Panther Meadows, Horse Camp, the Causeway of the Gods and the Holy Spring

...and other places Sequoia and I visited on Mt. Shasta.  It sounds like the name of a Fiona Apple record, doesn't it?

Panther Meadows where we camped:

Panther Creek just below the campground

 The holy spring. I can't describe the sense of purity, the feeling of sanctity.

Someone carefully placed a large flat rock under the spring, just big enough for one person to stand on comfortably. Big enough for a penitent pilgrim to breathe in the sacred spirit and do a few yoga poses.

 Or you can stick your head under the trickle and cool off.

 Thunderheads at sunset, day 1.

 Smoke on the horizon.

Day 2: We hiked from Bunny Flat at about 7,300 feet to Horse Camp at 8,000.

 Beyond Horse Camp, the Causeway of the Gods.  A single man used a rock bar to maneuver these boulders into place. The smallest of them had to be 60 lbs, the largest - who knows. The path climbs the mountain for a little more than a half mile, but when you're jumping from boulder to boulder, it feels longer.  It looked like something Bilbo might have walked on as he traveled to the Misty Mountains.

This is as far up as we got. Next time, higher.

 Sunset day 2, at the old ski bowl.

 Moonrise.