Kevin Citta Photography: July 2015

Greetings!

After a several year hiatus from blog entries I have decided to once again use this format for sharing my photographs with the world. Many friends and family have opted out of Facebook and I can understand why. It seems like the majority use Facebook to complain, argue, or share false information or stuff that should maybe be kept to themselves. I do enjoy sharing my nature and travel photography as well as receiving feedback but I am going back to the blog to share my photography.

For my first entry I would like to share a series of photographs from the first 3 months of 2015. Hiking, biking, swimming, climbing, and friends! Hope you enjoy! Click on a photo to view larger.

January

To start off the year I hiked into the Castle Crags Wilderness near Castella, California. With the drought there was very little snow and abnormally warm days making for excellent Winter hiking. After doing a little research I chose a trail that leads you into Castle Crags State Park via Root Creek. The views were nothing short of amazing with colorful pools awesome for a January plunge. One of my favorite things in life is jumping into cold mountain water at least once a month. It is better than a cup of coffee to wake up, very invigorating, and wonderful for the soul!

The Ogre - Castle Crags State Park

One of the many crystal clear pools

Looking up towards Castle Dome

Icy waterfall

Emerald Pool

Pool with a view

January Plunge

January Full Moon taken with Nikon digital zoom

Lake Shastina

Ellie May looking out over Lake Shastina

Mount Shasta from the East side

Railroad Graveyard - McCloud, CA

With warm winter temps I decided to return to a place called Sheep Rock north of Weed, California. I have climbed Sheep Rock many times and always enjoy it. On one of my more recent trips I came across a cave that sparked my curiosity. Without ropes or a flashlight I told myself I would come back with the proper gear to take a look inside. I called my friend Rudi Bega, a very experienced caver and climber and we returned to the cave on Sheep Rock mid January. We were able to repel into the cave a little bit and get a better look but the loose rock ceiling prevented us from going too deep into the dangerous cave. Still a wonderful trip and fun adventure!

Cave Entrance

Just a small part of Sheep Rock

Cloudy start

Looking west over Lake Shastina

Rudi climbing the route to the cave

Mount Shasta poking through the clouds

Repelling into the cave

If you look close you can see Rudi

Twilight Mount Shasta

Sunset

Another fun adventure in what has been dubbed JUNEuary was a trip into Castle Crags State Park via Burstarse Creek. The weather was very summer like with temperatures into the low 80's. After several trips to Burstarse Falls I decided I wanted to find the source of the water by hiking up and past the waterfall further into the crags. After many miles of hiking and climbing we found the spring that fed Burstarse Creek and filled our water bottles before making the return trip to the car.

Castle Crags view from the south

Little Burstarse Falls

Burstarse Falls

View from the top of the falls

Looking south

One of the many falls and pools above the main waterfall

Jeff hovering above a pool

Fun shimmy spot

Climbing up towards the water source

Rocky path

The source of Burstarse Creek is a spring just below the big rock in the picture

Good times!

Headed back down

Skyler above one of the falls

Craggy rocks

One of my favorite activities is hiking and/or bicycling to fire lookout towers. I enjoy the exercise of climbing a big hill or mountain, the historical aspect of the towers, and of course the amazing views. In late January I decided to hike up to a lookout tower I had not been to yet. It is called Orr Mountain Lookout and is near Brae, California. The lookout tower was built in 1934 and is still used to this date. At the bottom of Orr Mountain is Orr Lake, a nice and quiet spot that is rarely occupied.

Mount Shasta and Orr Lake

Icy water

View of Orr Lake and Mount Shasta from Orr Mountain

Cool clouds

Orr Mountain Lookout Tower

View of a passing train from the lookout

Whispy clouds

Orr Mountain

Zoomed in view of the train

A chilly morning at Orr Lake

To end the month of January I had a couple of good friends visit from my home state of Wisconsin. We did several short hikes and even camped a night with the warm JUNEuary. Below are the photos from their visit.

McCloud River

McCloud Middle Falls

McCloud Reservoir

Sean climbing up into a road side cave

Inside the cave

Looking up at Sean in the cave

Mount Shasta and McCloud Reservoir

Large nest

McCloud River

Sunset from Miller Mountain

Looking west from Miller Mountain

Miller Mountain Swingset!?

February

I dubbed February "Funuary" for 2015. Once again temperatures were well above average making for a fun filled month of hiking, biking, climbing, and even swimming!

Here are some photographs from some random short hikes early in the month.

Living Memorial Sculpture Garden

Lenticular cloud forming at Mount Shasta

Looking west from Sheep Rock

Mount Shasta with a cloudy sky

Sheep Rock

Pluto's Cave

Sheep Rock

McCloud Railroad Graveyard

Harris Camp

Ben Homer's Birthday

Jane at Juanita Lake

Bald Eagle at Meiss Lake

Sunset from Ball Mountain Road

Lizard on Yellow Butte

Mine on Yellow Butte

Ben, Jeff, and Lisa

Jeff and Lisa on Yellow Butte ( Sheep Rock in backround )

Mid February I drove from Weed, California to Lassen National Park to bike into the parks closed road. With the warm weather and the road closed to vehicular traffic I thought it would be a great opportunity to enjoy the park to myself. It sure was! At 10 miles into the park I was forced to end my bike ride due to snow but it made for a fun and beautiful 20 mile round trip. Mount Lassen became a national park in 1916, just one year after the major eruption of Lassen Peak.

Bald Eagle at Manzanita Lake

Chaos Crags

Biking the deserted road with a great view of Mt. Lassen

Start of the snow

More snow

Still got a lane!

Mount Lassen form the devastated area

End of the road due to snow

Having too much fun!

Chaos Crags

Shorts and a t-shirt in Ferbuary

Chaos Crags

Reflection Lake (appropriately named)

The next day after my awesome bike ride at Lassen I decided to go for another ride along the Pit River and started my journey just outside of Burney Falls State Park near Burney, California. Although I did not have the road to myself as I did at Lassen National Park there was still very little traffic making it an enjoyable ride. After returning to the car I hiked into Burney Falls State Park and did a nice loop down to the falls and then around to the top. Another great day full of beauty and solitude.

Pit River #3 Dam

River Otters in the Pit River

The quiet road

Hitchhiker on my bike

Pit 4 Powerhouse

Rock Creek

Happy Biker

Back to Pit River #3 Dam

Hiked down to the base of the dam

Burney Falls State Park

Burney Creek

Top of the falls

After leaving Burney Falls State Park I made a stop at Dusty Camp on Lake Britton to visit the chalk caves as well as the railroad bridge featured in the classic movie Stand By Me. The chalk caves are not actually chalk but diatamaceous earth which could be described as chalky.

The railroad bridge from "Stand By Me"

Soon to be a "Rails to Trails" bicycle trail

Lake Britton

Dusty Camp

Chalk cave entrance

Inside the cave

Another fun filled day I had in February was at Cliff Lake. To get to the lake it is about a 45 minute drive from Weed and then a 3 mile bike ride down a forest service road. On the dirt road to Cliff Lake you come across two scenic lakes worth visiting, Cedar Lake and Lower Cliff Lake. The bike ride is especially fun in Spring when the road has snowmelt making little creeks, big puddles, and many fun obstacles.

My bike

Fun road to bike!

Cliff Lake - mostly frozen

Climbing the snow covered rocks at Cliff Lake

My next February bike ride was at a place called Pine Tree Hollow in McCloud, California. The trail is bicycle friendly and a ton of fun. It passes through some large trees and along the beautiful McCloud River where I stopped and did my February plunge. Cold but incredibly invigorating! I think the people in winter coats and hats thought I was nuts when they saw me shirtless in wet swimming trunks. Good times!

Middle McCloud Falls

Refreshing February plunge

McCloud River

My last February hike was to the top of Black Butte, a cinder cone between Weed and Mount Shasta, California. I spent the winter months living at a place called the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture. I got to live in a non electric cabin in the woods which I loved! One day we had a couple of visitors from Australia and when they saw Black Butte they asked if you can hike to the top so I showed them the way. We decided to bike the several miles to the trailhead and then hike up the 7,454 foot cinder cone.

Black Butte

Biking to the Butte

Mount Shasta from the trail up Black Butte

Looking down towards the town of Weed

It's a rocky path up Black Butte

Looking towards the false summit

Palmer dog

Mount Shasta - digital zoom

The Aussies hiking up the path

False summit and Mount Eddy on the background

Top of Black Butte looking towards the city of Mount Shasta

March

Just like January and February March was also abnormally warm and excellent for hiking, biking, and of course a cold water plunge.

Dogsitting Ellie May

March Full Moon over Mount Shasta

Full Moon - digital zoom

Dog sitting Jethro

Partial rainbow over interstate 5

My first hike for March was re-visiting Burstarse Falls with some friends who have never been to the falls. It was a hot day for March so we all took a dip in the frigid waters.

Looking south towards Grey Rocks

Hummingbird enjoying the manzanita

Castle Crags

Steven at Burstarse Creek

Daniel and Isabella on the way to Burstarse Falls

Isabella swinging on a vine

Burstarse Falls

Crystal clear water

Nice spot for a dip

Bottle cap in the water

Top of the falls

Climbing back down requires a little courage

One of many pools

3 level pool

The next hike for March was a solo trip up a big hill called Mussolini Point just north of Weed, California. Being on private property it is a quiet place with incredible views. Luckily my employer has land adjacent to Mussolini so I have access to the hike without trespassing.

Looking east halfway up Mussolini

Met some friends on the way up

Hey, come back!

March wildflowers

Panoramic from the top

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta and Black Butte

Cow crossing

Back at the bottom of Mussolini

Mussolini from the top of Black Butte (it's the hill in the center of the photograph)

My next March bike ride was on a forest service road that looked appealing to me. I had no destination and was just curious where the road would take me. The road ended up leading me to a creek and then became overrun with brush. I found a nice waterfall on the creek and had lunch before biking back out. It was a fun exploration.

Steep uphill section

Parking spot midway

Shasta in the distance

Carnivorous pitcher plants

Still some ice on the creek

The very green forest

Unnamed waterfall

I really like this tree

Words to live by

The next bike and hike trip for March was Caldwell Lakes, not much further up the road then the previous trip. I was able to bike to a certain point before hitting snow and then I was on foot. After taking some good guesses as the trail was covered with no footprints I eventually found Lower Caldwell Lake and then climbed to Upper Caldwell Lake. Upper Caldwell was completely covered in snow but I found the sign for the lake so I knew I was there.

Break time

Headed for the snow

What trail?

Mount Shasta

Lower Caldwell Lake

Crystal clear water

The good life

Climbing to Upper Caldwell lake

Couldn't see the lake but this proves I was there

What a view!

My final biking / hiking trip for March 2015 was a trip to Gray Rock Lakes. It is a several mile uphill bike ride to a nice hiking trail that takes you to 3 beautiful lakes. The upper lake was once again a snowy hike to a frozen lake. With the sun shining and feeling pretty warm I decided to break a hole in the ice and jump in! It was one of the funnest things I have ever done and look forward to doing it again next year.