Environment Matters workshop near Mt. Shasta June 18-21st

June 18-20th you can visit the Mt. Shasta area and get some local, environmental education while you’re at it. “Environment Matters: An Environmental Summit” is being offered by the College of the Siskiyous June 18, 19, 20 and 21st as a forum for discussing environmental issues, particularly how they pertain to this region. Field trips on Friday and Saturday will take students to gorgeous locations, like Castle, Gumboot and Cedar Lakes as local experts help students explore the four components of the forest ecosystem: fire, water, earth and air.

The event kicks off Thursday evening with check-in and a reception with hors d’oeurves followed by an opening lecture and overview of the field trips. On Friday you get into the meat of the workshop with two half-day outings to visit a destination and discuss one of the elements at each of the 1/2 day meetings. This means that in two days of field trips you’ll get to experience all four elements. Following the Friday field trips, students are invited to a catered dinner at the Mt. Shasta Brewing Company pub (home of Weed Ale) – just down the street from the College’s forested campus.

Sunday wraps up with a tasty brunch at the Mt. Shasta Lavender Farm where you’ll be treated to fabulous views of Mount Shasta amidst acres of blooming lavender while attending the closing lecture.

Environment Matters’ field trips and lectures will be given by a handful of long-time locals who are well-versed in the flora and fauna and issues of this area. For those of you familiar with the wildflower hikes offered by Shasta Mountain Guides and led by Penn Martin, you’ll meet him again as one of the trip leaders. Dr. Rene Henery, who directs the Castle Lake Research Program, Dr. Sudeep Chandra, who also works on the Castle Lake project, research geographer Carl Skinner, geologist Don Elder, and Mt. Shasta environmental planner Tom Hesseldenz complete the roster of educators.

This is a great opportunity to visit these wonderful sites around Mt. Shasta with the huge bonus that you get to deepen your awareness of forest issues at the same time. The College is excited to offer this program and looking forward to enthusiastic participation. You’ll need to enroll soon for course ENVR 51. Download the brochure, call the Weed campus at 530.938.5555 or register online at www.siskiyous.edu. If you’d like more information, contact Li Collier, the director of Instructional Services, at 530.938.5336.

Touring the Little Shasta Valley and Montague

We went for a long afternoon drive yesterday through the Little Shasta Valley, which lies well to the east of I-5. It’s secluded and full of cattle pastures and rolling hills. We headed out because my husband was in the mood for a drive and he wanted to photograph the Little Shasta Church. The Church is very well maintained and picturesque, and quite popular for wedding. We’ve got a very striking photo of it at home, and wanted to see what we could with our own cameras. We took Harry Cash Road up from A-12, because it’s so pretty (that’s where the Mt. Shasta Lavender Farms is located). We went through the old gate and walked the lawn at the church, shooting photos and admiring the curtains of spring rain (they weren’t falling on us at the time). Then we took a little side trip into Montague for snacks and drinks at the mini mart (you can gas up here too). Then we headed back out into the Little Shasta Valley. We did a loop past the Shasta Valley Wildlife Refuge, and we surprised at the amount of water in that area and the geese floating on the shallow pools. The loop out to Hart Road brought us back to Harry Cash Road, and so back to the Church. We stopped again.

Once we stopped at the Church we decided to head off onto some side roads, and what a wonderful afternoon that made for. We drove past the old Soule Ranch, with it’s glorious 120-year old Queen Ann Victorian that, while in need of refurbishment, just pulses with life. We stopped at the Historical Marker on the corner of Soule Lane to read about Tailholt, a town started in the 1880s that survived up into the 1930s. According to the marker, Tailholt had a post office, grist mill, saloon, blacksmith shop, race track, ball field and a few houses, until it disappeared. All you see know is an open pasture where the Soule’s cattle used to graze.

Then we wandered out Willow Creek Road, passing Table Rock, Solomons Temple and Temple Rock. The road took us up and down many hills, through a narrow drainage in these hills touched with the subtle green and pick of lower growing spring grasses and flowers. We simply enjoyed being out in the spring weather, seeing the new growth of spring and exploring roads we’d never been on. There weren’t any attractions to stop for, no tourist shops or interpretive signs, just wide open country that felt remote and protected. On our way out to Airport Road we stopped to take photos of a small heard of bison, and then later we saw antelope.

We headed north, thinking about going up to Hornbrook, but turned aside at Ager-Beswick Road, which goes out to Copco Lake. We saw the marker for the old stage stop that reads “All Roads Lead to Ager” and the old Ager Hotel. Again a very hilly, remote setting; although certainly more houses out here. We turned back after awhile, not wanting to drive all the way back to the lake. We passed Shasta View Vineyards, then stopped in Montague, thinking of dinner. The Corner Club was advertising fettucino alfredo as its dinner special, and that place is always good for a steak. We thought about visiting our friends at Shepherds Dream, where we got our super comfy wool comforter, but it was late in the evening, so we headed south back to Mt. Shasta.

For any of you yearning for a nice Sunday drive (no matter what day of the week it is), I highly recommend this drive. The country is beautiful and kinda lonesome, and there is something new to see over every hilltop. Keep your eyes in the fields and hills where you’ll all kinds of beauty (and maybe some buffalo). Take a map, if you’re not the sort to trust your sense of direction and luck. We found a northern California map that has all of the little side roads on it, although a Klamath National Forest map will help too. You can find suggestions for other scenic drives in the area at VisitSiskiyou.org. If you’re doing this drive in the summer, you can even contemplate taking a road over the hills and into Butte Valley for a longer adventure (be sure you’ve got a full tank of gas for this one). It’s a wonderful thing, driving around with no destination in mind, and something we’re lacking in our fast-paced world. Sunday drives are a thing of our childhood, and it was with child-like delight that we explored the Little Shasta Valley.

Get to know Mt. Shasta’s spiritual community

For many people who come to Mt. Shasta there is the sense that something is different here. Some people strongly feel the presence of the mountain, connecting in a variety of ways. If you come seeking, there are spiritual guides, healers, musicians and artists who are in tune with the deeper energies of this place. One way to start to connect to that is through the activities at The Flying Lotus, which calls its self a “community activation center”. The Lotus is right in the middle of town, next to Berryvale Grocery. You can’t miss the bright colors and banners flying. The Lotus has a busy calendar of events – mixing performances with community co-op sales, dinner events and healing workshops (see their May list of events below). The center is also home to the Mt. Shasta City Dance Theater and The Flying Lotus Movement Center classes.

Another entry into Mt. Shasta’s more spiritual realms is offered by Shasta Vortex Adventures, which offers an array of outdoor guided tours and integrative health care. Its list of offerings include hiking, sacred site treks, guided vision quests, retreats, scenic bus tours, transformational massage, psychic hypnotherapy, soul retrieval and matrix energetics. It’s quite the selection.

Mt. Shasta is a magnet for spiritual seekers, and even if you’re not one, it’s interesting to learn about because it gives you a better feel for what makes this place special. You can peruse a list of Mt. Shasta’s alternative businesses and healers to give you an idea of what’s possible here. To get a better understanding of the spiritual happenings around Mt. Shasta, check out Mt. Shasta Magazine, Mt. Shasta’s locally produced spiritual community publication. You might even consider attending the Wesak Celebration (themed “Embracing Unconditional Love”), May 8-10th, where spiritual practitioners, healers and guides, vendors, musicians and speakers converge for this annual “spiritual family reunion”. If you’re interested, be sure to click through to the website because you have to buy tickets in advance.

There is plenty to see just walking the streets of Mt. Shasta. Village Books carries a bunch of spiritual books, several written by local authors. There are couple of crystal stores and other off beat shops. So get out there and explore.

May at The Flying Lotus
May 1 @ TBA Beltane Outdoor Community Ritual Theatre
May 3 @ Noon  Oceanic Breath Group
May 8 @ 7:30pm Alexa Sunshine Rose in Concert barefoot indie folk
May 9 @ TBA  Deonesea’s Birth Day Celebration
May 10 @ 1:30pm  Mother’s Day Ceremony please bring a fresh flower, poetry and music of the Mother
May 17 @ 9am  Healing Workshop with Andree and Juvy
May 17 @ 7pm  Qadim with Eliyahu Sills in Concert  middleastern www.QadimMusic.com
May 23 @ 5pm  East Indian Dinner Theatre call for ticket info 530-918-9342
May 24 @ 1pm  Trade Co-op  call 925-8018 to participate
May 29 @ 7:30pm  Beth White and The Secret Mission indiemysticfolk
May 31 @ 7pm  Eostar and Friends in Concert  inspirationalchantgroup

The Flying Lotus is located at 315 “A” S. Mt. Shasta Blvd. (upstairs). For info call (530) 926-0527 

Winter eagles in Klamath Basin highlighted in SF Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle highlighted a winter tradition in its Monday issue with the story “Birders head to Siskiyou wetlands to see eagles”. Writer Carolyn Jones explored the Klamath Basin, which lies north of Mt. Shasta on Highway 97, where eagles are so common during the winter (sometimes up to 1000 eagles) that their presence has led to an annual event, the Winter Wings Festival. The event has passed, but the eagles remain. Take a drive out to the Tulelake area and stop in at the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center on Hill Road where you can learn more about the eagles and a huge number of other bird populations that pass through the Klamath Basin during annual migration patterns.

To learn more about the K Basin refuges, check out this US Fish & Wildlife service video and read the Chronicle’s story linked above. Then head to the Visit Siskiyou website for help planning your visit to this beautiful, remote area (read: come with supplies).

Mount Shasta with new snow!

The mountain is out after the storm, and she is glorious! This is the view from my neighborhood on the afternoon of Thursday, Nov 6th, 2008.

Same day – fall colors on the North Shore of Lake Siskiyou.

The first ski touring day on Mount Shasta!

Clicked into the skis for the first time today to go touring up at Sand Flat on the mountain. We (that being the dog and I) enjoyed about 6, maybe 8, inches of dry, fairly light snow and absolute quietude. We didn’t see another soul, and not even evidence of my husband’s tracks from yesterday. It’s so great to get out in the snow. We go kinda stir crazy here in Shasta when it starts snowing up on the mountain, and folks start thinking about which pair of skis to sacrifice for early season skiing (referred to as rock skis thereafter). Some folks went up to the ski the Old Ski Bowl a few days ago, in the midst of the storm, to get their first ski trip in. Looks like Everett Memorial Highway (the road up to treeline) got closed at Bunny Flat today – I saw a Caltrans truck heading up with a Road Closed sign, so I guess that’s it for easy driving to the Old Ski Bowl parking lot.

Sand Flat is such a great place to get outside – it’s about a 20 minute drive from town when the road is slick like it was this morning (I put it 4WD on the way up). Once you get into your skis or snowshoes, you’re heading out, and it’s just a little up hill and around a bend and then you’re away from it all. You’re skiing a road that takes you between towering trees caked in snow. It’s quiet except for the critters who live out there, and in my case, the jangling of my dog’s tags. We both love the mountain solitude of ski touring. There is so much to see and take in: the surprising lime green of lichen on the trees amid all of that grayscape, the symmetry of tree trunks, the patter of snowflakes falling on your face.

The road is mostly a gentle uphill until you get to the actual flat, then I like to tour around the flat, heading down the road first so I can try to get a glimpse of the mountain. Today she would not make an appearance: that skirt of clouds and fog lifted just enough to see the crags of Green Butte, but nothing more. She remained cloaked and mysterious and I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to rip open the goodies. I can’t wait to see the new snow on the mountain – whether she’s fully blanketed, or if the ridgelines are still showing, giving her a stark look.  But today was gray and mostly cloudy, a tease of a day.

If you’re thinking about heading up for some early season touring, be sure to check in with the local outdoor shops, where you’re likely to get a first hand report about a recent ski trip. The folks at The Fifth Season and Shasta Basecamp can tell you about coverage and conditions (keep in mind that if coverage is thin they’re not likely to rent you a new pair of skis just so they can be returned as rock skis). You can also check in with the Forest Service Avalanche Center and Backcountry site at www.shastaavalanche.org, although I’m not sure if they’ve starting reporting yet, or if they’ll wait until after Thanksgiving to start. Anyway, take your time, drive carefully and be prepared for changing conditions. Oh, and  ENJOY yourselves.

Sunset over Castle Lake – glorious!

The dog and I went up to Castle Lake yesterday evening (28 Oct 08) for sunset. It’s a short drive out of Mt. Shasta, you can get there from town in just about 15 minutes. The quick drive is worth it – the sunset over the lake, which sits in a steeply carved glacial bowl, is just lovely with the fall colors. There was a couple coming down from an afternoon hike to Heart Lake and a cyclist pedaling up for his view of the sunset. An added bonus – on the way down you get great views of Mount Shasta. Below are some photos to encourage you to make the drive. If you go up in early afternoon you can get some hiking in before coming back to the lake to enjoy the sunset.

This is one of those places where you can really slow down and take your time to enjoy the place. This time of year it’s very quiet at Castle Lake, since the summer visitors are gone. To the right of the lake a trail takes you along its shore where you can sit on a boulder and watch the surface of the water as it ripples and turns from molten to lead as the sun goes down through the notch in the mountains. To the left of the lake, over the outlet stream, a trail leads up above the lake, giving you the opportunity to look down on its waters and the colorful ring of trees and shrubs dressed in golds and reds as winter approaches. Which ever trail you take, or if you choose to stay close to the parking area, slow down and enjoy so you can take home more than photos.

time for a sense of place

My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon at Yosemite, where we had the usual “fast food” Yosemite experiences: sharing the tunnel view point with a crowd of people, mixing with the swarming crowds and families at Glacier Point, waiting in line in the Valley for everything – food, restrooms, visitors info. We also had the joy of finding a part of the Valley all to ourselves. By accident we ended up on the horse trail going out to Tenaya Canyon and Mirror Lake (which was totally dry this time of year) where the only other people we saw were in a horse party that passed quickly. For the rest of the hour and a half hike we had the place to ourselves. We soaked up the quiet, stopped to run our hands over boulders, paused to talk about the color of the leaves or the quality of the fall light. The horse poop really didn’t bother us that much. Occasionally we could see the main, paved trail across the canyon where there were bikes, hikers and photographers. Even though the main trail wasn’t that crowded it sure was nice to be in our own little world; it gave us the opportunity to really appreciate the setting we were in and to enjoy it in our very own way. We weren’t rushed by the flow of traffic, we didn’t hurry away from a spot as others approached, we didn’t hear conversations or camera shutters. It was glorious!

When we got home to Mount Shasta one of the first things I did was to go for a walk in Sisson Meadows (right in town) and sit on the bench to just watch the clouds swirling around the mountain that had recently been dusted with snow. It was quiet, I was the only one there on a week day afternoon, I got to enjoy it in my own way. I took my time, waiting for a view of the mountain to open up so I could see the new snow.

These two experiences got me thinking that one of the really great things about Siskiyou County is the nearly limitless opportunities to get time outdoors to yourself. You can step off a hiking trail to sit on a ridgeline or a rock where you can view lakes, rivers and mountains. You can find solitary places around our lake shores and in our forests and meadows. You can stop to smell the wildflowers for as long as you want, because usually there isn’t someone right behind you on the trail. You really get to enjoy the sense of place, to let it soak into you to provide a rich experience that we often don’t get at these “fast food” style outdoor destinations. It’s hard to really sit with the beauty of a place where there are tour buses divesting crowds in the parking lot behind you.

If you’re considering a fall trip to Siskiyou County, I urge you to search out this kind of moment for yourself and your family. It will be easy to find. Choose your spot along lakes, rivers, in view of the mountain or broad rural valleys and just sit: put words to the qualities of the fall light, marvel at the sugar coat of snow on Mount Shasta, let yourself breath in the crisp air. Take time to get a sense of the place. We hurry through so much of our lives, this is my call to you to take pause, to take time for yourselves.

Enjoy.