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Mt Shasta

Driving north on interstate 5 a mountain appears out of the atmosphere. Mt Shasta, standing at 14,179 ft is the fifth highest in the state of California. The first glimpses from Mt Shasta will be seen around Redding, Ca. The first time I have seen Mt Shasta was actually from an airplane flying to Oregon. This mountain perfectly captures the beauty of the west coast landscapes. Navigating through the small towns, following the Sacramento River, and parallel to Union Pacific railway the mountain would peek-a-boo around the river valley.

Snow-capped Mt Shasta rising above a conifer treeline with large puffy clouds in a blue sky

Afternoon photo of Mt Shasta

A white headed woodpecker clinging to the bark of a tall pine tree trunk in a forest

A white headed woodpecker seen near heart lake

Telephoto view of Mt Shasta's rocky summit with dramatic lenticular clouds wrapping around the mid-section of the mountain

Early morning photo of Mt Shasta

Hazy layered view of jagged granite ridgelines and forested slopes fading into the blue distance

Castle Crag shot with a 300mm lens

Open subalpine forest of scattered conifers looking out over a wide valley with distant mountain ridges through the haze

Castle Crag in the distance

Elevated panoramic view through tall conifers across a broad forested valley with blue mountain ridges in the distance

Another shot of Castle Crag in the distance

Snow-covered path leading to a trailhead sign at the edge of Mt Shasta's snowfield with the mountain's slopes rising under overcast skies

Trailhead for the old Shasta Ski Bowl

A Clark's Nutcracker perched among the dense green branches of a subalpine fir against a pale blue sky

Clark's nutcracker seen at old Shasta Ski Bowl trailhead

Mt Shasta's snow-covered lower slopes and glaciers framed by dark silhouetted conifers under an overcast sky

In the bottom left of this photo you can see people climbing up Helen Lake to summit Mt Shasta

Close telephoto shot of Mt Shasta's steep snow-covered upper flanks with dark rocky outcroppings, clouds obscuring the summit and blue sky breaking through to the right

Helen Lake and some of Avalanche Gulch