Mountain Peaks

Saturday morning the weather was good. On this happy discovery, Carolina and I knew at once that we would be going somewhere. Since our last sortie had been to the south, this time I put a little plan together that would take us by two of Northern California's tallest mountains and then have us dining at the coast. 

This route would offer close views of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta.  I was surprised to learn that mountains Lassen and Shasta represent the southern end of the Cascade mountain range.  I just assumed that they were a continuation of the adjacent Sierras.  I also learned that Shasta is the second highest mountain in all the Cascades, just behind Mt. Rainier in Washington state.  Also, here's a fun fact: Shasta is the fifth highest mountain in California.   How about that?  Got to love Wikipedia. How did we ever live without it?

Mt. Lassen and Mt Shasta are both volcanic in origin with Lassen having most recently erupted (1914 to 1921).  Mt. Lassen's elevation is a paltry 10,457 feet which doesn't even make the top 100 in California, but it would be a towering monster were it located on the east coast where the tallest of the tall is only 6700 feet.  Never-the-less, I suspect that Lassen may feel inadequate sitting so close to the much taller Mount Shasta.  Lassen is still pretty big and can easily be seen from a hundred miles or more. 

Shasta rises to 14,179 feet and just dominates the north end of the Sacramento valley.  To fly past the peak of Mt Shasta does present a regulatory issue regarding the use of oxygen.  The FAA requires a pilot operating under part 91 of the federal code of regulations to be on oxygen if above 12,500' for more than 30 minutes, or while above 13,999' for any length of time.  Given this regulatory constraint, I was careful to time my ascent (and max altitude) to Shasta's peak to comply with the regulation. 

We departed runway 25 into the clear blue at about 10:30am.  Then we made a right crosswind departure from the Grass Valley pattern and right away I could see our target on the horizon, still some 80 nautical miles distant.

Instead of heading straight for the mountain, I decided to overfly the town and airport at Chester which sits on the western shore of Lake Almanor, about 17 miles southeast of Mt. Lassen. Ultimately we decided not to land there opting instead to save the altitude and head directly for Lassen. 

There was a stiff wind blowing from the northwest at 35kts which uncoincidentally was the very same direction that I wanted to go.  I have come to learn the contrarian nature of the winds.  It seems that while in the air, I alone command their direction.  That is to say, that there will always be a headwind, irrespective of my direction of travel.

I approached from the northeast, making a semi-circle around the peak before turning for Mt Shasta.

From Lassen to Shasta is about 64 nautical miles.  From this distance, it is hard to appreciate the massive scale of this mountain.  As we approached the mountain I was careful to stay to the north side, wanting to avoid any downwind turbulence that might have been generated by the wind spilling over and around the mountain.

Approaching Shasta's peak at about 14000' I followed a path similar to the one that I flew at Lassen. The air was smooth on the north and west sides so I allowed myself to get in even closer.  The wide angle lens makes it look like we were further away than we were.

I turned back around for one last look at the western slope.

From Shasta, we turned south and west toward the coast.  The coastline was clearly visible from 90 miles at our altitude and we could also see that there were a lot of clouds or fog there. We continued on anyway, heading for Murray Field at Eureka.  By the time we arrived there was just a broken layer at 1000', but no fog.  The clouds made getting around the pattern interesting, but they were not enough to prevent us from landing.  By the time we taxied to the FBO and shut down, the clouds had mostly dissipated.

Carol plotted a course for the FBO.

We had intended to eat lunch in Eureka and were hoping to get a courtesy car for the trip into town. The amiable gentleman working the FBO was pleasant enough, but explained that they did not offer a courtesy car.  He suggested that we try Shelter Cove for lunch since from there we could walk to a restaurant.  I had attempted going to Shelter Cove once before and was thwarted by fog, but it didn't seem like fog would be a problem on this day, so we quickly refueled and we were on our way.

This is the view as we are leaving Eureka to the south.  At first, we tried following the coast down to Shelter Cove.  However, we soon discovered that down low the coastline offers beautiful views and a bumpy ride.  Alas, I decided to sacrifice some of the spectacular view for a modicum of comfort, and up we went.

By air, Shelter Cove is just a quick hop from Eureka, but by automobile, it is a long way from any kind of civilization.  Left downwind at Shelter Cove.

  On the ground, here is the view of the airport looking north.

We spent a bit of time just walking around, ostensibly looking for a restaurant, but actually just enjoying the ocean view.

So the restaurant turned out to be more of a grocery store and deli, but at this point, we didn't have a lot of options.  In the end, it all turned out OK and we ended up eating out on their patio.

Not really sure what this gesture means.  It looks like I was trying to levitate my soda.

Having satisfied the $100 hamburger requirement, we made our way back to the airport.  A Beech Bonanza had joined us in the transient parking.  It turns out that they were from Portland and were heading down to the Santa Cruz area for some surfing.

The ride home was an uneventful 1 hour hop.  It still amazes me that we can transport ourselves to the far reaches with so little effort.  On this excursion, we were afforded stunning views of snow capped mountain peaks from a vantage that only a very few experience first hand.  Then just a short time later, we strolled an isolated and picturesque beachside community.  We ate a leisurely lunch outside in the ocean breezes while overlooking the expansive Pacific ocean.  Returning to Grass Valley by 3:30pm, only 5 hours had elapsed.   Amazing!