Trucking along I-5: Mt Shasta and other volcanoes

Mount Shasta - credit Lindsay Godfree

Driving Highway 5 back and forth from Seattle, WA to California along the Cascade Range is always a scenic journey trying to catch a new spectacular view of the dormant volcanic peaks such as Mount Rainier, Mount Hood and Mount Shasta. It makes one wonder about the creation of this volcanic range and what it might be like if they suddenly became active again. As we near 2012 and with other cataclysms around the world the possibility nags at the mind.

The facts are that the United States and its territories have about 170 volcanoes that have been active during the past 10,000 years, and most could erupt again in the future. In the past 500 years, 80 U.S. volcanoes have erupted one or more times.

Mudflow 7-1-80 Toutle Bridge - credit USGS

Mt Saint Helens is most famous of these for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. I am sure there were truckers that witnessed that seismic event.

The USGS provides a current monitoring and activity update for all volcanoes in the Cascade Range if you are curious about the rumbling under the ground. These include Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams in Washington State; Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, Newberry Volcano, and Crater Lake, in Oregon; and Medicine Lake volcano, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak in northern California.

The latest activity recorded at the time of this writing, was beneath Mount Rainier on September 20, 2009 with a swarm of small earthquakes. The Sept. 20 swarm has produced the largest number of events of any swarm at Rainier since seismic monitoring began over two decades ago, so they will continue to closely monitor the geophysical parameters at Mt. Rainier.

Dominating the scenes of northern California along Interstate 5 is the glacier-laden Mount Shasta’s 14,000 foot summit making it the second highest peak in the Cascade Range. The panorama is over whelmed by the icy beauty of the “mountain” and then extends to include the magnificent silhouettes of the Warners, Mount Lassen, Castle Crags, Trinity Alps and Mount Eddy of the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

Even during the summer the climate has a special appeal at the ski park. While the valleys of California are sweltering in the full summer heat cool soothing mountain air descends the slopes of Mt. Shasta on a daily basis dropping the temperature just enough to bring you much desired relief from summer heat. Visitors enjoy a large variety of alpine trails with hikes from 15 minutes to 2 days.

The recreation area is ideally located midway between Sacramento and Portland and is easily accessible only 19 miles from Interstate 5. Though as a trucker with at 53ft trailer I have never tried to get close, only watching from the highway as I go by. Someday I hope to return as a tourist and 4-wheeler to see the peak from the trails.

Naturalist and author John Muir said of Shasta:
“When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since.”

Theodore Roosevelt said:
“I consider the evening twilight on Mt. Shasta one of the grandest sights I have ever witnessed.”

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