2003.08.21 - Gotta love Lockheed! I was sent to California on a business trip for the week of August 18th, and since the airfare was the same for me to fly back on Friday or Sunday, my boss said that it would be fine for me to take a few days for myself at the end of the trip. My first thought was, "What mountain can I go climb!?!" After doing a bit of research on the area, I narrowed it down to two candidates: Half Dome at Yosemite or Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park. I spoke with some friends, and was convinced that Yosemite would be far too crowded to find the true wilderness experience for which I was searching. As a result, Lassen would become my destination of choice!

I arrived back in San Francisco at around 8 PM on Thursday, 21 August. The last part of my business trip, which took place in Anaheim, ended a bit earlier than expected, so I was able to catch an earlier standby flight out of LAX. At this point, I was able to move some of my trip plans forward; instead of sleeping somewhere near the Bay Area, I would head North and stay as close to the National Park as possible.

After several hours of driving, I grew too tired to drive all the way into Lassen Volcanic National Park. A small motel in Red Bluff provided me with an inexpensive yet comfortable bed for the night, which turned out to be a great investment at $24.95. I drug my tired body into the room around 1 AM on the 22nd and simply collapsed onto the bed. Although I had been staying in some very nice hotels during the business portion of my trip, this night actually provided me with a far better rest than any of the others. The next morning would mark the true beginning to my time near the volcano.

2003.08.22 - I awoke at 07:00, an amazingly late hour for a true alpine start into the day. Since my plan was only to tour the areas of the park below 8,500', though, I wasn't really losing any time. Before leaving Red Bluff, I needed to stop for fuel (car and stove) and food, so I found the cheapest gas station in the area and filled up my tank for the "inexpensive" price of $2.13/gallon (on the lowest octane rating). Inside the convenience store, I got some snacks and was advised that there was a camp store in the park that should have stove fuel. Happy to find out that I didn't need to make another stop, I was off toward the park at about 08:00.

The Southwest entrance station to Lassen Volcanic National Park is little more than 45 minutes away from Red Bluff. The first part of the drive, beginning along the eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley, was reminiscent of US 64 in Northeastern New Mexico; large, dark lava rocks were scattered all over the area. The road continuously gained and gave back elevation across the hills, until the 3000-foot level, where a more or less steady rate of ascent began. Not far down the road was the turnoff toward the park's entrance station. I arrived and paid my $10.00 entrance fee, and was soon off to experience Lassen National Park.

The weather wasn't cooperating with my plans for the day. My primary goal was a 2.2 km trail leading down to one of the more prevalent geothermal areas in the park, Bumpass Hell. The clouds hung low and even touched several or the trail's higher crests. Temperatures were around 40°F, however, the on-and-off rain made it a cold, dreary day. Not knowing when I would be in this area again, I didn't have the luxury of waiting for more favorable conditions. There were very few others on the trail when I began the brief hike, and luckily, the clouds would part long enough for me to appreciate the wonders of Bumpass Hell.

Kendall Bumpass was one of the first white men to happen upon this area. It now bears his name not for his discovery of the feature, but because his foot broke through a thin layer of rock and dirt which concealed super-heated just below the surface. His leg was so badly burned that it required amputation upon Bumpass' return to civilization. In modern times, the Parks Service has built wooden walkways to prevent current guests from endurding the same fate as Bumpass Hell's namesake. Boiling lakes, mudpots, & fumaroles more extensive than those at the Sulfur Works are all found here, however the brief hike deters many of the park's visitors, who tend to prefer the Sulfur Works' more convenient location along the highway.

After having a brief weather-window where I could take down my hood and see all of the sights in the area, the rain quickly moved back in. I hiked uphill back to the parking lot where my rental car was waiting. The whole tour only took 1.5 hours including the time I spent looking around. Getting on the road again, I headed East toward the road's crest near the Lassen Peak trailhead.

The eastern side of the mountain was significantly drier; the clouds were still present, but the rain had finally abated. Taking advantage of the more favorable conditions, I stopped throughout the day to take several pictures of various sites within the Park. Since the rain didn't let me get any photos of the activity at Bumpass Hell, the more frequented Sulfur Works would have to suffice.

After a full-day of hikes, photos & scrambling (acclimatization near the Lassen trailhead), I drove to the trailhead and parked my car for the night. My sleeping bag provided the perfect temperature for car camping, and even though the mercury dove outside, I was warm and toasty all night long.

2003.08.23 - After a realtively good sleep at 8,460 ft, I woke up at about 05:00 to a brilliantly blue sky; the previous day's clouds had given way to one of the most beautiful scenes that I had ever seen. Rather than getting up and hitting the trail, as I had initially intended, I instead pulled a jacket over my head to get just a bit more sleep. Another hour passed before I finally decided to drag my lazy rear-end out of bed and get ready for the climb. I fine-tuned my pack with the equipment that I would take up to the summit, and I also ate a quick, cold breakfast since I had wasted so much time sleeping. Just as I was about the hit the trail, another climber named Gene from Klamath Falls, OR came over and we started talking. I found out that he was going to be climbing with a friend, Sam Wong, whom he had met on Mt. Shasta a few weeks prior. Whereas my intent for the trip was to climb the highest point in Shasta County, Gene's ultimate goal is to climb all of America's Cascade volcanoes (possibly Meager Mountain and Mt. Garibaldi in British Columbia as well). After a short but pleasant discussion, we both wished each other good luck as I began walking up the trail.

The Lassen Peak trail is truly a super-highway when it comes to most backcountry hikes. A wide track switchbacks consistently upward, though it never becomes overly steep. I was in no hurry to jog up the mountain since I wanted to test out the video camera that I had recently purchased. The previous day, I decided to make a rather cheesy documentary about Lassen Volcanic National Park for my family and friends back home. It was only after getting back to Texas and watching the video myself that I realized how goofy the whole thing turned out! With my frequent video stops, Gene caught up to me after about 1 mile. He introduced Sam, a designer at Intel, and the three of us decided to stick more-or-less together for the remainder of the hike.

As we marched higher and higher, Gene began to pull away from us. It turned out that Sam had the same model video camera that I did, and we both had similar intentions to document our hike. Passing several information plaques, we eventually made it to some magma outcrops just below the crater rim. As soon as we crested the final rise, a breath-taking view of Mt. Shasta greeted us in the morning light. For Gene and Sam, it gave a reminder of their accomplishment from 3 weeks earlier; for me, it provided a new mountaineering challenge to be tackled.

Sam and I stopped briefly for some more pictures as Gene continued on the trail to the only required snow-crossing of the day. The path had worn through the top meter-or-so of the snowfield, though even at full height there was very little exposure to contend with. As I was crossing, I noticed that the snow ran down beside the ridge we had just ascended for at least 500 ft, which would make for a great snowclimb for most of the summer season. Sam and I both chose to take the Class 3 route variation which goes just South (R) of the ridge-proper that leads to the summit. There were only 2 moves that could be rated Class 3, though the scrambling finish did let us pop out almost directly onto the summit to the surprise of the other hikers.

At the top, the wind had really picked up, making it difficult to stay upright. Gene, Sam and I exchanged summit photos and e-mail addresses; I now have climbing companions to call whenever I venture into the Pacific Northwest! After about 30 minutes of enjoying the view, I bid them a fond farewell and began my descent.

Before leaving on this trip, I purchased a new pair of trail-runner / hiker hybrid Merrells' that would be broken-in during my hikes in and around Lassen. Previous experience told me that the descent from the summit would be terrible since I hadn't really had enough time to break the shoes in. In reality, however, they performed like a dream! I actually jogged most of the way down and didn't develop a single hot-spot. The shoes also prevented my toes from banging into the tip of the shoe like usually happens on a descent. I'm not one for unsolicited product plugging, but these shoes worked great!

I arrived back at the car just a few minutes after 11:00 PDT, making for slightly over 3 hours round-trip. Jumping in for the drive back to the San Francisco airport, I resolved to come back to Lassen Volcanic National Park at some point in the future. This had been a great trip!