Mount Shasta - A World Away

After my parents divorced when I was 10, Dad and I moved up to the mountains of the farthest northern region of California.  In my early 20's, I left and moved away to get married.  Then after my divorce, I came back (later relocating to the east coast, but we will come to that later). 

My Dad’s house is 3,000 feet above sea level, right next to the highest mountain in the continental USA-- Mount Shasta, again in northern California.

Shasta towers over the surrounding valleys at 15,000 feet.  And let me tell you, that mountain can really let you know just how small you are...

Most of my life, I would travel back and fourth between the San Francisco bay area, and the Mount Shasta area.  They are about 250 miles apart, so its about a 5-hour drive.  It’s a journey I am very familiar with, and I would like to share some details of it with everyone.

On the way up here, once you enter Siskiyou County--- you pass Lake Shasta, where you drive over the Shasta Dam.  Its an amazing sight; a giant wall holding back TONS of water to a man-made lake from a river running down off the mountain.

  You can look straight down the dam too, and its a spectacular view; the water cascades down a steep cement wall and flows away as a river down below.

But as you weave in and out on the windy roads of the highway, you start getting your first glimpses of Mount Shasta itself.  The road is a little scary in some places, because there will be nothing but a steep cliff on one side of the highway.  But it makes for some breath-taking views during the trip.

You drive on, and the terrain starts to become a steady flow of big hills and other mountains.  Valleys too.  One of my favorite other mountains is one called "Castle Crags".  Its just a mountain of rock, and from afar, it looks like a castle.

Then there is Lake Siskiyou, another man-made lake.  But on this one, they actually made a beach, so families could have some typical "California Fun" there.

But what's really amazing is, in the summer around the fourth of July, when we Americans celebrate our "Independence Day", boats go out over lake Siskiyou, and shoot off fireworks at night!  Hundreds of people will just put down some blankets on the sand, then lay back and look up at the fireworks going off above their heads. 

As you travel on, your view of Mount Shasta gets clearer, and more open.  Then you start driving through Mount Shasta City (located at the foot of the mountain), and the city of Weed.

This one is actually a view from the road we live on.  This photo was taken in the spring, when the sky is nice and clear, everything is a live with color, but the extra winter snow on the mountain hasn't melted away yet.  That is when Shasta is prettiest:

Our house (Dad's house) is about 15 miles outside the city of Weed.

Out here, its basically a desert--- despite the fact that there are trees, bushes, and a snowy mountain high above.  This is evident by the extreme and dry heat in the summer.  Not to mention the loose, powdery and pale-gray ashy sand everywhere. Lava ash, they call it.  From when the mountain erupted as a volcano, many centuries ago.  But also the tumble weeds, and wild sage brush.  The lava rocks, and massive caves everywhere.

And of course, lets not forget "Sheep Rock", the rocky mountain that is basically in our back yard.  Really, I could start walking from our house, and be at Sheep rock in about 15 minutes.  They gave it this name because this used to be where the wild sheep and goats roamed.  Its full of caves, and some rather interesting Native American history.  When I was about 15, one of our dogs got stuck up at the top of the rock, and the two boys who lived near us came and told me they could hear him barking up there.  So we got some rope, some water, and we drove to the bottom of the rock.  Then we climbed to the top, and got my dog down.  It was a pretty big adventure.  I must have climbed Sheep Rock a dozen times with my father, neighbors, and brothers.  We know it pretty well.   But now, its mostly home to the local mountain lions:

Our area in particular has a very distinctive smell.  As soon as you roll down a window, or step out of the car, you smell Juniper trees, sage, pine trees, ashy sand, and of course that crisp and fresh snowy-air smell, blowing down from the mountain.

Its all mixed together like nature's perfume in the air.  But its especially strong after it rains.

As for Mount Shasta, there are only 2 words that can describe it:  Breathtaking and majestic.

The mountain does have its moods, too.  On a clear day, or when its partly cloudy on the west horizon, the setting sun will give the mountain a pink-orange glow.  It reminds me of the color of the sandy hills in a middle-eastern desert at dawn.

Strange clouds like to form over it, sometimes they can be pretty fascinating. They either look like mushrooms, or thick cream pouring down over the top.

The most beautiful sight you will ever see, is in the middle of winter, when you have a clear sky and the moon is out.  The moon shines on the snow of the mountain, causing a reflection that lights up the valley and makes the mountain glow white!

Then of course, there are the stars...   Since we are much too high for pollution and smog, the air up here is extremely clean and clear.  Fewer city lights as well.  As a result, you see FAR more stars that you will at lower elevations, or in a town.

On clear summer nights, you can even see the foggy streak of the Milky Way in the sky:

The wildlife?  Well, I guess we have almost everything, except for the moose.  We've got bears, deer, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, wolverines, skunks, snakes, rabbits, quail, squirrels, chipmunks-- you name it!  Of course, the bears and wolverines are really more up on the mountain.  Not down where we live.  Also I haven't heard any wolves howling, and I'm not sure if there are any around here.  But coyotes are wild dogs too, so they are close enough...

Another thing you will find up here is a lot of silence and boredom.  Solitude.  But whether or not that is a good thing is up to the individual.

Sometimes it would drives me nuts, and I would panic like,

"Oh my god, I am SOOO cut off from the rest of the world!" 

But other times, I am proud of how tough its made me.  See, I lived up by Shasta so long, I've learned a lot about wilderness survival, and vegetable gardening.  Which I try to do every spring, to the best of my ability.  Depending on where I am, of course.

Well, that's all for now, I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Some are mine from years ago, and some are not.

Peace to all :)