I'm going up there in two weeks and I wanted to know where I could get the best photos of the mountain without straying too far away from I-5 or going too far north. I hear that Weed is a great place to take photos?
Caltrans does provide a viewpoint on US 97 just north of Weed for Mount Shasta, but personally I think that is too far north for good photos--ideally you should shoot with the sun at your back, which isn't really possible when looking south at that latitude. It is pretty easy to get a good picture from several I-5 exits immediately west of the mountain, if you arrive in the mid-afternoon. Case in point:
http://winklers-roads.fotopic.net/p5482729.html (http://winklers-roads.fotopic.net/p5482729.html)
But if you take U.S. 97 late in the day, you can get decent lighting on Mt. Shasta.
http://www.westcoastroads.com/california/us-097_ca.html (http://www.westcoastroads.com/california/us-097_ca.html)
Was that taken in the winter? (The snow cover suggests it was.) If so, then the flat light must have helped.
It was taken April 1, 2005, just south of a storm system that began drenching northwest that morning.
Exactly 4 years ago.