#Shasta-Trinity National Forest

[valhikes]

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California

Day 2 backpacking South Fork was actually spent on Smoky Creek where the Bigfoot Trail climbs away from the river. I hiked up to the trailhead, getting in some views, before returning to the river.

[cpleblow]

tangle blue lake (shasta-trinity national forest)

©cpeblow (2015)

[rabbitcruiser]

Mount Shasta, CA

Mount Shasta is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of 14,179 ft (4,322 m), it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth-highest in the state. Mount Shasta has an estimated volume of 85 cubic miles (350 cubic kilometers), which makes it the most voluminous stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. The mountain and surrounding area are part of the Shasta–Trinity National Forest.

The origin of the name "Shasta" is vague, either derived from a people of a name like it or otherwise garbled by early Westerners. Mount Shasta is connected to its satellite cone of Shastina, and together they dominate the landscape. Shasta rises abruptly to tower nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above its surroundings. On a clear winter day, the mountain can be seen from the floor of the Central Valley 140 miles (230 km) to the south. The mountain has attracted the attention of poets, authors, and presidents.

The mountain consists of four overlapping dormant volcanic cones that have built a complex shape, including the main summit and the prominent and visibly conical satellite cone of 12,330 ft (3,760 m) Shastina. If Shastina were a separate mountain, it would rank as the fourth-highest peak of the Cascade Range (after Mount Rainier, Rainier's Liberty Cap, and Mount Shasta itself).

Mount Shasta's surface is relatively free of deep glacial erosion except, paradoxically, for its south side where Sargents Ridge runs parallel to the U-shaped Avalanche Gulch. This is the largest glacial valley on the volcano, although it does not now have a glacier in it. There are seven named glaciers on Mount Shasta, with the four largest (Whitney, Bolam, Hotlum, and Wintun) radiating down from high on the main summit cone to below 10,000 ft (3,000 m) primarily on the north and east sides. The Whitney Glacier is the longest, and the Hotlum is the most voluminous glacier in the state of California. Three of the smaller named glaciers occupy cirques near and above 11,000 ft (3,400 m) on the south and southeast sides, including the Watkins, Konwakiton, and Mud Creek glaciers.

Source: Wikipedia

[thorsenmark]

Doing Things I Won't Forget! by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the east-northeast while taking in views along a hike of the Black Butte Trail in Shasta–Trinity National Forest. This was an idea I got from an Instagram post a few weeks back. This person had captured an image of herself with some high heels on inside a car. I liked the idea of that, but I wanted to capture an image that was more in my style with mountains all around while hiking. I chose the backdrop of Mount Shasta for my take on that image.

[stumbleimg]

Mount Shasta from the Pacific Crest Trail. Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California, USA. [4782 x 2090] [OC]

[keensdesign]

☺️ Don't hide behind social analytic tools... Be social! 😄 #marketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing (at Shasta–Trinity National Forest) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfgW4_LwGA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Lava Flows of the Sáttítla Highlands

Evidence of the fiery history of the Sáttítla Highlands in Northern California can be seen in every direction. Volcanism has shaped the landscape over the past million years, and remnants of lava flows and eruptions remain visible today.

At Sáttítla’s core rests a sleeping giant: the Medicine Lake Volcano, one of the two largest volcanoes in the Cascades Volcanic Arc. Intermittent, mostly effusive (non-explosive) eruptions built this large shield volcano. The volcano’s central caldera cradles its namesake Medicine Lake, one of the many volcanic features visible in this image, acquired on October 7, 2024, by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8.

The volcano has erupted nine times in the last 5,000 years, and some of those began with explosive phases. For example, two of the most recent eruptions sent ash tens of miles downwind before a slow effusion of thick lava (obsidian) formed Little Glass Mountain and Glass Mountain about 1,000 years ago. Glass Mountain’s steep-sided rhyolite and obsidian flow spans 14 square kilometers.

The Indigenous Ajumawi name “Sáttítla” translates to “obsidian place,” and the highlands contain portions of the ancestral homelands of Indigenous communities. On January 7, 2025, over 224,000 acres of these highlands were designated as a U.S. national monument, including portions of the homelands of the Pit River (Ajumawi – Atsugewi) and Modoc Peoples (Mo Wat Knii – Mo Docknii).

The image shows bare lava fields interspersed with islands of vegetation and surrounded by green forests. Sáttítla Highlands National Monument encompasses parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath national forests. The region is home to rare and vulnerable flora and fauna, including the Cascades frog, the northern spotted owl, the long-toed salamander, and the sugarstick—a parasitic plant associated with the roots of old-growth conifers.

Over 80 plant species found here are used by Indigenous communities for medicine, food, tools, and ceremonial purposes. Obsidian tools have been found within the area, which were crafted by Indigenous communities throughout the region.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Emily Cassidy.

[ofmaddogs]

-- OH, SO MANY WAYS HE FELT OLD AND TOO YOUNG IN THIS MOMENT. Just finished a shift scrubbing dishes at the Old Shasta for a wad of cash. Managed to pick up a few new phrases in Spanish and Jamaican. Taught Chef Z how to whistle danger coming in his own native tongue: the whistle-code that carried through the old choke-cherry trees on a hunter's moon.

There's the moment, out here in the world, off the mountain. The smog in the air and the neon signs buzzing and the footsteps on concrete, it's noise and chaos and a buzzing energy beneath his skin. The grizzled old hermit had never been one to trust strangers, he wasn't naive and far from innocent, just a bit-- sheltered, there in that snowy homestead his entire life.

The stubbornness of an old dog forced to learn new tricks. In his fifties going from yeh can't get there from heah to learning how to use public transit. Learning how to navigate a crowded kitchen, learning to tolerate the way that everything was so bright and, god the lack of stars that made the night a navy-green void. That lack of stars hadn't stopped bugging him, made him feel adrift without Orion to help him know the safe path home.

Closing time. It was nice, having people call as he shut the door. Could almost pretend the Mad Dogs were back, heard Chef Z whistle out a mangled blessing-song as Jack trudged to the dumpster with a few last broken plates. Wasn't sure if hearing the blessing-song used that was was comforting or ominous. At least they were trying, with the scant few details the old hermit gave anyone about who he was.

The alley was dark, the lightbulb burnt out or broken. Jack sighed, looked over his shoulder and took his sunglasses off. Orange embers lit within his eyes as he blinked the shadows away. The alley became clear as day, if slightly grayscale.

There was a third glowing ember around his eye-level, someone sparking a cigarette. A smell of blood in the air, thick and copper. This city was too damn hot-- the smell of blood was supposed to be clear-cut with the ice and snow, not this humid lingering.

Fiddlers don't meddle in human affairs. That's what he'd grown up on. Rules were rules, hadn't he said that so many times? He was only supposed to be here for a few weeks. Checking out the Shasta Trinity National Forest for yew trees, nothing more.

Following the rules had gotten him nothing but trouble before, hadn't it? Not meddling in human matters. But, the scene before him was anything but human. Looked almost like a bear attack. Claws were claws, and he wasn't keen to get closer.

Then the other man looked up lazily, regarded his presence. The old Mad Dog felt his hackles raise, bit the inside of his cheek. The man nabbed the pack of cigarettes again and held them up, offering one. Jack had never been a smoker but... Curiosity killed the cat, might as well kill the Dog too.

He took a wary step closer, hit with another wave of that shimmering too-humid blood. He dropped the half-broken plate and plucked the cigarette and held it. Bent close as the man lit it.

Saw the man's eyes glint yellow in the flame. It was no trick of the light. Six points of warm light hung in the dark blue-grey alley; Jack's orange embers, the two red-orange cigarettes, and the stranger's golden eyeshine.

Jack bit down the questions and simply straightened back up. He nodded in thanks. Glanced down at the body.

At the very least, he was stuck here until the cigarette was done. Rules were rules, right?

"Seems like you've had a hell of a night." Tried to keep his voice casual.

// @zoanthropiic

[weather-pnw]

Weather: Pacific Northwest

Report generated at 2024-12-15 04:00:08.909129-08:00 using satellite imagery and alert data provided by the National Weather Service.

Winter Weather Advisory

WA:

Lower Slopes of the Eastern Washington Cascades Crest

Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon

Northwest Blue Mountains

South Washington Cascades

Upper Slopes of the Eastern Washington Cascades Crest

West Slopes North Central Cascades and Passes

West Slopes South Central Cascades and Passes

Western Chelan County

OR:

Cascades of Lane County

Cascades of Marion and Linn Counties

East Slopes of the Oregon Cascades

North Oregon Cascades

Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon

Northwest Blue Mountains

Siskiyou Mountains and Southern Oregon Cascades

South Central Oregon Cascades

ID:

Bitterroot/Sapphire Mountains

Blackfoot Mountains

Eastern Lemhi County

Northern Clearwater Mountains

Southern Clearwater Mountains

Upper Snake River Plain

Western Lemhi County

CA:

Mountains Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County

Northern Trinity

Shasta Lake Area / Northern Shasta County

South Central Siskiyou County

Southern Trinity

Winter Storm Warning

WA:

West Slopes North Cascades and Passes

ID:

Bear River Range

Big Hole Mountains

Caribou Range

Centennial Mountains/Island Park

Teton Valley

Coastal Flood Advisory

WA:

Bremerton and Vicinity

Central Coast

Everett and Vicinity

Hood Canal Area

San Juan County

Seattle and Vicinity

Southwest Interior

Tacoma Area

Western Skagit County

Western Whatcom County

CA:

North Bay Interior Valleys

Northern Humboldt Coast

San Francisco

San Francisco Bay Shoreline

Winter Storm Watch

OR:

East Slopes of the Oregon Cascades

Ochoco-John Day Highlands

Southern Blue Mountains of Oregon

High Wind Watch

OR:

Curry County Coast

South Central Oregon Coast

Wind Advisory

OR:

Central and Eastern Lake County

Jackson County

Modoc County

Northern and Eastern Klamath County and Western Lake County

CA:

Central Siskiyou County

Central and Eastern Lake County

Coastal Del Norte

Del Norte Interior

Modoc County

Northern Humboldt Interior

Northern and Eastern Klamath County and Western Lake County

Southern Humboldt Interior

Southwestern Humboldt

Avalanche Warning

ID:

Big Lost Highlands/Copper Basin

Boise

Sawtooth/Stanley Basin

Sun Valley Region

Wood River Foothills

CA:

Greater Lake Tahoe Area

NV:

Greater Lake Tahoe Area

Avalanche Advisory

ID:

Bear River Range

Cold Weather Advisory

CA:

Mendocino Coast

Southeastern Mendocino Interior

Southern Lake County

Southwestern Mendocino Interior

Flood Advisory

CA:

Sonoma

High Surf Advisory

CA:

San Luis Obispo County Beaches

Santa Barbara County Central Coast Beaches

Ventura County Beaches

Beach Hazards Statement

CA:

Los Angeles County Beaches

Malibu Coast

Orange County Coastal

San Diego County Coastal Areas

Santa Barbara County Southeastern Coast

Santa Barbara County Southwestern Coast

Frost Advisory

CA:

East Bay Hills

Eastern Santa Clara Hills

Mountains Of San Benito County And Interior Monterey County Including Pinnacles National Park

North Bay Interior Mountains

North Bay Interior Valleys

Santa Lucia Mountains and Los Padres National Forest

Southern Salinas Valley/Arroyo Seco and Lake San Antonio

Flood Warning

CA:

Tehama

[eagletek]

California rural schools ask Congress for crucial funding

WASHINGTON —  Anmarie Swanstrom had driven four hours along twisting mountain roads, through the fire-scarred Shasta-Trinity National Forest, to Sacramento to catch a red-eye flight. Now, here she was — a school superintendent from impoverished Hayfork, Calif. — clutching a pair of black high heels, power-walking in bare feet across Capitol Hill. She had come to plead for money for the 340…

[valhikes]

Six Rivers National Forest, California

Visiting the 4th, highest, and only still active fire lookout on South Fork Mountain. That makes all of them!

[pcttrailsidereader]

Discovering Joy in Aragog’s Hollow

In 2012, Sierra ‘Monkey’ Burror and her mother, Heather (’Mama Bear’), thru-hiked the PCT.  When Sierra finished she was a mere 9 years old.  But here hiking exploits were not done.  This mother-daughter team hiked the Colorado trail in 2013 and completed the Continental Divide Trail during the following three summers. Sierra is now 17 and is finishing her senior year in high school. She will be attending Cornell University next year, where she will be running both cross country and track, and plans to study Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Environmental Economics.  This is a short piece from their PCT thru-hike.

By Sierra Burror

Even with my eyes squeezed shut tight, I could still sense the 472 spider legs as they slowly advanced up my purple nylon sleeping bag toward my head. After an exhausting, 20-mile day, the postage-stamp-sized patch of bare ground we now called home had seemed like a palace. Too small for a tent, we simply tossed our sleeping bags down on a crinkly Tyvek tarp to “cowgirl” camp for the night. But then we started noticing thin black shadows scuttling across our tarp. Spiders. Lots of spiders. Hundreds of spiders, and now a small army steadily marched toward us. Our “palace” was actually a spider hollow. After months on the trail, I had definitely learned to find joy in the most challenging circumstances, but now I simply wanted to hike on. “Mom? I think we need to keep hiking.”

At the age of six, I had a dream: to through-hike the 2,665-mile Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexico Border to Manning Park in British Columbia, Canada. Now, two years later I was living that dream, each day filled with new adventures and breathtaking scenery. I witnessed the brilliant colors of a desert sunset and slid down snowy passes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I strolled through fields of wildflowers and sheltered under towering pines. I discovered a Blue Jay nest tucked into the crook of a Joshua Tree and scooped aquatic invertebrates out of an alpine pond.

However, the trail also naturally brought its share of challenges: the intense desert heat, the freezing rain, hail, and sleet of mountain thunderstorms, and long days of hiking. Now it brought a new challenge. Spiders. Reluctantly I packed up my backpack, loathe to leave camp after such a tiring day, but eager to escape our newly-discovered Aragog’s hollow in the dense Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

We hiked into the night, but somehow the lateness of the hour didn’t bother me. Moonlight glistened on the nearby creek and bright pinpricks of starlight pierced the darkness of the sky. The cool night air washed over our skin and we settled into a familiar rhythm, just one foot in front of the other on the dusty, brown trail. Our flashlights beamed off the trees and ground, bouncing with each stride, trees, ground, trees, ground, and then, a spider-web!  Spanning at least four feet, the reflective gossamer strands stretched tree to tree, across the trail. Perched on the center of the web was a massive creature with dull silver, tinsel-like hair and eight green eyes. Despite my earlier fear, now that I no longer had spiders crawling on me, I found myself fascinated by her. Who was this creature? How did she accomplish this engineering feat, constructing a web all the way across the trail, almost perfectly level? A miracle.

Carefully sidestepping the web, we continued down the trail. The Pacific Crest Trail at night was very different than it appeared during the day, and I developed a new appreciation for the other mysterious nocturnal creatures who made the trail their home. Bats swooped in and out of the trees, scooping up insects. A mountain scorpion skittered across the trail, alerted by our footfalls. A coyote yipped in the distance. The magic of each new discovery lightened my sluggish steps, easing the pain of my first 28-mile day until we eventually found a new spider-free camp.  

Many people scoff at the idea of hiking at night, wondering incredulously why you would want to hustle through such beautiful terrain in the dark. But what we learned that night is that the night has a special beauty of her own. And the next time we found ourselves hiking into the night on our way to Canada, we greeted the night as an old friend.

Note: For those of you who missed the Harry Potter series, Aragog was a rare giant spider.

[fishkennedybrothers]

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Service Closures in Northern California

Shasta-Trinity NF Recreation Facility Closures

REDDING, Calif. — Developed campgrounds, cabin rentals and picnic areas on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest are closed until April 30, 2020. A full list of current closures can be found below. 

  Notifications to those who reserved sites through recreation.gov will be made as soon as possible and refunds will be processed. While designated…

[spikyseasponge]

[thorsenmark]

High Adventure in Shasta–Trinity National Forest (Black & White) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around and exploring the Bunny Flat Trailhead in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The view is looking to the northeast with Mount Shasta providing that grandeur of a backdrop. Given what I felt was the more negative space of the blue skies, I chose to angle my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera slightly downward and raise the image viewpoint, so that more foreground interest would fill the image. That would also make the mountain peak pop out more and give the image a sense of awe. I later did a conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 7 where I made some adjustments to color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image.

[eda11y]

Trinity Wash by balance_now