While in the northern Sacramento Valley a week ago, I drove up Highway 36 to Lassen Park, unable to resist the draw of one my favorite places.  The sign beside the road down in Red Bluff informed me that the road through the Park is closed for winter, but there is not much winter at all in the Park right now.  Too much brown dirt, not nearly enough of the white stuff.  There was even a noisy cascade of melting snow pouring over the rocks above the road – in March – confirming just how out of whack the natural course of things has become.

Lassen Peak, elevation 10,457 feet

Diamond Peak, elevation 7,968 feet

Brokeoff Mountain, elevation 9,235 feet

Cascading snow melt in early March