Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta, CA
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

Interstate Five is not the most interesting drive one can make.  I've driven it scores of times between Portland and Buttonwillow and I'm very familiar with the entire stretch between Seattle and Los Angeles.  The best section is the drive between Redding and Medford.  Mount Shasta is in view a lot of the time.  I often stop for pictures of that big boy.  It's an under-appreciated  mountain.  I think a case could be made that it's the most spectacular of the mountains in the Cascade Range.  At 14,179 feet in height it's second only to Mount Ranier (14,410 feet) in height in the range.  With no peaks near it the full scale of the mountain can be seen from all directions.  It reminds me of Mount Fuji in that sense.  While it's glaciers aren't as impressive as Ranier's, it's a beautiful, moody mountain that changes its look on an hourly basis.  It's also more consistently visible than most of the Cascade peaks.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 133, image #5047.