Mount Shasta. Fortunately, just going about my business affords a seemingly endless stream of opportunities to appreciate the spectacle that is Mount Shasta and it’s surrounding mountains.

The remodel is a bit behind schedule, but we are progressing faster now. If you look just above the shop vac, you can see that the bottom of the wall is torn off and the outside is visible. The house has been stripped down to almost nothing and the experience certainly makes one appreciate things like plumbing.

I did manage to get out for one sunset at Truchas Ridge. The interesting clouds that had persisted all day dissipated but it was still a beautiful sunset. I am hoping to get out there more often over the rest of the spring.

There has been a fair amount of rain this April, which means the mountain has gotten some fresh snow. The banners have been magnificent at times. I love the morning light illuminating the billowing plumes of ice. It is so dynamic and serene at the same time.

The most memorable event of the month was a mammoth lenticular cloud. It kept growing throughout the day and taking on more layers. By sunset it was absolutely massive. While the overcast sky did prevent good color from lighting it up, it was still an epic event to witness.

And that was pretty much it for the month, other than business and baseball games. Hopefully next month I can actually get outside.

Light In The Layers

Posted by bubbasuess on March 31, 2026
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta. 2 Comments

This post is weeks overdue. Things were just busy at the beginning of March and then got worse when we left for Utah to spend a week camping in the Moab and Capitol Reef areas. As they say, not time away goes unpunished, on top of which we had  my younger son’s birthday and baseball and my daughter’s musical. It all gets…complicated.

At the beginning of the month, there were a number of small lenticulars, but never much great color. However, with the hues of sunrise and sunset lacking, the morning light still lit the clouds up and made the layers of the clouds glow. The addition of fresh snow billowing off the upper elevations of the mountain made the scene even more beautiful.

The best specimen had a lot going on. It had some very delicate layers in a fine stack over the summit when I first pulled my camera out. However, the sight that really caught my interest was the light and shadows passing through the Windows on Casaval Ridge. The light that cut through the crags then illuminated the wispy clouds sailing around the mountain. It was entrancing and I could have watched it for far longer than I did. Eventually the cloud on the summit became less defined but picked up a nice touch of cloud iridescence.

A few days later, I made it up to Echo Point at Truchas Ridge for sunset. There was yet another small lenticular on the summit. After this, we headed off to Utah. It was warm out there but it was fantastic. I love the Colorado Plateau. The day after we got back from Utah, a small wedding party headed up to Echo Point for an intimate ceremony with the point’s phenomenal view highlighting their union. I was glad to be able to give them the opportunity. I never thought something like that would happen up there!

A couple days later, there was one more summit lenticular on Mount Shasta again, once again with the morning light pulsing through the layers. It was another great moment on the mountain.

Now spring is in full swing here in Mount Shasta. The grass is green, the trees are blossoming and the temperatures are warm (except tonight, of course). I have never seen spring come this early here. A few years ago, we were still getting 20-30 inches of snow at this time. Everything in cycles, I guess. Hang on, it’s going to be an interesting summer…

Winter Shows Up When It Will

Posted by bubbasuess on February 28, 2026
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, Shasta Valley. 2 Comments

Fresh snow blankets Mount Shasta at sunset.

Another month has sailed past and I have not had much time to post anything, so this is going to be just a quick collection of pictures and conditions, most of which I have been able to capture as I have been going about my life. My apologies for the paucity of words. I do have two posts in the works that are neither weather related nor just a bunch of pictures. Hopefully I can get one of them done before I head off to Utah.

February started off with a little drama in the sky. The beginning of the month was a carry over from the exceedingly dry January we had. I go the above image while driving my son up to Klamath Falls for his hockey game. Hockey and a sunrise like that – it was a great day!

The dry month allowed Truchas Ridge to dry out a bit. It wasn’t a complete mudfest like what I got myself into in January. The day looked like the sunset could be magnificent but as has so often been the case, the sky just cleared out before sunset. A beautiful time to watch the mountain nonetheless!

I tried a few more times from the valley over the next few days, but conditions never just got to that point where it was truly astounding. It was only just…mildly astounding. I guess that means it was still pretty great. Even a lackluster sunset on Mount Shasta is still pretty incredible.

With a big storm finally careening through the region, I headed back to the same spot, hoping to capture Mount Shasta during a lull before the clouds overtook it again. I was too late, but it was great to finally be getting a lot of rain and snow.

We got quite a bit of snow though not as much as predicted. Still, it made for the whitest scene we have had all winter. It was peaceful the morning after snow tapered off.

The roads, however, where anything but peaceful. They were a downright disaster. The above image was outside our animal hospital. The freeways were loaded with accidents and the ski park highway was particularly bad. There were over half a dozen people off the road. Needless to say, the ski park was a zoo. I am not sure why so many people were have difficulty driving. I have seen the roads far, far worse but this seemed to catch drivers during a fit of complacency.

As the storm weakened, I headed out into the valley again. It seemed as though the clouds were clearing just enough for Mount Shasta and its off lenticular to get some light. I almost gave up when it suddenly turned bright pink. The light was gone nearly as quickly as it came but I had my camera ready and was able to capture one quick shot of the pink mountain.

The mountains always look terrific when they are textured with fresh snow. The waves in the ice etched by the wind, the frosted trees and the glittering crags all juxtapose to present a vision of icy glory. Add to that the blue sky and one has the perfect winter vision.

Thus the mountain was covered with a fresh new layer of snow. It looks fantastic right now. The image above was taken while dropping my son off at a friends house. With alpenglow drenching the mountain, how can I night set my tripod up in the middle of the street? Cars? What cars?

More rain has come this weekend. It was heralded by a brief lenticular display on the mountain. It began as a classic little wispy wave over the mountain, catching the morning light. It was obvious this one was not going away quickly.

The little lenticular wave continued to grow. Initially forming a ragged lens shape over the mountain, it expanded for hours until it covered the entire sky. There was not to be a lenticular sunset with this specimen. Nonetheless, it was a grand morning and the subsequent rain has been most welcome.

Now March is upon us. Will it bring a final, massive storm or will it go out quietly. The snowpack is hoping for the former. So am I.

 

January Rolled By With Mud, Then Very Dry

Posted by bubbasuess on January 31, 2026
Posted in: Cascade Range, Desert, Echo Point, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, Truchas Ridge. 3 Comments

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.

__________________________________________________________________

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.

Mount Shasta 2025 – A Year In Images

Posted by bubbasuess on January 6, 2026
Posted in: Hiking, Mount Shasta. 4 Comments

December 2025 produced some awesome lenticular clouds.

We have now completed the year of our Lord 2025’s orbit around the sun. It has been a very busy year here at the Hike Mt Shasta homestead. It was another strange year, with an odd mix of work, volunteering and some personal endeavors thrown in for good measure. Our business has grown immensely and demanded a lot more of my time this year. Concurrently, my involvement with my kids’ school has also grown, and the investment of time and effort has produced some good fruit. This has meant that I have had far less time than years past to get out on the trail (or off the trail, is it tends to be these days). Even my work at Truchas Ridge has suffered and things have ground to a halt there, though this has been more a product of an…outside intrusion than my own prioritization of my goals there. Still, I have been able to get out here and there and my quest to document Mount Shasta in all conditions continues.

In the midst of the busyness it is hard to believe that I have continued to post at least one post a month on this site, missing only a handful of months over the last 13 years. Sometimes I just get a bug and post a lot, sometimes it is a struggle just to force myself to sit and write something, anything. I feel like I have a few big things left to write about. Maybe I can force myself to tackle them in the coming year.

Regardless, blessings abound in the midst of the craziness and I am grateful for that.

Enough of me yapping. On to the retrospective:

In 2025 January kicked off to a wet start. No surprise, given the new year starts in winter, but then I have seen waterless winters that edged up into the 60’s. This was not that. Cold with some snow and rain. Perhaps somewhat unusual, the rain was particularly copious in the Shasta Valley. Atypical for the high desert terrain, it produced great reflecting pools, one of my favorite benefits of the winter season. However, the storms were…uneventful, at least in terms of unusual or beautiful conditions. There was only one notable lenticular and not much in terms of sunrises and sunsets. Still, that is nitpicking. The most boring of conditions are still exceptional around Mount Shasta.

February was most memorable for the massive snow storm that hit the region. While a large and powerful storm, such things are not unusual around Mount Shasta. What was unusual was the scale of the storm – particularly the snowfall – that hit the Shasta Valley. At Truchas Ridge, there was an incredible 14-16 inches of snow. These conditions were consistent all over the valley. Indeed, this was a generational amount of snow in the desert land. Determined to capture images of this unique event, I climbed out to Echo Point for a sunset. I had anticipated 6 inches at the most. I should have brought snowshoes for what I found there. I made it up to the point and got some of the most memorable images of Mount Shasta from that epic vista. I will never forget this one.

The winter continued well into March, leaving layers of fresh, crispy snow on the mountain. It felt like the month was snowed in with work, as I hardly got out at all. The only real notable trip was to Pecos Point on Truchas Ridge with the family. It is shocking how something that was once a weekly or more event was now noteworthy because of how infrequent I was able to get out.

The loaded schedule continued into April. I was out not at all. The only pictures of Mount Shasta I took the entire month was of the rising moon over the mountain, which produced a moon shadow. Other than that, I felt disconnected from my camera and Mount Shasta.

Things seemed to turn in May. The weather was getting more interesting and my schedule loosened up a bit. It also started inauspiciously. A fire flared up on Spring Hill, burning the western flank of the small peak. It was visible from all over. It seemed like a dangerous harbinger to come for the summer. Despite the fire, other elements of spring augured well for the summer. In particular, the bloom in the Shasta Valley was great, with yellow flowers popping up everywhere. The green hills, copious flowers and flowing creeks make spring in the valley a paradise.

As spring faded into summer, June brought the beginning of a trend that would stretch through the summer. In particular, the summer was a wet one, with one thunderstorm after another rumbling through. This meant mighty clouds and interesting light and rainbows. It also meant the danger for fires was greater from the lightning strikes but the storms always seemed to bring plenty of rain and now conflagrations appeared. We held our breath anyway.

July continued the pattern established in June. Thunderstorms were the order of the month and there was plenty of lightning and rainbows. As if such things can really be had in excess. They are beautiful and awe-inspiring and when they occur around Mount Shasta, it is difficult to top. July was an unusually wet summer month and the temperatures were low as well. Summer was shaping up nicely!

As the summer wore on into August, so did the thunderstorms continue. There was a little less rain and fewer rainbows but there was still some incredible cloud formations and some phenomenal lighting. The sunsets were awesome, even as fresh snow was still being deposited on Mount Shasta. This was, in fact, the coolest summer we have had in Mount Shasta in some time.

It was in September that fire finally returned to threaten the Mount Shasta area. Not from lightning but from wind and a careless camper. The fire burned in the Castle Creek drainage, near the Castle Crags. Though it flared up fast, driven by powerful winds, resources were thrown at it quickly and it was stopped in its tracks. Thankfully the Crags themselves were spared.

Autumn erupted in October and this year brought some great fall color. Though the many of the aspen trees didn’t do much, the oaks were fantastic, turning a vivid gold. which always offers a magnificent contrast to Mount Shasta, especially as the mountain is blanketed with fresh snow. The lower angle of the light just seems to make everything glow in October. It is my favorite month.

November brought thick fog to the Shasta Valley, fog that continually tried to creep up toward the base of Mount Shasta. Around the mountain, the weather proved to be very interesting with beautiful cloud formations highlighting the great fall light. This culminated, at the end of the month, with a fantastic lenticular, the first of what has proven to be a consistent stream of the magnificent lens-like clouds.

The run of awesome clouds and fog continued into December. This included one of the most stupendous lenticular formations to grace Mount Shasta in quite a while. It was not alone either, as other events formed around the mountain throughout the month. Dense fog also reigned in the valley, filling the basin like a vast, slow-motion sea. While at times oppressive, the edges of the fog brought some great beauty. Snow finally came too, falling on Christmas Day. It was a good month and a good end to a hard year but beautiful year. Thank the Lord and may His blessings abound in 2026!

Mount Shasta On Either Side Of Christmas

Posted by bubbasuess on December 27, 2025
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Mount Shasta, sunrise, sunset. Leave a comment

I’ll try to keep this one brief. Thus far, it has been a snowless winter season. It’s not that there has been no precipitation, it has in fact had a decent amount of rain, but there hasn’t been a stitch of snow. Everyone has indeed been dreaming of a white Christmas. Thankfully, storms came through the Mount Shasta area before, on and after Christmas. Much of it fell as rain but around my house, we ended up with 6 inches of snow. Oddly enough, though Mount Shasta was completely enveloped in the storm on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas (Boxing Day?) I could see the mountain through the storm. This, despite it raining and snowing hard at my house. Leave it to Mount Shasta’s rainshadow over the Shasta Valley to continue to provide clarity when all else is obscured.

On days before Christmas Eve, it had been raining hard over the valley but by the end of the day itself, it cleared up enough to see the mountain. Even better, all the precipitation had finally restored the pools that lie scattered around the valley, returning the possibility of reflections of Mount Shasta from the north. On Christmas Eve it was too windy for a good reflection, but the return of the possibility was like a little pre-Christmas stocking stuffer.

I may be the only one who enjoys the time lapse views of Mount Shasta but I can’t get enough of the way the conditions change. This particular time lapse from Christmas Eve was great. It showed the storm and some interesting clouds but by the end of the day it was sunny. However, the storm that was dropping copious amounts of rain (and soon snow as well) at my house was visible, hanging low to the ground. It seemed like Mount Shasta was like a giant rampart, holding the storm back. It is a striking answer to the question of why the Shasta Valley is a desert.

 

The morning after Christmas it was snowing at my house (it would ultimately leave 6 inches) but once again, it was clear over the valley. While the kids slept, I headed up again, to see what I could see. It was extremely windy and the storm raged to the south. The storm was ferocious enough to envelop Mount Shasta almost completely but the mountain’s profile was still discernable, if only barely. This time, oddly enough, it had a lenticular on it. It was almost indistinguishable from the storm itself, but the layered edges and dome were apparent. Oh yeah, the sunrise was pretty awesome too.

With the storm finally ended, I headed out for one more sunrise, now two days after Christmas. Sun lit snow banners, snow covered trees catching the sunrise light and glowing clouds reflecting in valley pools were all abundant. Winter is finally here. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Adrift In An Ocean Of Fog

Posted by bubbasuess on December 20, 2025
Posted in: Desert, Echo Point, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, sunrise, sunset, Truchas Ridge. Tagged: . 1 Comment

Mount Shasta, partially obscured by fog.

December most certainly has had the most interesting weather of the last several months in Mount Shasta. We have gone from beautiful clouds and epic lenticulars to a more mundane but intensely beautiful set of conditions: deep fog. The pea soup, interesting at first, became suffocating after a while. Not seeing more than 100 feet away and it never burning off got old fast. If it was colder and allowed the hoarfrost to develop like it did during the epic fogathon of December 2022 it would have been far more interesting. We were not so fortunate and thus left with the dreary pall. The fog was settled in the lowlands, particularly in the Shasta Valley, north of Mount Shasta. However, the it never pushed its way up toward the base of Black Butte so Mount Shasta was spared the gloom.

While dreary from the inside, it was fascinatingly beautiful from above:

 

I found captivating the manner in which the fog seemed to follow some kind of tidal action, ebbing and flowing back and forth across the valley (also check out Mount Shasta’s shadow cast on the foggy canvas!). At times the hills in the center of the Shasta Valley would emerge from the vapor while at other times it was overpowering, submerging them in the ubiquitous mist. The fact that the fog lapped at the edges of the higher terrain afforded the opportunity to find the fringes of the fog and to try to capture images of the fog, light and mountains all interacting together.

The Owls Head, the tallest of the Shasta Valley peaks, peeks through the fog while Black Mountain and Pilot Rock (in Oregon) loom in the distance.

Mount McLoughlin, southern Oregon’s tallest mountain, rises beyond Bogus Mountain and Table Rock.

I went out at sunset top try to capture the alpenglow on Mountain Shasta through the mist. While I waited for the sun to set, I was able to capture some compelling images of the valley filled with fog. Without the speed of the time lapse, the respiratory nature of the fog’s movement was not discernable. What was though, was the solitary summit of the Owls Head, the only peak in the entire Shasta Valley that was coming through the fog. It’s striking isolation placed it in the company of taller peaks like Black Mountain, Paradise Craggy and Oregon’s Pilot Rock. Not the kind of company a valley hill normally keeps.

Frustratingly, right as the alpenglow intensified on Mount Shasta, the fog dissipated where I was. All the effort of finding a view of the mountain through the mist was for naught. I was left with a hazy sunset, but not much magic in the way of fog. It was fun even if it yielded nothing.

I went out the next morning and found the fog far more stratified that it had been the day before. There were several distinct layers of different consistencies. The mist was also pushing further to the south than it had as well, almost all the way to the pass at Black Butte. It was the furthest south the fog would penetrate but it set up fascinating conditions out over the Shasta Valley.

The valley was absolutely submerged in fog. The number of layers and the light of the morning sun made for an entertaining spectacle, all while highlighting some landmarks that often don’t get noticed when the Shasta Valley’s full geography is visible. In particular, Duzel Rock and Boulder Peak, the highpoint of the Marble Mountains were quite prominent.

I finally found a good spot at the edge of the fog from which to observe Mount Shasta. This time I had to settle for glowing fog rather than alpenglow on the mountain, as it was the wrong time of day. Still, watching the tendrils of fog sail past while the mountain remained motionless was lovely. Mission accomplished.

Evening brought more of the same. The fog was thick and closing in. I captured a few shots of evening light but the view was soon lost as the fog thickened as the sun set. It was the opposite problem of the night before!

The next day brought a surprise lenticular. It did not show up until the afternoon but it was a solid formation that had many nice layers in the stack. It was similar to the ones that had formed the week prior. I was wanting to catch it midday, when its form was nice and crisp, but I was still selling Christmas trees. I headed out in the evening once the lot closed and was able to catch it at sunset. It wasn’t nearly as interesting by this point, but still a fined feature in the sky over Mount Shasta. This turned out to be the final harbinger of the change in weather patterns. The unseasonably warm December now gave way to wet weather. It was time, as we needed the surge in precipitation.

After a few days of rain, the sky cleared and there were some nice snow banners on Mount Shasta. The snow was light but it was enough to make the mountain extra white again. The crags were all encrusted in ice. The temperature was still to high and the moisture not copious enough to really cover the mountain in a deep pack yet. That is still coming…

With more, and more intense, weather coming in, I took my younger kids out to Truchas Ridge one last time before things got really stormy. The wind was incredibly powerful and sustained. If one was not careful, it could easily through you off balance on the rocky terrain. The lake in Echo Basin had not filled back up yet. I suspect that the next round of storms will go a long way to making that happen. The water table plays a roll in the lake’s size and the valley hasn’t gotten much precipitation yet. There are powerful storms approaching though. I suspect the next time I post something, things will look quite different. Merry Christmas!

 

December Has Been Spectacular Thus Far Pt. I

Posted by bubbasuess on December 11, 2025
Posted in: Cascade Range, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, Shasta Valley, Truchas Ridge. 1 Comment

A lenticular cloud emerges over Mount Shasta at sunset.

As November drew to a close, Mount Shasta was graced by one of the finest lenticulars that has formed over the mountain in some time. I have griped a lot the last year or so that the frequency of large lenticular events over the mountain has decreased significantly over the last few years. In the past, it was common for there to be a handful of really epic displays while also boasting quite a few “run of the mill” lenticulars. The last few years this certainly not been the case. Thus it has come as a pleasant surprise that that trend has been broken, at least for a little over a week. The first nine days of December had one of the highest concentrations of beautiful conditions and lenticular formations that I can remember in the recent past. Hopefully this is just a portent of things to come over the winter and spring.

The first lenticular formation came the day after the massive one that closed out November. This one caught be off guard. I was not anticipating it as it had been fairly clear all day but when I was taking my kids to one of their events, I noticed the activity over Mount Shasta and had to stop and get a shot of the mountain. The color at sunset was fantastic and the layers on the stack over the mountain’s summit were very distinct. A secondary cloud tried forming to the south but couldn’t muster the strength to really pull itself together. It still caught the alpenglow in spectacular fashion!

The really interesting thing about this cloud was the way it formed so suddenly. It had been overcast all day and had not given much indication anything interesting was going to happen. In the time lapse, you can see it forming at times, but it was just lost in the rest of the clouds and it was only before sunset that it finally took a really distinct and sustained shape.

A couple of days went by and there were no lenticulars but the colors on Mount Shasta, particularly around the rising and setting of the sun, were intense. I kept getting up early to catch the sunset and there were some spectacular ones but I couldn’t always get pictures since I had to get the kids to school. It felt like something was brewing in the weather and I didn’t want to miss it.

Mount Shasta proved me correct. The next day a little formation clung to the summit. I watched it all day, twisting and undulating with the air currents over the mountain. Just before sunset I headed up toward Castle Lake to catch the sunset. It wasn’t quite as colorful as I had hoped but it was a harbinger of things to come. I was hopeful that cloud would sustain itself through the night and might do something interesting the next day.

By morning the cloud had grown and was covering the entire summit area of Mount Shasta. These are the least interesting formations on the mountain. They lack distinct layers and cover the terrain, leaving just a blob where there should be a mountain. Still, it did glow as the sun came up.

By mid morning the cloud had just about dissipated over Mount Shasta. Only vestigial wisps clung around the summit. It didn’t seem like there was much more going on at this point.

To my surprise, by noon a serious cap had formed over Mount Shasta. This new display was a large stack composed of intricate layers forming an impressive dome. A small, secondary disk kept trying to form above it but it had a hard time sustaining itself and would often disappear before coalescing again for a brief time.

The cloud was still strong in the afternoon so I planned on heading out to Truchas Ridge for the sunset. This time, I decided not to go to Echo Point but to the old favorite of Panorama Point. It has been a while since I have been up there and I got there a little later than I anticipated. The light was starting to fade in Parks Creek’s vale but I was able to capture a shot before it was gone. The cloud on Mount Shasta was much smaller at this point but the one that couldn’t muster its strength all day finally significantly, developing into a blobby form over the summit.

As the sun faded, the sky burst into a brilliant display of purple and pink. Dark clouds were moving in towards Mount Shasta’s summit. The colors were awesome and the drama of the dark clouds made this a fine and memorable sunset. I definitely need to get back up to Panorama Point more often.

The time lapse shows how tenacious the lenticular was, clinging to Mount Shasta all day, even when the clouds seemed it overwhelm it as they sailed by. When they were gone, it was still there. Also, I love how the light breaks through the clouds and travels over the hills of the Shasta Valley.

The next day dawned with another lenticular. The sky was blanketed with clouds. This was the makings for a colorful sunset so, once again, I dragged myself out of bed earlier than I wanted to. To my dismay, the clouds sailed off to the south as I drove north, leaving little in the sky to catch the color. The lenticular remained, though it too was diminished in size from what it had been when I got up. Nonetheless, the flow of the fog through the Shasta Valley made the morning interesting. It all seems so…respiratory. I am not sure what mythic creature’s breathing causes this phenomenon though.

That night, as my wife and I drove home from the animal hospital’s Christmas party, the lenticular still hung over Mount Shasta. It was backlit by the rising moon, which gave it an eerie glow in the dark night. We stopped and took a few shots, hoping to capture some of the glittering in front of us. It was a great end to a the most beautiful week I have seen around Mount Shasta in some time. Little did I know the best was yet to come…

Lenticular Interrupted

Posted by bubbasuess on November 30, 2025
Posted in: Cascade Range, Desert, Hiking, Lenticular Clouds, Mount Shasta, Shasta Valley, sunset. 9 Comments

A couple days after Thanksgiving, we were finally blessed with a spectacular lenticular display over Mount Shasta. Autumn is typically one of the best seasons for these epic formations in the sky but this year, much like the last couple of years, there hasn’t been much lenticular presence, let alone any big spectacular ones. That unfortunate streak has finally come to an end.

The heart of the formation was a massive lenticular stack above the summit of Mount Shasta. It caught the morning light in terrific fashion. It didn’t have much purple but it pulsated with pink and orange light. The intricate layers, each nestled one within the other, the shadows and dark clouds only serving to highlight the shape of the next strata of the cloud. This is the kind of lenticular one waits all season for.

Unfortunately, after capturing images of it at sunrise, I was immediately off to head up Christmas tree sales at the boy scout lot. Fortunately, this is a fun and worthwhile endeavor and even though I was missing the lenticular, I knew I was investing my time well. After three days of sales, we only have 92 trees left. If you want a great red fir (silvertip) Christmas tree that was wild caught on the east side of Mount Shasta, come by our lot next Saturday!

After closing the lot up no long before sunset, I headed home. The Christmas tree sales interruption now over, I would have tried to go immediately to get images of the lenticular blazing with the colors of alpenglow but I was in my truck, towing my large trailer I had been using to restock the tree lot. It wasn’t conducive to chasing images of the mountain and cloud. I did force myself to stop and just capture an image from the road for posterity. The lenticular wasn’t as large as it had been but it still presented a fascinating view.

After dropping my truck off and heading out into the Shasta Valley, I got to a decent vantage point just as the colors really flared up. Pinks and purples filled the sky and the mountain itself glowed in the reflected color of the setting sun. It was a spectacular end to a busy day. I hope we have many more lenticulars in the near future!

This time lapse captures a dramatic perspective on the lifespan of the lenticular over Mount Shasta. The way it is in constant flux, churning and roiling as the day progresses is amazing. I have been waiting a while for one of these. This Thanksgiving I am thankful one finally came (among many other things).