Bunny and Castle

My wife hadn't gone up to Bunny Flats or Castle Lake as of yesterday yet. I had skied at bunny flat with a friend while he skied all the way to lower sand flat road. He said that it is too late for Bunny Flat to 7 mile curve on mt. Shasta because the snow has melted out too much. But, for the last 10 years or so from Global Warming at least, having snow at 10 feet still at Bunny Flats and more at Panther Meadows is sort of unheard of on May 1st even though this would have been normal in the 1970s and 1980s. I met a man who had walked up the snow covered road past Panther meadows and told me he couldn't find Panther Meadows which makes one realize just how much snow is at Panther Meadows that he couldn't even find it. Of course he lives in Santa Rosa and might not have gone up there before in the snow either with snow shoes.

So, my wife took a few pictures of me in shorts skiing because it was a warm day and I set off up to the Saddle to ski back down to the 4 wheel drive Truck. My friend and his girlfriend skied down to Lower Sand Flats Rd. again and I decided not to do that because the conditions just weren't good enough for me to enjoy that yesterday. Whereas my friends ski almost every day since snow season began that they aren't touring playing music around the country here in Mt. Shasta so they are expert at almost any snow conditions whereas I used to be like them before 1992 but now am a weekend skier because I don't live up here all the time anymore.

So, I'm very careful now at age 71 which conditions I ski in so it is fun and not just miserable for me.

So, Bunny Flat was fun!

But, at the saddle I stuck my ski pole into the snow to get a drink of clean snow to wet my whistle but somehow I fell down doing this and felt very silly. Then it took me about 10 minutes to get up and I had to take my skis off and I was wearing shorts so I got very wet because I wasn't wearing ski pants which are waterproof. But, it was much too warm for all that and it was hot (in the 60s) so shorts seemed like the best Idea when I started out.

But, despite this, I had a great ski down Bunny Flat and didn't fall down. So, for me, at 71 any day I don't fall down skiing is a good day skiing.

My friend says yesterday might be the last day this year they choose to ski because the snow is melting pretty fast now even though there is still about 10 feet of snow at Bunny Flat.

Then while my wife and friends were in the restaurant I drove up to Castle Lake and met them as the food was being served. I knew the next time I got up here the snow likely would all be melted at Castle Lake and I wanted pictures of the cornice way up high. I was surprised to see where the avalanche had come into the lake earlier in the winter where trees had come into the lake on the Dunsmuir side of Castle Lake. I realized if someone had an inflatable boat or raft that getting it punctured could happen easily on the Dunsmuir side of the lake. I couldn't see it two weeks ago while heading north to Portland because the snow needed to melt off about 5 feet and it did by yesterday down to about 5 feet of snow left at Castle lake as of yesterday. It's melting out along the edges and likely might not be safe to walk out on the ice any more too into the middle of the lake.

But, as usual Castle lake is one of the most beautiful Alpine lakes for me on earth. So, for me, it is a very spiritual place that I have visited ongoing since 1953 when I first visited there with my Dad and his friends and went swimming there when I was 5 years old and watched my dad and his friends jump off the cliffs on the back of the lake which is the part of the lake that gives it the name "Castle Lake".