Snow, Need I say more?

Last week I took my first Snowshoe trip on the slopes of Mt Shasta. I had decided prior to the snow falling that this winter I was going to invest my Snow time on Shasta instead of Lassen. It was a wise decision.

Mount Shasta from the South West at the Bunny Flat parking lot

 For those of you that are not familiar with Mt Shasta it is the predominate physical and geological feature in the north state. Reaching 14.162ft into the blue skies of Northern California it is majestic and awe inspiring.

Mt Shasta from Mc Cloud

I started my trip at the Bunny Flat parking lot. This is a common starting point for numerous destinations on the mountain including one of the most popular routes to the top of the mountain Avalanche Gulch. It is also the end of the plowing on the road that leads to the old ski bowl which was the route I had decided on. The weather was perfect. I managed to schedule my trip between two large storm systems and as you can see in the pictures the trees are still coated in snow from the last storm.

Bunny Flat Parking lot

As I mentioned above the weather was perfect

The route I took followed the road along the south slope of Shasta. On the way in most of the valley was shrouded in clouds as was the mountain. The snow covered trees and the unusual ice formations on some of them was more than enough to keep me occupied.

Soon after heading out the clouds moved in shrouding the mountain and only giving me an occasional glimpse of Shasta

This was a very cool. The tree is coated with ice.

For some reason the ice gives the tree an out of focus look. It is a very odd effect.

The road runs relatively straight until it takes a hard left turn and heads up to the old ski bowl. Just prior to the turn I crossed an old avalanche run-out. I don't know how old it is but it was a big one. 

Looking South. You can see the end of the run out where the tree line begins.

West edge looking North

Up the middle. As you can see not much was left behind

My destination was Gray Butte which is East of the road. To reach it I needed to leave the road and head off cross country. There is a camp ground at the turn I mentioned previously and that is where I started the cross country portion of my trek. There was not much visible to indicate I was traveling through a camp ground until I came upon the bathrooms.

This view gives a good perspective on the snow depth

Since I took this picture 4-5' of snow have fallen.

From here I headed out to Gray Butte. The forest here is very dense and the terrain is very uneven. Picking my path was an adventure, especially because I had never traveled this route before. Gray Butte provided an easy landmark and an exquisite view as I headed east.

This is a sample of the type of terrain I traveled through.

As I reached Gray Butte The clouds cleared enough for me to get a good look at the butte and a couple of glimpses of Mt Shasta.

Gray Butte through the trees

Mt Shasta

Me doing cool winter adventure stuff. One week later after some heavy snowfall a massive 1/2 mile long 5' deep avalanche came off the slope above and obliterated the area I am standing on.

Another look at Gray Butte

  Prior to heading up the mountain I stopped at the ranger station to get some first hand advice about the area I was going to be traveling in. The Rangers advised traveling around the south end of the Butte and traversing the South East face of the Butte to get to the top. I realized after checking the map and my watch that I did not have enough time to make a run for the top and be back to the car before dark. On to plan B. During the summer months there is trail that travels over a pass to the North of Gray Butte and takes you to the top via the East face. I decided to head up to the North end of the Butte and check things out.

The route I chose runs right along the tree line.

Close up of the route

Looking out over the valley. As you can see the clouds are pretty thick over the surrounding mountains

The route was not a bad choice it got a little steep for the last 100 yards or so but the view from the top was well worth the extra work. I took a break and had lunch on the ridge. The clouds drifted across the rock faces surrounding the ridge I was on. It was like watching a motion picture. From the ridge I had a good view of Red butte which was the backdrop for my lunch break.

Red Butte

Red Butte

Lunch Break. Making hot cocoa

Another ice tree

View of Gray Butte on the way back out.

After lunch and a good dose of God's creation in all it's glory I headed back down to life in the valley. Along the way the clouds lifted on the surrounding mountains and I was able to shoot a couple of pictures of the Castle Crags dome. 

Looking south

Castle dome

The crags

 The hike out was easy and all down hill. I got back to the parking lot just as the sun was setting. The clouds were giving off a rainbow affect that was just amazing. The picture does not do it justice.

You can see some color in the lower right portion of the picture

The road home

 As much as I enjoy my travels the road home to my family is the best trip I take.

Thank you once again for joining me on my journey into the wilderness. I hope this will encourage anyone who reads this to take a trip themselves and experience the the world we live in in an intimate way that can only be had by putting your feet to the dirt (or snow) and stepping away from society and into the wild.