The solstice’s morning light baths an icy Mount Shasta.
Where did December go? I have had a bunch of pictures of the month stacked up, waiting to get some kind of post, but I have not had a lot of down time to get them posted. Then suddenly it’s the solstice and Christmas is right around the corner. Yikes!
As is my custom, weather permitting I like to head out for the sunrise and sunset on the winter solstice. It always feels optimistic when the days start getting longer. This, coupled with the rapid arrival of Christmas and New Year, makes for a busy but optimistic season.
In 2023, the solstice arrived on the on the heels of a hefty rain. The higher elevations had the deepest snow yet accrued on the mountain. Still, down at the lower elevations we have only had a couple of inches of snow and that melted off rather quickly. It certainly is a far cry from last year, where the snow came early and deep and Christmas was most definitely white. No such luck this year.
For the solstice, I headed out to McCloud, to catch the morning glow on the fresh white snow. There wasn’t much in the way of clouds to catch the sunrise’s color but it was still a beautiful sight as first the summit then the icy flanks of Mount Shasta began to glow. The light washed down the mountain, finally lighting up the dark forest below the snowline. It was a fine sunrise, not extraordinary in conditions but extraordinary simply because it was a sunrise on Mount Shasta!
Just as the light flowed down the sides of Mount Shasta at sunrise, at sunset it undid itself, climbing up the snowy crags until the last vestige disappeared off the crown. Again, now clouds added to the spectacle but it was a colorful and beautiful sight nonetheless.
Now, with the days getting longer and the march through winter and toward spring afoot, we can finally get some snow!