I was repacking before the train arrived and was frazzled because I had made a few mistakes timing my departure. However, my feelings improved as I put my bags away though. I took my books to the café car to have a snack and read my book until midnight.
Sometime before arriving at Chico Station, I settled in for a nap. I woke up at three in the morning, right before arriving in Redding. Then, as we entered the mountains, I willed myself to dress for the cold and eventually headed downstairs. I set up in the “lounge“ area – basically a powder room with a double vanity – I was disappointed that it had no bench, but I managed.
When I was ready, I stood with the conductor near the train’s exit watching light glinting off the the snow covered forest. We passed my remaining twenty minutes on the train with light conversation as I drank a can of coffee. I was the only one to get off the train in Dunsmuir. The town was quiet and inactive at 5:10 in the morning. I dug through my bag across from the town’s only motel for a phone charger before hitching a ride to the town of Mount Shasta.
The guy who picked me up told me that he shuttles the UP crew around the region for a living and that he had just completed a drop off. However, he noted that he also occasionally works for the local taxi service in the neighborhoods. So, as we sped up the interstate above the Sacramento Canyon, I decided to give him money when he dropped me off in town since I had basically just hailed an independent cab. I felt the need to acknowledge that he had just picked me up in the middle of the night from the middle of nowhere…
I went to Starbucks and I sat there until seven drinking coffee. I was really bummed out when I discovered that the bus to McLeod had just passed me. I had consulted the bus timetables weeks before and had concluded that the case for taking the bus from Dunsmuir to the ski resort was actually fraught and had given up on the idea. However, there was one segment that matched my schedule, and I had not really considered the possibility that I would be able to use it.
I collected my things and I went to the hotel that I had booked. I knew that they would not be open yet. So, I just looked through the window and I checked out the coffee shop
I walked across the street to Shasta Boulevard to hitch another ride. I had a sign that said Ski Shasta. Some guy picked me up. He told me that he worked at a small ski resort in Oregon and would snowboard at other resorts in his free time. He told me that he had to visited Shasta with a bunch of his friends. He had a big van filled with his life in it… Basically he was living out of his van. It was a nice van though.
When I got to the resort, I rented skis and got ready in the locker room. Everything fit in the locker. I took Douglas Lift. It had no safety bar and the seat was narrow, and that was disconcerting. I got to see the weird statue at the top – The Luminarians. I descended to Coyote Lift. Riding that was easier – it was less narrow. Then I tried to descend to Gray Butte but it didn’t work. I had to walk the cat track and it sucked.
Gray Butte, which is technically the backside of the resort, really made me giddy though because it was so fun. I rested a bit at the bottom and then I did three or four runs there. Then I experimented with a route I had seen on the previous run. I descended from the top of Gray Butte lift on the far right side of the runs until I found the flagging which marked the route..
As I descended along a path, I noted that it wasn’t really good for snowboards, but it was OK for me because it was pretty straightforward and clearly marked. While riding through the first time, I found a sign that said “backcountry cabin.” From there, I noted that the other direction would’ve taken me back to the Gray Butte Lift.
I followed the higher run which proved fruitful. The lower runs all converged on the cat track at the bottom. I noted that it probably would’ve been better to go that way since they both go over to the front side.
I descended to the Lodge for fries and a Dr Pepper before taking the Marmot Lift on the kiddy slopes, which also didn’t have a safety bar and gave me nightmares. The kid left was terrifying for me! I ascended Coyote again and this time road closer to the cornice on the backside, and though I made the left without hiking, it was not very effective either. I determined that I actually needed to go around the chorus and descent towards the backcountry cabin (although it’s not possible to get to the cabin on this route). I ascended twice more sedate this time.
An old college classmate sent me pictures of his trip as he was skiing in Park City. The pictures were honestly amazing. However, I sent him pictures that were pretty great too. Eventually though, the snow was really heavy and I wasn’t loving it so I took the cat track to Coyote. I noted that the backside of Coyote is the only real way to get to Gray Butte. I was really tired when I got to the lodge. I had a beer and a Jager shot and then dumped my equipment and walked in my socks to the locker room where I packed to leave by 3:45.
I got one ride to the town of Mount Shasta. The person who picked me up turned out to be an old coworker, who was stunned to find me hitchhiking. I got to meet his children. The last time I had seen the younger one he had been in a stroller, so it was pretty eye-opening. He and I had worked together at City College and had met up at Car Free Happy Hour and Geobeers a whole bunch of times. We lived in the same neighborhood.
They were headed to pick up his wife in Dunsmuir. I was able to convince him to drop me off at my hotel, which has 12 rooms and no staff. When I got to my room, it had only just become available. All the locks are keypads. The room was huge.
I was really lazy for a while but later I walked Mount Shasta Boulevard to a Mexican restaurant, which turned out to be closed. Some guy on the way told me that the south end of Mount Shasta Boulevard is dead. I honestly should’ve borrowed the guy’s bike since I ended up walking back to the center of town where I found a Mexican restaurant.
I noted that Mount Shasta Boulevard has a bunch of shops and restaurants and that I really wanted to explore the rest of the town. Unfortunately, I had not slept in at least 20 hours and was dead tired. So, I told myself that I could look around the next day and I walked back to the hotel room and quit at about 830.
I was able to get comfortable despite the aches from my ski adventure. I got up at 850 and a short while later went to the coffee shop inside of the hotel. There was a lady who was bothering everyone. The staff there wouldn’t acknowledge that I had ordered everything for here and they gave me all this paper bags and stuff. The baked goods were OK though.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.
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