Road Views of Mount Shasta

Two travel days took us from Canyonville, OR, to Lodi, CA.

Most of our traveling from one RV park to another is done on the interstate rather than on the two-lane backroads, and on these travel days, we were heading south on I-5.

About four miles north of the California border, we found these trees (the two photos below) on the Siskiyou Mountains.

At 4,310 feet, Siskiyou Summit is the highest point on Interstate 5. Whether it was snow or frost covering the trees, the scene was a sign of the approaching season.

Other mountain scenes were to follow as we crossed the border into California.

The star attraction along this highway was Mount Shasta, today cloaked in a satin cloud shawl.

Mount Shasta (or "White Mountain") is a volcano located at the southern end of the Cascade Range (although it did seem rather isolated from any range). At 14,179 feet, it is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California.

At various times during our passing, the mountain seemed artistically-framed by the trees.

From other angles, the peak seemed to rise right out of I-5 (see the highway in the lower right corner).

Some of the views made us want to stop and slowly take in the scene before us. I could imagine exploring the seven named glaciers on the mountain.

(In 1877, John Muir wrote a dramatic account of surviving an overnight blizzard on Mount Shasta by lying in the hot sulfur springs

found near the summit. His account of his descent in frozen trousers the next morning was equally thrilling. [Harper's New Monthly Magazine, September 1877, pages 521-530 and sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/snow_storm_on_mount_shasta.aspx]).

We also caught a glimpse of Shasta Lake, the state's largest reservoir created by the construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River.

We rolled into Lodi, ready re-visit San Francisco and the California Delta.