Day 99: Lassen Volcanic National Park

Start point

Boundary Spring, mile 1347.4

End point

Tent sites at Hat Creek, mile 1370.8

Miles hiked

24, including a 0.6 mile side quest

Wilderness area

Lassen National Park

Lassen National Forest

Lassen Volcanic Wilderness

People I met

Tater

Gator

Johnny Walker and Pink Lemonade

The day on trail

I love a day with a worthwhile side quest and big mileage.

Waking up in one of the few non burnt areas and walking, almost immediately, into a burn area, is really striking. It’s just astounding how many burned trees there are. It’s just field after field, acre after acre, and mountainside after mountainside of charred tree remains. Some of the areas have shrubby, scrub undergrowth coming back, others are just dust. If you get to close to a tree’s corpse and accidentally brush against it, you’ll be marked with a line of soot.

A lot of these areas have a really distinct sound. There’s a wind, and the trees freak and groan in it, giving it an eerie feeling that would be appropriate for Halloween or a horror thriller. Sometimes they’re silent. Sometimes it’s one tree groaning under the strain of its dead weight. Occasionally it’s a chorus of trees in a forest just sighing and waiting for one or more to crash down.

We think of these burn areas, results of climate change and neglect of the forest, as affecting only trees, animals, and nearby towns. But we don’t think of the mark they leave on the trails.

It felt good to be hiking again, even in a burn area. It wasn’t my first burn area, of course. If you do any backpacking on the west coast, you’ll likely end up in a burn zone at some point. I’ve been in them in western and central Washington, Arizona, and I think Southern California.

Pretty quickly, I came across a spot I was looking forward to: Terminal Geyser. It looks more like a steam vent, but when you get close you can see water boiling and gurgling over the rim.

This lush oasis-looking area was deadly. It was green and vibrant, but the water would cook you alive. It’s somehow appropriate it was surrounded by burn areas.

These burn areas opened up to Boiling Lake. Which you don’t want to fall into.

I soon crossed a bridge with no handholds and came to a meadow with a boardwalk across it to protect the fragile soil. You can find similar ones in Yosemite and in many National Parks with fragile ecosystems.

There was an area that was closed to overnight use.

I had to cross a log over a river. I’m getting better at these!

It was thrilling. And I made it.

There was another board walked meadow.

I met a NPS ranger and he told me there was a snowy section filled with blowdowns ahead. It ended up being no big deal at all. None of the snow sections hid the trail on the other side, and the blowdowns were super manageable. It was fun just bopping past those obstacles and feeling good.

I saw a snake that I tried to get a photo of, but it was too fast. It was a deep, deep green with a reddish stripe down either side.

I did come across a deer mother with two foals.

Right after that I met a Scottish couple, Johnny Walker and Pink Lemonade. They were with their friends Tater and Gator. Tater just got back on trail after nursing an injury, so they were taking it slow. At the time, they were finishing lunch. I passed them and found a ranger cabin.

Another burn area continued to a view of Mt. Lassen.

I found this flower. I really liked it’s color and shape. The weather had been starting to turn, so it was getting difficult to photograph things.

Despite the sprinkles and occasional gentle rain torrents, I was feeling really happy to be outside.

I found a lizard’s tail. This means the critter probably shed it to evade a predator. There are lots of lizards out here with tail stubs and little ones growing back in. It’s really interesting to see so many and I wonder what animal is picking them off.