Comments on: A refreshing Shasta

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 05:20:57 +0000

I see this mountain and Mt. Lassen every morning from Redding. It’s breathtakingly beautiful this time of year. My family has a lot of history with this volcano; my kids are the fourth generation to live in its shadow. It would be a very different picture with the storm systems that have moved through here in the past few weeks; the glacier at the top of Mt. Shasta has been blanketed in a good layer of snow. Since Redding is so relatively close to both volcanoes, I wonder sometimes whether one eruption would set the other off (Lassen being considered pretty active with its thermal vents and last eruption less than a century old), since they are part of the same range. Those of us in the valley keep that in mind when we look off to the cinder cones in the distance.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:23:20 +0000

I like the lush greenery growing on the old lava flows in the lower right.

By: Helen Park

Helen Park — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:24:19 +0000

I, too, love volcanoes. A slight correction: Mt. Garibaldi, in British Columbia, is the northernmost volcano in the Cascade range.

For anyone who has an interest in the western volcanoes, the book “Fire Mountains of the West, The Cascade and Mono LakeVolcanoes” is an excellent resource. Technical, yet with a lively writing style that is geared toward the layperson, it is exciting reading. It presents a “biography” of all of the major volcanoes and volcanic areas on the west coast; talks about when they last erupted, and whether or not they are likely to erupt again (answer: Yes! Most of them!).

Shasta is lovely – but, as you say (for now!) dormant.

If one wishes to visit an “active” volcano, one needs go no further than Mt. Lassen. About four hours drive from the California State Capitol, Sacramento, (and south of Mt. Shasta) Mt. Lassen last erupted in 1921 and contains the largest active thermal area in the continental United States, after Yellowstone.

The Bumpass Hell area of Lassen contains boiling lakes, popping mudpots, fumeroles and steam jets blowing out of a cliff. A fascinating place, well worth a visit. A truly fascinating place.

By: kuhnigget

kuhnigget — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:06:04 +0000

Mt. Shasta the mountain is way cooler than Mt. Shasta the town. The mountain is airy and wonderful and only has the potential to erupt. The citizens of Mt. Shasta are airy and filled with crystal power woo woo and spiritualism and much other goofballism and tend to spew hot gas rather frequently.

Very cute guy in the fire department though. Rowr.

By: The Bad Astronomer Does Geology | En Tequila Es Verdad

The Bad Astronomer Does Geology | En Tequila Es Verdad — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:13:35 +0000

[...] here he is, with a spectacular photo of Mount Shasta taken from the International Space Station, and yes – it’s delish. I present here the labeled version for volcano-from-space [...]

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:42:57 +0000

Am I the only one who read Ian #12″s comment and thought of the Donny and Marie Osmond song from 1975? Or am I even more obscure than the average geek?

By: TheGeek

TheGeek — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 06:45:21 +0000

When I was a kid we would drive up I-5 to visit my grandparents who lived in Weed and us kid always knew we were close when we went by Black Butte.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 03:55:29 +0000

As a kid, we drove down from Oregon to California every summer to visit the grandparents. I remember always being fascinated by that lava dome every single time.

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 02:50:35 +0000

Also, I note the well-tended purple Lemurian landing strips to the southwest.

By: silence

silence — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:58:50 +0000

I always loved John Muir's story about how he saved his life when caught in a snowstorm on top of Mount Shasta by laying down on top of fumaroles