Sweetheart Stephanie and I (and of course our olden golden retriever Molly) headed up to Castle Lake just outside of Mount Shasta last Friday to see the glacial lake and its cirque with the last touches of autumn color and before the big winter snows bury the landscape white.
In summer, the parking lot is full and area visitors (and a few locals) are staked out every 20 feet along the south and west shores, some swimming, some trout fishing, some just absorbing clear, shimmering water and the rugged beauty of the steep headwall and mountain ridge to the south.
Now I’m glad folks get such enjoyment of our local jewel, but it was great to show up this time and see only two cars in the lot. And it turns out the people in those two cars are some of our favorite south Siskiyou County neighbors.
The first person we saw was Gra-el Corsini, an exquisite dancer and owner of the The Flying Lotus Movement Center in Mount Shasta. Here’s Gra-el and Sweetheart Stephanie Hoffman at the lake’s edge:
Gra-el Corsini and Stephanie Hoffman at Castle Lake. (Photo by John Soares)
And then we saw Penn Martin. Penn has an excellent website on Mount Shasta area wildflowers, complete with dozens of stunning photos of local beauties. Penn pointed out an excellent photographic opportunity I had overlooked: a fallen tree at shoreline with exposed roots. So many thanks to Penn for the following three shots:
Fallen tree at Castle Lake shoreline. (Photo by John Soares)
Fallen tree at Castle Lake shoreline, close up. (Photo by John Soares)
Fallen tree at Castle Lake shoreline, the roots. (Photo by John Soares)
Stephanie, Molly, and I climbed up the main path on the east side of the lake up to the gap where the trail to Heart Lake heads south and uphill. We took in the view of Castle Lake, the mountains, and the soft sunset spreading across the western sky before heading back to the car.
Our last picture: Sweetheart Stephanie posing on the south shore of Castle Lake.
Stephanie Hoffman at Castle Lake. (Photo by John Soares)
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