Saturday, September 27, 2014

Mud Creek at three points on Mt. Shasta witnessing the changes from Glacier break

We started out at the intersection of Mud Creek and Pilgrim Creek Rd near Mt. Shasta out passed McCloud off of Hiway 89. Then we headed up Pilgrim Creek Rd. (which has opened after a lot of work clearing the rocks and mud slide debris with heavy equipment.

What I found personally amazing was that 1 and 2 inch rocks were still rolling down the river several weeks later. So, I took a movie of this because this was amazing to watch in the water. Also, Mud Creek has made a whole new course because of all the debris. So, it runs through trees which might or might not survive from Tree line to Hiway 89. I think most will survive unless there is another Glacial outburst bringing more rocks and fine grey lava mud and rocks down sometime soon or in the future.

Throughout the day we visited three point where Mud Creek intersected. First Pilgrim Creek Rd and then I believe it was Widow Springs (Rd. or Drive that intersects Hotlum) and then we went up to I believe is is called (the dirt road) hiway 31 around the mountain that goes around mt. Shasta on this side all the way to the Mt. Shasta Ski Park from this point.

Though I was completely amazed by what I saw at Pigrim Creek Rd. at Mud Creek I was even more impressed what I saw higher on the mountain. The second point was the one where there is a pipe going across the creek at this video location:
Amazing YOUTUBE video of MUD Flood on Mt. Shasta!



So, we actually went to the Mud Flood location in the video and walked around on top of it and met other people visiting this site. It is on Widow springs rd. (or drive) if you go up into the mt. shasta forest subdivision the turn left along widow springs rd or dr. which ever it is.

Here there were hugs boulders that hadn't been there a few weeks ago. Also the pipe going across the creek is carrying water from a spring I believe. At first I thought it might be a gas pipe because of the way it looked but no it's carrying water likely into McCloud or nearby. Here again the whole creek is rerouted and it came through many trees and many boulders 1foot to 5 feet long and maybe 1 to 3 feet wide  100 to 500 pounds or more each had come down off the mountain likely miles by then. So, it is really impressive to see hundreds of these boulders that weren't there before and thousands and thousands of tons and more of lava Grey mud there that was new too. The highest one we visited on (I think it is dirt road 31 or something like that high on the mountain has had it's bridge completely washed away. So, you can no longer drive from there across into where the Mt. Shasta Ski park is anymore because the bridge is gone and even a dirt biker  motorcycle couldn't make it across this wet stuff up that high. Also, some places still (this long afterwards sucked on on shoes and almost pulled them off. It looked to be several blocks of destruction at this higher level that would need to be repaired which is kind of unlikely before the first snows come in this year.

Ok. Here is the first photo and after probably more than one days work with tractors people can now drive across this bridge. But, as you can see, it might not be open very long and more stuff may clog it up the way it looks right now. Now imagine about a block long left to right of volcanic mud and stuff pushed sometimes higher than a pickup truck to clear the roads so people could once again drive over this bridge again. Also, even this day where you see water little rocks 1/4 inch to 2 inches in diameter were being pushed (dozens of them rolling along the creek even today. So, what happens when they get a lot of water coming down this thing with debris even here spread out about a block to your right and left. However, Volcanic mud (if the trees survive it) is very rich and will help the trees grow better if their roots haven't gotten too much air in the process.

This creek is normally most of the year only a few feet wide(and then it came down up to a block or more wide and changed the course of the creek when the glacier broke at high altitude and gained force and it descended.
This above photo is taken where the video I mention above was taken except I'm in the middle of where it came down. Every boulder you see came down from miles away. So, if you realize every large boulder you see is between 100 and 500 pounds or more you can see the force it took to roll these boulders down from miles away.

If you look carefully this photo was taken where the road (i believe it is hiway 31 dirt) around the mountain is broken for about 2 blocks at Mud Creek. I would say the likelihood this will be fixed any time soon is minimal. My friend has driven from this point to the Mt. Shasta Ski Park and then down the paved road to hiway 89 and into the city of Mt. Shasta. No one is going to be doing that soon on the dirt road. But, also, it might be under snow if storms keep coming in. The snow level was a 9 or 10,000 feet but we also were at 6000 feet to 7000 feet and even there it rained, Hailed and Snowed on us today at various times. And there is now some snow above about 9000 to 10,000 feet to the top of the mountain from a storm on Wednesday and Thursday and today.

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