Mount Shasta and Crater Lake are part of the Cascades, a volcanic region that runs through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. I was thrilled when someone pointed out the hazy outline of Mount Shasta on the horizon over a hundred miles away in northern California. This is where my backpack and I travelled to last year (top photo). So I was fascinated to learn that both Shasta and Crater Lake feature in the stories of the Klamath tribes.
 Crater Lake was formed by the eruption and subsequent collapse of the caldera of Mount Mazama around 7,700 years ago. Astoundingly this event is still referred to in the oral history of Native Americans in the area. In this mythology Llao is the Spirit of the Below-World and Skell is the Spirit of the Above-World.
 Llao broke through the earth at Mazama and rained down fire on the local people. Skell took pity on them and descended from the sky where he stood astride Mount Shasta. The two spirits fought a pitched battle hurling molten rocks at one another until Llao was driven back underground.
 Perhaps then this tale remembers not one but two volcanic eruptions?