Following Fireweeds in the Magnificent North West – California

 When ambition ends,
happiness begins.

Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk

The beautiful greenery of the vast North West

Fireweeds are dubbed season-o-meters in this part of the world.  Folks believe that when their blooms reach the top, there are only six weeks of warm weather left.  It seems that everywhere I traveled, they were with blooms slowly creeping up their extended stems.  Hard to miss with their bright cheery color, they are a reminder of briefer summers at this latitude.

Black bear surrounded by fireweed

The further north one travels, the more abruptly the fall season starts and ends.  In Denali, for example, our guide stated that fall colors only last three days near the end of August and that the amazing hues from rusted orange to golden yellow and deep candy apple red to eggplant make up for the much-abbreviated season.

Northern California:

Letting the pictures do the talking...

Majestic Mount Shasta (R) and lesser known Shastina satellite cone (L)

Picture taken from nearby Castle Dome in Castle Crags State Park

Mt Shasta, 14,719 feet (4,322 m), Shastina, 12,330 feet (3,760 m) 

Youngest geological feature in the area. 

Formed 600,000 years ago, last erupted in 1786. 

Considered dormant but it WILL become active again eventually. 

First known man to reach its top in 1854, woman in 1856.

 John Muir climbed it in 1877 and said he ‘survived an overnight blizzard

by lying in the hot sulfur springs near the top.’ 

It remains the focus of New Age attention.

Imposing Castle Crags 170-million-year-old granite pluton.

Much older than 600,000-year-old Mount Shasta yet you see one from the other

Grandeur of the crags with its lofty spires has been revered for millennia

Oldest settlement in area dates back 7,000 years

Malaria epidemic brought by Europeans decimated much

of the native populace in 1833

Gold seekers silted the river waters so much in 1853 that the annual

salmon runs failed to come upriver, leading to starvation of natives.

Castle Dome Trail, not for the faint of heart

With a gain of 2,200 feet in 2.5 miles, it is a good workout

Frustratingly awesome formation to explore

But look at this scenery!

Well worth it; see it while you can…

The sad thing about this park is that it is hardly visited.

It was on the list of parks to be shut down in 2011.

Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet

And quite different…

The crags jut out in an unearthly way

There is nothing else like this in the area

The contrasts between the forest and the granite are incredible

Beautiful spotted coral root

Area last logged 1933

Cedar and fir trees are taking over oaks and pines

as nature’s cycles change

Not carving out the bark, only the moss

Not as destructive perhaps?

Between Lake Helen and Brokeoff Volcano

Glacial erratic boulder, out of context; carried by the glacier eons ago.

The glacier plucked this boulder from the mountain’s side and engulfed it

into its ice mass.  Gravity moved the ice mass downslope over the surface rocks.

By the time the boulder reached this location,

the glacier melted and set the rock at rest here.

Lake Helen – early spring thaw

Heavily leaning trees awakening from snow-covered winter

Snow piling up higher than nearby restrooms

Lots left to thaw – June

Historic Loomis Museum at Lassen Volcanic National Park

Named after B.F. Loomis who documented Lassen’s Peak

most recent eruption cycle (May 1915)

Most powerful, though smaller, eruption before Mt. Saint Helen (March 1980)

He also promoted the park’s establishment

Stunning Sarcodes Sanguinea (snow plant) coming through

a bed of pine cones and needles in early spring

Full grown, it resembles a ‘neon red psychedelic asparagus…’

Eats fungi (mycotrophic) related to conifers

Yosemite National Park describes it as such:

‘Snow Plant is the free-thinking radical of wildflower society,

eschewing photosynthesis altogether in favor of a symbiotic relationship

with underground fungi. As a result, the entire above ground section

of the plant is free to be a traffic-stopping bright red.

Snow Plant’s mushroom-from-Mars good looks,

accented by its ability to grow in dark, shady spots where other

flowers dare not tread, make it one of Yosemite’s most arresting sights.’

Pigeon Point Light Station Historic Park

Built 1871, lit 1872, automated 1974

Tallest lighthouse (with Point Arena) on US west coast

115 feet / 35 meters

Despite charming white picket fence, this coast has seen

100 years of shipwrecks in these dangerous waters

Fresnel’s Magic Lantern

1872 First order Fresnel lens at Pigeon Point

Made of 1,008 individual glass pieces and weighing 2,000 pounds,

it is the biggest and strongest of the six lens sizes.

Lens rotated once every four minutes producing

one flash every 10 seconds. 

It was powered by clockwork with a 45-pound weight

Gray whale baleen below Fresnel lens

West Coast lighthouses employed this lighting technology developed by French physicist Augustin Fresnel.  The resulting beam was 5 times more powerful than earlier reflector systems.  Fresnel’s revolutionary ‘beehive’ design used glass prisms at the top and bottom to surround a single light source.  When the lighthouse is lit, the prisms bend or ‘refract’ the light along with lenses, called ‘bulls-eyes’, in the center of each of the larger panels. 

California sea lions Sunning on the Santa Cruz pier

Hope you can enjoy sunshine and good travels too...  Onward to Oregon