8-28-2014 Weed, CA and Mt. Shasta

8-28-14 Weed, CA

Whitebark Pine

You probably know about Meriwether Lewis and his buddy, Bill Clark, those two guys to whom President Jefferson said, “Hey, I’d like you to walk to the Pacific Ocean and tell me what you find.  I’ll wait here.”  Well, they did a lot of documenting, mapping and sketching of land, water, flora and fauna on the two year long trek.  One of the peculiar birds they wrote up and that we spotted many times at Crater Lake is aptly named, “Clark’s Nutcracker.”  It has a behavioral pattern in which it cracks open the cones of the whitebark pine to free the seeds, then it gathers them up and buries piles of them under the warm soil of the foothills around the lake, storing them for the Winter months.  The bird comes back to his cache and digs them up, but any that don’t get eaten sprout.  This is just one of the interesting cycles in nature in which one life form depends upon another for its survival.

Another thing I forgot to tell you is that Glacier National Park and Waterton National Park are separated by the 49^th parallel.  Waterton is on the Canadian side.  In 1932, Canada and the USA decided to designate these two as a “peace park,” to commemorate the special bond of friendship between our two countries.  So the official name of the area is “Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.”

Here in Weed, CA, this quiet Trailer Lane Park sits in a forest of 100 ft. tall redwoods. 

They are all around us and pine needles and cones are scattered everywhere.  A deer just strolled by.  He looks delicious!

Mt. Shasta is another spectacle that has eluded us.  Last September, driving down here from Crater Lake, it was so cloudy and stormy that we passed the mountain and didn’t even know it was there.  This time, we came around a bend and she exploded into view wearing her finest glaciers.

  Stunning.  It is a strange phenomenon, we think, this single mountain jutting up in the middle of nowhere, no range of adjacent mountains for friends and it makes her presence all the more majestic.  She nearly escaped us again, however.  The nearby forest fires have created a dense blanket of smoke that seems to settle mostly at dusk.  It is so thick that it burns the eyes and obliterates any objects that may stick up on the horizon.  In the morning, the smoke gets up and goes away for the day (don’t ask me to explain).  Because of this, during the day Mt. Shasta is visible.  Hazy but visible.  We drove up the Everitt Memorial Highway as far as we could.  At the shoulders of the road, by the way, are snow poles that have nothing on the ones at Crater Lake, maybe only a puny 10 feet tall, total.  As I say, we drove up as far as possible, to “The Old Ski Bowl,” sat in the sun at the mountain’s feet with several little chipmunks

Old Ski Bowl - Mt. Shasta

and had a small picnic lunch.  This is called “old” because in 1978, an avalanche destroyed this ski area.  A new ski area has been established lower and more westerly.  It was a glorious day that ended with the mountain once again slipping shyly away behind the smoke, as if she weren't there at all.

Poor Shasta buried in smoke

The road up the mountain winds between tall conifers that are a peculiar configuration, unlike any we have seen.  They are perfectly shaped into tall narrow cones as if each and every one of these millions of trees had been individually shaped by groomers.  They were so unusual that we stopped several times taking a few extra moments to admire them.  We've decided that these trees clearly are the reason for the expression, “pine cones.”  Why wouldn't they be?

Birthday girl!

We are on re-entry heading toward splashdown.  After a bit of time with friends for a day or two in central CA, by September 4, we will pull into our own driveway, the one we left on July 3^rd, approximately 6,000 miles ago (and an additional 3,000 on the Jeepster).  We’ve seen and learned so much and it was fun to share it all with you, my t-loggers.  We’ve attempted, mostly successfully, not to let a single experience escape our attention.  Wow.  What a ride!  Until next time, Rob and Lucky Lindy send you love, care and wish you Godspeed in all of your life’s adventures!