Near Dillon, Colorado, '76
Given the nasty heat this week (and next), maybe I thought these would cool me off. No such luck, but they're refreshing in their own way.
Mt Shasta from the top of Mt. Lassen, '86.
At 10,462 feet, Mt. Lassen, or Lassen Peak, Shasta County Ca, is the largest plug dome volcano in the world.
Starting in 1914 and ending in 1921 Lassen came alive with a series of phreatic eruptions (steam explosions), dacite lava flows, and lahars (volcanic mud flows). There were 200-400 volcanic eruptions during this period of activity but nobody was reported killed or seriously injured.
On May 15, 1915 a dacite flow oozed 1000 feet down the western side of Lassen before it hardened. Observers 20 miles away said it looked like the peak was boiling over for two hours. Heat from the lava melted much of the snowpack on the mountain and destroyed the deep crater lake atop the peak, which created a lahar that filled Lost Creek and then Hat Creek.
Then at 4:30 PM on May 22, 1915 a violent explosion (referred to as "the Great Explosion") ejected a very large mushroom-shaped cloud of ash thousands of feet skyward. A pyroclastic flow shattered and burned trees on the northwest slope and reactivated the lahar there. Together these events created the Devastated Area which is still sparsely populated by trees due to the low nutrient and high porosity of the soil there.
In April, May and June 1917 a series of dramatic steam and ash explosions emanated from the summit area and blasted out a fourth summit crater.
Mt. Lassen was created on the flank of the now destroyed Mt. Tehama, a stratavolcano at least one thousand feet higher than the current peak. There is a steep but smooth trail, rising about 2200' in less than three miles, to the top. In the lower forty-eight, only Mt. Whitney, Mt. Shasta and Mt. Rainier offer comparable views. It is the focus of a lovely park, including hot springs and fumaroles much like those in Yellowstone.
Mt. Shasta is an example of a stratavolcano, or composite volcano. Characterized by a steep, conical shape, they are composed of hardened lava and ash, rather than the softer, less viscous material of Lassen.
Well-known volcanoes of this type include Mount Fuji, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, Mt. Vesuvius and Mount Tambora, on Sambawa Island, Indonesia. These volcanoes are noted for some of the most violent volcanic events in history. Less well documented than the 1883 eruption of Krakatau, the 1815 Tambora explosion was almost certainly enormously larger, but there was no telegraph to instantly inform the world and co-ordinate news and assistance.
To complete the theme, when I sat down for a break I came across this:
Cassie and Jamie Johnson of USA Curling in the 2005 World Championships in Paisley, Scotland.
The sisters, like the rest of the team are from Minnesota and I couldn't tell them apart, even though they are not twins. They lost a fairly close finals to Sweden.
Curling is said to have begun in 16th century Scotland, although two paintings by
Pieter Brueghel the Elder c. 1560, show Dutch peasants curling. Perhaps because I have played some Bocce and a great deal of billiards, which are similar in their own ways, I am always fascinated by curling. It's just that games played in polar-rated clothing lacks calories.
And who knows, it was cooler than the predicted 106º - 108º today.
That was nuts!
This fast-growing, deciduous tree was introduced into the U.S. in 1745 as an ornamental. It is relatively short-lived, although hardy to -30º and in California, grows at least 25% to 40% taller than its generally accepted height of 25' - 30'. Here, there are some quite large specimens and in bloom, at some distance, they look a bit like a huge pink toilet brush. The species was named for the Italian scholar Albizi, who introduced the plant to Europe in the early 18th century.
