Erik's Rants and Recipes: O Volcano!

January 31, 2007

O Volcano!

First, I am adding a new category to the blog: Northern California. This will be its first post, a little photo rumination on the Volcanoes of Modoc and Shasta County.

I am eating leftovers for lunch, a particularly molten, mouth-blistering piece of the aforementioned lasagna. That makes me think of lava, and that is going to be the main focus of today's lunchtime blogging.

The advantage (and sometimes disadvantage) of living on the Ring of Fire, is that the landscape is formed primarily by seismic upheaval: plates colliding, uplifting, cracking, magma chambers forming, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, etc. Even down here in the Bay Area we have some volcanic features (Berkeley's Round Top is a very old, fallen over volcano).

But to really take in the splendor of volcanism, you have to get in your car and head up to Shasta, Lassen, Butte, and Modoc counties. That is where you see the spectacular stuff.

Today I am going to show some pictures of the Modoc Volcanic Scenic Byway and some of the areas around it. I have tons, but I am just going to show a few. I could say, "you must get out here," but you probably won't, as it is remote, far from the sort of amenities that vacationers like, requires a sturdy car (4X4 preferable) and the skills to drive it on some rough terrain. Add the weather (scorching in the summer, freezing in the winter, muddy in between), and you have an area that is probably best appreciated by photos from the sorts of nuts who like that kind of thing.

Fortunately for you, we are just those sorts of nuts.

When you go up to this part of the world, your gateway to it is probably Redding, which is a strange mix of the Deep South and Southern California. Redneckery abounds, with folks wanting the government to stay off their backs, and yet, bitterly complaining at the suburban sprawl and nasty traffic that is the result of unchecked growth (and hordes of refuges from LA and the Bay Area seeking the unspoiled purity of wild Northern California). In a few years, the area could be absolutely unliveable, sort of a Valencia North, where vestiges of the former beauty can be made out among the rows and rows of identical cardboard houses.

One of the advantages of Redding is that it gets hot in the summer, outrageously and notoriously hot. I remember as a kid in Sacramento, when the mercury hit 105 we would assure ourselves, well it could be worse, we could be in Redding. Or Red Bluff. The two towns are about fourty miles or so apart, but in our minds they were twin cities, both with the "red" warning in their names. They were red because the land itself was on fire, or at least it seemed. We have been up there and seen the thermometer register 117 in the shade. It is brutal.

But, given proper shade and irrigation, you can grow all sorts of flowers in the summer, for instance this fly-polinated flower:

Now, fly polinated flowers are a special interest of Melanie and I. We have been known to drive to various flower conservatories and arboretums to see rare fly-polinated flowers. Of course the old adage is that you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. Perhaps, but if you really want to attract flies, try rotten meat.

Fly-polinated flowers smell of rotten meat, usually for a day or two, thus attracting flies. So, imagine 110 degree heat, and the smell of rotten meat.

Ah, good.

Time to head for the mountains, no?

Alright. Let's pack up and drive to Dunsmuir.

Well it is still hot, but you can cool off in waterfalls!

Here is Melanie cooling off in Black Bart's hideout in Dunsmuir.

Well, Dunsmuir is a pretty town with an interesting history (Black Bart and all), but we really were after volcanoes. So, let's move on, shall we?

The Big Mama Volcano is, of course, Mt. Shasta.

But it is not the biggest of the Cascades. No, that honor belongs to a Hawaiian shield volcano that is so big most people think of it as a region, or a micro-range: The Medicine Lake Volcano.

The caldera is a lake, as I mentioned earlier, a pleasantly warm lake filled with delicious trout:

The really interesting volcanic features surround the lake and are on the flanks of this large volcano. So, driving through the area, mostly full of large conifers, you know you are getting close because you encounter lava beds, some even with large conifers growing in them:

And, in the glass mountain area, the lava beds have obsidian outcroppings:

Yes, it is not every day that you encounter naturally formed glass hanging around:

And these pieces can get big:

Now, even up in the mountains it can be hot. Imagine daytime highs in the nineties and you will understand our surprise at this (note the obsidian outcropping in the back):

But that snow does melt, and it fuels the various creeks and rivers of the Sacramento River system.

On a hot day, those streams and rivers can look so inviting. And they are, but they are also cold. Jumping into this 40 foot deep pool at the base of the McCloud Lower Falls was something akin to jumping into that cocktail shaker in the recipe for martinis I posted earlier:

Now, there are a lot more photos to show, and plenty to say about the area, and we will post and say, in due time, but I have spent enough time at this, and have to get back to work (future painting photos depend on getting actual paintings done, alas). I hope you have enjoyed this little trip through Northern California's Volcano Country!

Posted by erik at January 31, 2007 11:48 AM

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