Shasta
nickname: Sacred Mountain
selling point: "When I first caught sight of Mount Shasta over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since." -- John Muir, 1874
Mount Shasta: they say it's a grid point where ley lines intersect, it's the home of an underground city, the spiritual Masters live inside it. The Rosicrucians thought it was the home of the Lemurians. I don't know what lives inside it, but it's glorious & occasionally covered in butterflies. The mountain speaks for itself, so I'll talk about Shasta City, which lies 10 miles to the southwest of it on I-5. Granted, the town has that new-age-spiritual-materialism aura of Sedona (though not as bad)-- but if it puts an overly sweet taste in your mouth, just get out of town and go up the mountain.
Coffee: There's Has Beans (1011 S. Mt. Shasta) on the south side of town, and the Internet cafe on N. Mt. Shasta blvd (wireless is free), both have good coffee. Also, the Stage Door has coffee-- see below.
Food: As far as restaurants go, the Stage Door Cabaret has glorious salads, make sure you try the local beer (apparently they have a Lemurian Golden Lager now). The Stage Door has entertainment in the evening, too. The natural food store here, Berryvale Grocery (305 S. Mt. Shasta) is a bit expensive, but their cafe is yummy. The laundromat across the street from Berryvale has a free box.
Nature: It's everywhere.
Other Things to Do: Climb the mountain, align your chakras, look for butterflies. The dojo here-- Aikido of Mt. Shasta-- is totally wonderful. Take a dance class at the community studio, the Flying Lotus.
Nearby: Dunsmuir is a neat railroad town just south of here; they have the hobo gathering there every summer I think. Take the short hike to the waterfall, and walk along the Sacramento river in the city park. Weed is just to the north and their beer is good. To the east is the Lassen area, good wilderness hiking; West of course is the redwoods and the Sea... you can't go wrong in any direction, really.
Shasta Links:
Shasta Webcam bringing you updated views of the mountain, for serious Shasta addicts.
field notes: Shasta City / 14 August 2005
so tomorrow i fly again
Mt. Shasta is the archetypal Mountain, the great mountain, the lonely mountain all snowy & striking against the sunset; I tried to take a picture but could not. It commands your attention; you cannot look away. And the town there is such a vortex town; like other vortex towns I have been to, I spent many hours walking the streets, sitting on benches, feeling like something Important would happen & feeling agitated if I tried to leave. while there, i had a kabbalah lecture from a whitehaired man named Jinn and drank many a Shastafarian Porter from the Weed Brewery up the road, but nothing Important really happened, just a lot of people wearing pink fluttering about the streets.
thinking always of the time in the future, where i will tell children about the days when one could fly all about the globe, incredulous that i ever found such a thing to be drugery.
in commemoration of this i will show these pictures i took while in the forest near Dunsmuir & the carcasses i found there...
