At Waka's Home: Day 1 of Ascending Mount Shasta, on Clear Creek Trail to Clear Creek Springs

 

Mount Shasta

Date: June 25, 2021

Place: Mount Shasta Wilderness, Mt. Shasta, California

Coordinates: 41.365717, -122.125770

Length: about 2.8 miles

Level: strenuous

Upon reaching midlife crisis, some people buy a Ferrari. I chose to climb a mountain. A big mountain.

I've been many, many times within sight of Mount Shasta, and each and every time I would look at it wistfully. Rising 14,179 ft high, Mount Shasta isn't the highest mountain in California but it is certainly the most majestic. Unlike Mount Whitney however, ascending Mount Shasta normally requires special mountaineering skills, including glacier climbing. I do not have these skills, so I never wrote ascending Mount Shasta into my bucket list. 

After a full year of COVID however, I was looking for new trails to hike and so I joined an online hiking group to get inspired. On my first week someone posted that he was looking for friends to join him on a guided Mount Shasta summit expedition. At first I scrolled down, but then I returned to that post and clicked the link that the fellow attached. I read the full page including the fine print. By the end of the day I was signed up for a Mount Shasta climb with the REI Adventures, at the closest date to my birthday. I signed myself alone, not joining or taking anyone else. 

Shortly after signing up I received detailed information plainly designed to instill the fear of god in me. Moreover, when I called the number I was supposed to to touch base with the organizers, the guy on the other side of the line did his best to assure me that this trip would be the most difficult undertaking ever and that I needed to be in top shape like a Marine ready for battle or something like that. 

I took them seriously. With about two months between my signing on to this and the actual outing I had to get myself in shape, and quickly. As part of my regimen I did weekly strenuous day hikes and a couple of backpacking trips of which I'll write separate posts. I also found out that the expedition fee was by no means my only expense - I had to spend nearly the same amount to complete the list of required gear.

As the time approached I received updates concerning the planned outing, mainly that due to lack of snow the route had changed and that some of the gear was no longer required. It was suggested that if the snow experience was a must for me, that I could move my participation to the following year at no additional expense. Having been training hard for this and not knowing where I would be on the following year, I chose to stay on board with this trip. 

On June 24 I drove to Mt. Shasta and checked myself in the motel recommended by the expedition organizers. I passed on the offer to join the group for dinner and went straight to bed.

In the morning I showed up at the meeting place and found out that my group was only one of several guided expeditions going up Mount Shasta that weekend. After finding our guides I also found that our group had shrunk considerably. There were only four of us in the group, besides the guides. 

The guides led a round of introductions, inspected our gear, dispensed the group equipment, food, and the poop bags (more on that later), and gave us the lowdown of the trip, basically what we should expect and what was expected of us. In perfect continuation, this sounded just as intimidating as the scary emails I've been getting from REI. I was getting psyched already. 

After an hour break during which I had lunch we split into our cars and drove to the Clear Creek trailhead. (4WD high clearance cars are highly advisable for getting there). 

Day One: Clear Creek Trailhead to Clear Creak Springs Campground, 2.8 miles, 2000 ft elevation change

 

Our first day's hike as captured by my GPS

 

Our hike begun deep in the forest. Writing this now I wonder how much of this forest had remained because soon after large wildfires had consumed the area of Mount Shasta. When I was there however, the forest was green and healthy-looking, albeit very dry. 

At the Trailhead

 

The guides, Joey and Ethan, had us walk at a very slow pace, which was just fine because the packs were heavy and we needed to conserve our energy. The way they had it laid out was slow pace walk with 10 minutes break for each hour of walking, during which we had to eat, drink, and do any necessary adjustments. I was very please with this method.

A high-zoomed image of Mount Shasta top.

 

 There weren't very many wildflowers, which was somewhat disappointing, but I was pleased with those that I did see. The scent of the mountain Monardella was very refreshing. Later on I also got to have some in my tea. 

Pale Mountain Monardella, Monardella odoratissima var. pallida

 One comment I got when sharing my mountaineering plans with my friends was, 'how will you keep up with all the young men?' The original list of names for this group had about half female names in it, so i expected not to be the only woman there. The list however, did not give the ages and it was reasonable to assume that I'd be on the older side. As I corrected my friend for assuming the gender split of the group, at the same time I begun to worry that my age might become an issue, and for the rest of the time before the actual outing I kept having mental flashes of me dragging behind a group of fit, energetic youths up a steep, white slope. 

As it turned out, I was indeed the oldest of the group, but not by a too large gap. Needless to say, the slope was not white. Not that summer, anyway. In short, I had no problem keeping up the pace that the guides had set on the way up, and I appreciated it much.

Lupine, Lupinus sp.

 

True to their word, the guides stopped us for a 10 minutes break at the edge of a scree drop where we sat and munched while looking at the beautiful sight of the Mud Creek Falls. Our guides mentioned that the flow was too strong for this season, indicative of the too early and too big of a meltdown. 

Mud Creek Falls

 The weather was very warm but small clouds were passing overhead, and whenever that happened, the temperature dropped a few degrees. The unusual heat for the season had been a big worry, and not only among the Shasta climbers. 

The peak looked very far, but with the strong zoom of my camera lens I captured a descent close-up of the glacier our guides were pointing at. On the morrow we would have a closer view of that, they promised.  

Glacier

 

 During our break a number of other groups had passed us on their way to the campground by the springs. When the break finished we continued our ascent. Maybe I imagined it, but it seemed to me that our pace increased some. The clouds moved away and the sun once again lit the trees in shiny, bright green. 

Conifers on Shasta slopes

 

 I knew there are endemic plant species on Mount Shasta and when I saw this Eriogonum, a species I had never seen before, I thought that might be one of them. I was right, but I did not know it then. 

Shasta Buckwheat, Eriogonum pyrolifolium

 

I actually don't recall if we had a second break on the way to the camp area. The distance we covered on the first day wasn't much, and the altitude not that high either. We did pause a few time to allow one of our group who suffered a muscle cramp to catch up. As we walked we passed some of the other groups that had passed us earlier. I guess it occurred to me then that not only we would not be alone there, but that this climb might in fact be a crowded affair. 

 

 Almost without noticing, we were high up the mountain. High enough to really feel high. Looking behind it seemed as if the earth had dropped far below us. We were almost at clouds level. 

 

 When we arrived at the little brook that flowed from the springs it seemed all too soon. The creek was where we could fill our water bottles. No filtering or any other treatment necessary. The water tasted heavenly. In accordance with keeping the water clear we were instructed not to wash dishes or ourselves by the creek. For our every need we had to haul the water from the creek and use it elsewhere. Our guides had large water bags which they had filled for use at our camp site.

Clear Creek

 

 If there was any place to see wildflowers there, I expected it to be near the creek. I saw only one flower, however. A single monkeyflower for the entire length of creek we were at.

Larger Mountain Monkeyflower, Erythranthe tilingii

 We were instructed not to go where the actual springs were so we would not soil the water. Some people did walk above the springs area in search of a place to camp. I found a brief moment when there were no humans in the frame to take a photo of the springs. This would be our sole source of water throughout our expedition.

Clear Creek Springs 

 

Our guides left us by the creek and went ahead to look for a suitable space to pitch our tents. There were no designated camping spots in the area but it was obvious where the places most suitable for setting up camp were. And many of these were already taken by groups that got there before us. 

Looking at the mountainside to the west of us I noticed fin-looking protrusions that gave the mountain line the appearance of a dinosaur back. 

 

 Our campsite was inside a grove of whitebark pines, one of the very few perennial species that grow that high. The trees have a very bonsai look to them: they're short and windswept, and instead of growing one thick trunk they sprout their branches directly from the root crown at ground level, like bushes.  

We each found a flat surface between the trees and pitched our tents according to the instructions we got from our guides, they main one was to use stones as weights rather than stakes. In fact, we were instructed to leave our tent stakes behind. Later that evening we understood the reason behind that order, when the wind picked up and started beating mercilessly at our tents. The wind would have plucked the stakes right out of the ground, our guides said. I assume that this is even more true when camping in the snow.  

 

It was reconstructed dry food bags for us that evening. Our guides boiled water on a liquid fuel stove (no propane! was yet another advice we got in case we ever wanted to go mountaineering independently. Propane stoves don't work as well at these elevation, they said. I have used propane stoves at higher elevation than our Shasta campsite and they worked just fine, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of the claim.), and we poured the water into our sealable food bags and chatted while waiting for our meals to rehydrate. The guides used that time to tell us what to expect on the following day - the summit day. I also took the opportunity to try and photograph the little birds that hopped in the trees by our campsite. 

Cassin's Finch, female or young male

 We would wake up in the wee hour of the night we learned, and start ascending in complete darkness. It was important to get to the summit before noon, our guides said, because in the afternoon weather tended to build up at the mountain top. Besides, it would be a long way down, they added. At that time I was more concerned about my ability to fall asleep early enough to get sufficient sleep. I later learned the hard way how true was the comment about the way down. 

After dinner I felt the call of nature. I don't normally mention these bodily functions in the blog but on this trip it is one openly discussed and often humored about topic. Mount Shasta is a true wilderness area, and as such, there are no designated toilets at the campground. Moreover, unlike other wilderness areas I've backpacked at, Mount Shasta climbers are not allowed to live their feces behind, not even neatly buried in a cathole. Each of us was furnished with 'poop bags' that consisted of two paper bags with cedar shavings, a large ziplock bag, and a folded paper that when opened flat, had instructions for use on one side, and a large target diagram on the other. The instructions were simple enough - spread the paper on the ground, do your business on the target sign, then fold the paper over the product and shove it neatly into one paper bag, than insert that into the second paper bag, and finally seal it all in the ziplock bag, and place it under a pile of rocks to be safe from curios birds, until it was time to get off the mountain, at which point we were to take all the bags that we packed and haul them down to the trailhead where there was a special receptacle for them.

I will not give you the details except that the first challenge was to find a private enough place, and the second was to find another way of scooping the deed into the bag because the target paper doesn't really work for people with female plumbing. 

We were encouraged to get to bed early but I stayed out to watch the sunset. The wind was strong already and by the time I entered the tent I found that the fine dust had made it even through the mesh of my double-walled tent and I had to shake well my sleeping bag before wiggling myself inside. Soon I found out that I also needed to cover my head with cloth if I wanted to avoid breathing dust. 

Sunset

As I expected, I didn't get much sleep as all that night. Tucked inside my sleeping bag I run in my head the creation story of the Shasta Nation, part of which was how Waka, the Great Spirit, had created Mount Shasta to be his home on Earth. Many of the visitors to the town of Mt. Shasta come for spiritual reasons. I am not a very spiritual person myself, but I too responded to the powerful pull of this mountain. 

A minute after I finally fell asleep I heard the wake up call of our guides. It was time to get up and ready to summit the mountain. 

Link to the next post on days 2 and 3: summiting Mount Shasta.