Mount Shasta, California

Looming 14,179 feet high, Mount Shasta can be seen miles and miles away on a clear day as you drive north on highway 5. Mount Shastina is a satellite cone of Mr. Shasta, located on Shasta's west shoulder. Standing at 12,335 ft, Shastina would be the third highest volcanic peak in the Cascade Range, after Mount Rainier and Mount Shasta.

As the golden hour approaches the clouds hovering around Mt. Shasta begin to display their evening glory.

One of my goals on this trip was to capture the Milky Way over Mount Shasta. The developing clouds at sundown made for a nice sunset but I was beginning to doubt whether or not I would be able to get a good view of the Milky Way.

I knew that it was not unusual in this mountain location to have clouds in the daytime and by the time full darkness arrives they are gone. That happened on this night and the galactic core became visible just above and to the right of Mount Shasta. An interesting thing happened as I was setting up the camera. I looked up and saw a string of lights, seemingly connected one to another, moving from west to east high in the sky. I grabbed my cel phone and took a video of it as it disappeared into the eastern sky. It was very weird. I Googled it and found that it was what is called a satellite train. Have you ever seen one? Apparently Elon Musk has many of these in our skies. I'm guessing they were lit up by the suns reflection and dissipated out of view as they moved to the east and entered the earth's shadow. Kind of a creepy thing to see in the night sky.

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White Tailed Kites - A Family Affair

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Why “Notes to My Mother”? My mother was the one person in my life who was always interested in what I was doing, what I had to say, who I was. She was never too busy to listen and take an interest. Never critical, always accepting. Even when I was wrong or misguided, there would still be a gentle interested listener present. Though she has been gone over 6 years, I still get the urge to write or call her, to share an image I am proud of or share my latest adventure to some beautiful place. I know she would love to hear about it. My mother was an artist. She painted most of her life, right up to her passing at the age of 96. When I was 4 years old we lived on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range. She would take me out to paint with her - she with her easel, me with mine - and we would sit together creating our art. While I gave up on the medium she kept at it. Then, in the year she passed I picked up a digital camera and began my adventure into the world of landscape ph...

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Notes To My Mother

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