Night of the Living Deer

Greetings!

I'm sitting here on my lunch break, writing a brief update on the weekend's backpacking trip, in a feeble attempt to be timely.

We never reached Tower Peak. In fact, we never saw it again after the first few miles in Leavitt Meadow. As Kenneth so profoundly put it near the beginning of the trek, "that looks far away".

Out intended, and unreached, destination. Yes, it does look far away.

But we did have a blast! We made it most of the way to our planned destination, sleeping in Piute Meadows instead of at Tower Lake, but the hike took it's toll on Amber and I, seeing as how we had done little hiking lately to get into proper condition. Still we charged hard, and did about 11 miles each day, "uphill both ways", with heavy packs.

Kenneth adjusting his pack in Piute Meadows

The need to be functional today for work precluded the sanity of any summit attempt we might have made. In addition, we experience an event we can only describe as "Night of the Living Deer" that motivated us to attempt to move camp or hike out on Sunday. Regardless, we had a lot of fun and Upper Piute Meadows was spectacular, and we can't wait to plan another backpacking trip (and maybe one a bit more leisurely).

A full trip report should be coming soon...

Related Posts:

• The Tower Calls...
  

Photo Gallery:

Piute Meadows Backpacking

And now for something completely different:

• Night of the Living Deer, Pt II
  

The Tower Calls...

As I write this, we are already on our way to the Sierra for a long-anticipated backpacking, peakbagging adventure. Kenneth, Amber, and I are off to attempt Tower Peak in the Hoover Wilderness, some 15 miles distance from the Leavitt Meadows trailhead.

Tower Peak in the far distance, this is taken from near where we will start

It was the sight of Tower Peak that 'piqued' my interest in climbing and mountaineering, though I didn't know it at the time. Researching the peak exposed me to many resources I now find invaluable. So, I have high hopes for this venture to be a sort of culmination of the other adventures we've had in the meantime, summit or not.

But there is one bit I'm a little apprehensive over. Backpacking.

Amber sporting a pack in the Los Padres

Though I camped a lot growing up, I never did any backpacking. Not until two springs ago when Amber and I went on a trek through the Los Padres near Santa Barbara. What a nightmare that turned out to be! Overgrown trails, bushwacking through steep canyons of Poison Oak (to which I am highly allergic), and a painful last two miles night-hiking out so as to be able to shower off the allergens.

Really the poison oak was only a couple mile-ish sections, with really beautiful trail the rest of the way. But it was enough to create psychological misery. And on top of all that, the camera broke after we passed the point we had dayhiked before!

Last year's backpacking camp, before the madness

Nope, we were beaten. And sick of hiking for a while after that. In fact, that is how we discovered rock climbing! But in the end we're very excited about this trip, even if we need to drag our asses a ways in there to get up this thing.

So wish us luck! And we'll report back!

Summer already?!

Trip Report - Hiking Mt. Hoffmann
Toulumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, CA
June 27, 2009

Well, the solstice has passed, and Summer is now in full swing. Amber and I decided it was time to get away for the weekend, and get up into the mountains (not that there isn't plenty of this planned for the upcoming weeks).

Mt. Conness from above May Lake, this is the kind of thing that gets us going!

Over the first half of this year, we've been slowly adapting our newer adventuremobile, the PT Cruiser, to meet our needs. One thing we've toyed with is a solution for sleeping in the back. Needless to say, we've tinkered and tested and now got it down. You can expect a more detailed post on this in the future.

Friday night, Amber and I threw a ton of gear, and some meager rations into the car and yanked the back seats out. Did I mention a ton of gear? Seemed so, since we had no idea what we would do up there, but without the seats or passengers it was quite manageable.

Our luxurious accommodations (I'm not doing a good job of pretending to sleep)

So we drove late into the night, up and over the pass, and found a secluded place to pull off and crash in the car. The next morning we awoke to grand mountains along the Tioga road, still peppered with snowfields. We were meeting Dirk and his climbing partner at the Toulumne campground office bright and early, so I cooked up some oatmeal while Amber reserved a campsite, and just short of coin flips, decided to try a hike.

We'd been in Toulumne just a few weeks before, but nothing was open yet and this time it bustled with activity! We stashed our food safely at the May Lakes trailhead and headed up towards Mt. Hoffmann. Hoffmann is considered pretty easy for a Sierra peak, but it turned out to be just the adventure we bargained for.

May Lake, where the use trail leaves the official park trails


Amber checks out the Clark Range, at an early rest break

It's not a particularly long hike, nor is the gain excessive (~2000ft), but it had a little of everything. First we had to DEET-up to drive away the voracious mosquito squadrons (they do not travel alone). We wound around the south side of the lake and found the first of many small snowfields to cross. Thankfully the snow was soft, and easy to cross (with steps in many places).

Amber hiking up one of the more significant snowfields

On one of the snowfields we met a hiker, now named "Polly Prissy-Pants", who had turned back due to "horrifying clouds of mosquito" in the talus above. Though we did meet with some tiring switchbacks, the mosquitoes never worsened, so perhaps he had no DEET or just should have waited for things to warm up a bit.

At times we've had trouble hiking above 9000ft, but sleeping up near the pass the night before really helped. We were able to hike pretty consistently without really "feeling" the elevation. Though there were a good amount of switchbacks and snowfields, there were also nice flats where you could get a bit of a break. One reason to recommend this hike is that, not too far in, you get GREAT VIEWS of parts of Toulumne and Yosemite Valley, and as you wind your way up, they just get better. Eventually revealing every major range in the park! (and some might be surprised that Half Dome looks a bit puny from above)

The false summits of Hoffmann

We though we were heading for the large formations overhead, but this was not the true summit. At one point you round a switchback onto the large summit plateau and the true summit (with antenna) becomes apparent. Though it was a bit further away, we made it to the base quite quickly. There should be a class-2 scramble to the top from there, but almost everyone ended up using their hands enough to make it class-3. With careful route-finding you could probably keep it class-2. Though we were alone almost the entire time we were on the trail, we shared the summit with several other parties.

The west side of the formidable Sawtooth Ridge, seen through a gap in the summit plateau

Hikers crossing the summit plateau, Lyell and friends in the background

For such a tame hike, Hoffman treats you to precipitous drops on the other sides of the summit. It sits at near the center of the park geographically, and also treats you to amazing views. You can see Half Dome and Clouds rest, the Cathedral Range, Mt. Dana on the Sierra Crest, the domes of Toulumne Meadows, the Lyell group, the Clark Range, the Sawtooth Ridge and Tower Peak. A view like that inspires you to keep working to try more peaks.

Amber and I savor our success on the summit!

While our marmot friend scurries away from the excitement...

Tower Peak I have seen on several occasions, and it is striking in being a bit of a loaner. We hope to hike it this fall, on a backpacking trip. Another that is particularly striking is Mt. Clark. Remote and more difficult, it is extremely striking, and near the top of my list. Yosemite is just a small portion of the Sierra. There is more variety and adventure waiting for the hiker or climber than could be fully appreciated in a lifetime. Just another reason I like to play like it's my big back yard.

Tower peak from Mt. Hoffmann's summit


Savoring a day well spent, above Mono Lake

But enough pontificating, hungry and starting to lose steam on the summit, we celebrated briefly then promptly headed back down. It was a long return, and I'd guess the whole trip was around 7 miles. The last mile was especially long. Though it wasn't a super tough hike, we have been doing lots of other activities so weren't particularly warmed up for it. In the end it was just the right length, not leaving us particularly sore. We drove down to Mono Lake to have a few beers before meeting people at Whoa Nellie Deli for dinner. Sunday we'd do a few rock climbs, bask in the beautiful Toulumne weather, and head home.

Photo Gallery:

Mt. Hoffmann / T.M.

SHASTA!

Trip Report - Snow camping at Shasta and Transceiver clinic
Mount Shasta
February 13 - 15, 2009

We finally did it. We went snow-camping. It turns out snow camping is a lot colder than you think, but Shasta was beautiful. We took the long drive up to Shasta and stayed in a very nice hotel on the first night, called the Cold Creek Inn. Eric, Kenneth and I decided to take a transceiver workshop up at the mountain. I didn't realize how close we were going to be the mountain but Shasta stood proud above us the entire time we were there.

Shasta in all it's glory!

The Cold Creek Inn was quaint. We stayed in a suite that had two rooms and everyone was comfortable. We got there really late at night, so the hotel having late check-in was very helpful. The hotel provided an interesting breakfast of oatmeal, Nutri-grain bars, fruit cups, boxed juice, and tea. I'm pretty sure we still have a V8 in the fridge from the hotel as well. After our morning "meal" we headed to a mountain gear shop named The Fifth Season, and met our workshop leader, conveniently also named Eric. After meeting at the store, the group there for the workshop drove caravan style up to Bunny Flat.

Walking on Bunny Flat

Bunny Flat sits at the foot of Shasta. Shasta appears intimidating at first, but it's beautiful features are the real dominating factor. The workshop was a lot of fun. We had to use our transceivers to find other buried transceivers in the snow. They were buried a few hundred feet apart, but not to deep. It seemed like a really easy task, but I can only imagine how nerve racking using a transceiver could be if there was an actual life attached to the other end of one. It's an important thing to learn if one wants to travel in back country snow.

Kenneth searching for a transceiver.

After the workshop was over, we enjoyed some tuna sandwiches and Bugles by the car. Over lunch we decided it would be a good idea to get camp set up before the sun started to go down. We piled all of our gear into backpacks and onto the sled, and went to go find a spot to camp. At first, Kenneth was going to snowshoe, and Eric and I were going to ski. Eric had some trouble going up hill on his Telemark skis, so we ended up going back and getting our snowshoes also.

Our wonderful sled.

We found a spot not too far from the car, and started to set up camp. Snow camping is hard. Usually it takes us about 5 minutes to set up a tent, but I'm pretty sure this tent took almost two hours to set up. First you have to pat down the snow with your feet. You have to wear snowshoes though, or you will sink into the snow. Then you have to figure out the snow stakes.

The stakes we had weren't working so great at first, so we had to reassess the situation, and start over from scratch. After figuring out the stakes, we had to prop up our A-frame tent with a pole. That took forever because the pole kept sinking down into the snow. OK, so we have a tent up, now we need to build a trench in the snow floor of our tent. We went to a snow camping talk at REI, and Zoo (the guy giving the lecture) told us that you build a trench so that the cold air drops into it, while you sleep above it. I don't know if that worked or not, I couldn't tell the difference, but I know it took a long time to shovel out the snow.

Time to build a kitchen.

Great, we finally got camp set up just as the sun started to go down. We were looking forward to a beautiful moonlit night, and hoping to eat something soon. Next, we had to dig out a kitchen. Snow camping requires a lot more digging than regular camping does. It just kept getting colder while we were setting up the kitchen, and Eric and I were starting to feel the absence of our puffy jackets. Some how I managed to forget them, but we had enough layers to survive. I will never make that mistake again, though.

The sunset was marvelous.

Making dinner was interesting. You can never leave your mitts off for too long on a cold night near Shasta, so we had to do things quickly. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. It took forever to boil snow for water and most of the time we just sat there, cold, staring at each other, wishing for hot food. The good thing was that our food only took about five minutes to make once we had boiling water. We feasted on a ramen spaghetti recipe invented the night before, and hot chocolate.

After dinner, everyone pretty much just wanted to get into their warm sleeping bags and sleep. Eric managed to take some beautiful night shots of our surroundings, but that was about it for the night's activities. There was no campfire, no singing to a guitar, no drunken conversations, no s'mores. It was cold and boring. I think Kenneth might have had a sip of bourbon but that's about it. The night was beautiful though, it was a full moon and the snow glistened. It looked like a million diamonds were spread all around us in a meadow of white. The night was still too cold to enjoy for long. The temperature dropped to about 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were feeling it.

Eric's night shot.

It was a long night. A cold long night. I actually fell asleep, which still amazes me now. I slept with my head in my sleeping bag all night and with my booties on. When morning finally came, I was so relived. It was crazy to see all of the people coming down from the mountain that spent the night up there. We thought we were crazy for snow camping, but some people climbed half way up the mountain just to camp! Everyone that stopped by our camp said it was very windy. I'm glad wind didn't play a factor in our experience.

Morning at Shasta was also beautiful, and cold. We took a second to enjoy the wildlife visiting our site, but then immediately tore down camp and proceeded to find the nearest, warmest, yummiest breakfast place in town. We found a restaurant in town called Lalo's, and their breakfast was the best part of snow camping. Boiling water again for two hours to make oatmeal wasn't going to cut it for this crew. We needed hot tea, coffee, omelets, and bacon. It was crucial to our sanity levels.

Our little snow camping friend.

Shasta is a very magical place, but I would only snow camp there again if I was planning on climbing it. Snow camping just for the hell of it doesn't make sense. It's cold, uneventful, and well, COLD! I can't wait until we go car camping again. I'm going to cook a hot meal on my propane stove, have a nice warm fire, and enjoy some drunken banter with a dripping s'more in my hand. Nothing compares to it really. I would definitely go back to Shasta, hopefully to ski next time, or to snowshoe around. Although we will probably find ourselves at a nice hotel (or motel) that night, were it is nice and cozy.

It sure was a beautiful morning.

Photo Gallery:

Shasta Snowcamp

Holiday Recap Pt. I

Action Report - Success on Cathedral ...err Arlington Peak
Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara, CA
December 28, 2008

Michael, Amber, and myself atop Arlington Peak

After spending most of the holiday week either with family or prepping Amber's car to take over the role of Adventuremobile from the Golf *tear*, we needed some release. We had planned to go to Mt. Pinos for some winter action, but that plan fell through due to exhaustion. Sunday was our last day in the Santa Barbara area, and we needed some release before heading back to work.

Hang glider soaring over the Santa Ynez

We met up with Michael, and decided to tackle the Cathedral Peak trail, one of the most beautiful 'hikes' in Santa Barbara, and possibly the toughest. I say 'hikes' because there is a lot of scrambling and bouldering involved, and during an earlier attempt this year we turned back due to time. While the route is occasionally class 1, much of the time is spent on class 2-3 terrain; a maze of boulders and manzanita brush.

The "trail" is the ridge leading to the summit

The Cathedral Peak trail is one of the only trails in the Santa Barbara front country that feels like a real mountain experience. It's rarely exposed in any dangerous way, but once you climb up on the "Dragon's Back" the terrain drops off to the left and right. Essentially you pick your way right up the east ridge of the mountain. It's about 3000 ft. of elevation gain in 2 miles, most of that the latter half of the hike.

Arlington Peak is on the left and the "Dragon's Back" route is the rocky ridge leading up to it from right to left

Amber had a hard time getting warmed up. I think we were a bit drained and also had perhaps too-heavy a breakfast. We estimated the hike would take about 4 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 6. Mike was a powerhouse the whole time, he never has to slow down (except to wait for us). If you're looking for a hiking partner who can keep a blustery pace, get in contact with this guy.

View down to the trailhead (yes, there is a reason it looks straight down!)

As we got closer to the top, Amber got her energy back and was really trucking along. Soon we were on top of Arlington Peak, and although I have been to many vistas in the Santa Ynez, this one is worth the trouble. On top of that the storms earlier in the week and winter air made for one of the clearest days I have seen in Santa Barbara. We could see practically all of the Channel Islands, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Barbara and Ventura coasts. We also had a good vantage point to see the fire scars from both the Tea Fire and an earlier fire in Goelta.

View to the Channel Islands


Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands


View through the gap between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands


Land scarred by the Tea Fire

Though the sandstone tooth of Cathedral Peak was just across the way from here, the hike to Arlington is the bulk of the trail and very strenuous. We decided to call it a day there, have a snack, then head downhill to feast on Mexican food. Needless to say, all the scrambling and high-stepping (plus a few holiday pounds) left us all sore for days. Amber and I recovered just in time for the next holiday adventure...

Photo Album:

Cathedral Peak (Santa Barbara)

Day 6-7 Bear Trails

We were not able to post the last couple of days, because we were in the high country of Yosemite, and they don't have any internet access. On Wednesday night, we had another encounter with a bear! We could hear our campsite neighbors start banging pots and pans together, and yelling from all sides of the campground, so we knew we had a bear checking around for food.

After we went into our tent for the night, we heard rangers explain to the tent next to us that there was a "very large bear" in the area. Then we heard him say, "there he is!" and we realized that the bear was running full speed towards our tent! We heard him gallop by, but by the time we unzipped our tent, he was gone. The ranger said that the bear was about 400 pounds. WOW!

On Thursday we attempted to climb Mt. Dana, but we missed the trail by a long shot, and ended up following bear trails through the wilderness for about two hours. After realizing that we were nowhere near the trail, we gave up and spent the rest of the day at Tanaya Lake, soaking in the atmosphere. That night we enjoyed a fun campfire program at our campground, and learned all about bears, and hiking in the high sierras.

We finally found a ranger who explained where the actual trail for Mt. Dana started, so on Friday we finally were able to climb Mt. Dana. It was 3000 ft up to the top, and as one lady explained at the top, it was a puffer. When you climb up to 13,000 feet, the air is very thin, and it almost feels like you are drunk or something when you reach around 12,000 feet.

Once at the top, we signed the register, ate lunch, and enjoyed the view. It was amazing! We were the first people up there that day, so we got to watch all the other hikers come up the mountain after us. We were most likely the only people that day that had the peak to ourselves for about half an hour. It took us a while to get downhill though, because it's so steep. Mt. Dana was beautiful, and we got to see about a dozen Marmots!

We decided to put a cap on our trip and end it on Friday, so that we could beat the weekend Yosemite traffic. We had a great trip, with lots of excitement and adventure, and we can't wait to do it again sometime!

Day Three

After a close call with the oil fill cap lodged in the shift mechanism, and a fire near the Sonora Pass, we thought nothing else could go wrong yesterday, but the Twin Lakes area had the worst selection of campsites ever.

Our campground was plagued by demonic, intermittant wind gust which kept me up all night and made today harder thanit needed to be.

We were well short of summiting Matterhorn Peak. We got off trail a couple times and burned out all our scrambling energy before the real fun began. Regardless it as an epic, beautiful 8.5 hr. Hike!

A little beaten but not broken, we have decided we've had enough of Twin Lakes and are now headed to find some camping somewhere on the 120...

Desolation Exploration - Lyon's Lake

Trip Report - Desolation Area

Part I - Lyon's Lake

July 26 - 27, 2008

Climbing in the desolation wilderness never gets old! Sean, Lis, Eric and I all took a mini-break from the world, and headed up North to spend a day in the wilderness. We decided on Lyon's Lake as our destination, to enjoy the beauty of a mountain lake. The trail was a mere 10 miles round trip, and a lot of the terrain was rocky.

View of the creek from the trail

This was also Lis's first 10 mile hike, and along the way we had some fabulous sights to take in! The wild flowers were in full bloom, and we were surrounded by bouquets of purple, blue, red, orange, yellow, and pink flowers. We headed up the trail at 9 am, so the sunlight was perfect for taking pictures. The trail followed a creek for the first part of the hike, and it added beautifully to the already gorgeous setting.

Wild Flowers

At the fork for Lyon's lake, Eric and I split from the group. We were going to attempt a climb to Mt. Price, so we took off ahead of the others to gain distance. The trail rises steeply here, to Lyon's lake and above to Price. We were running out of time, but we decided to see how far we could get, so we scrambled up the slabs of granite towards Mt. Price, and enjoyed the view of the lake from above.

View from the granite slabs

Eric and I returned to Lyons Lake to meet up with the others, and to take a dip in the clear, cool water. We had enjoyed our lunch here earlier and now shared a bottle of wine.

Eric and I swimming

The hike down was easy and went smoothly. The entire group was exhausted from the long day of trekking, so we snagged a nearby campsite to call home for the night. Next stop, knapsack, for some serious climbing!

Eric and I on top of the slabbed granite

Photo Gallery:

Lyons Lake Hike

Related Posts:

• Desolation Exploration - Knapsack Crack

Who Needs Fireworks When You Have a Volcano!?

Trip Report - Lassen Volcanic National Park
July 3 - 6, 2008

Packing and Leaving

I got home from work around 6pm Wednesday, and picked up packing where Amber left off. Since we were carpooling, we needed to bust out our new roof bag to maximize space. The next two members of our party arrived at my apartment complex around 8pm, and K.C. and I immediately left to go buy groceries after dumping some of their gear into The People's Car.

The People's Car and The People's Truck, together once again

We let the two late-nighters sleep while we distributed all the gear and food between the peoples car and the peoples truck. K.C. volunteered to take the wheel in The People's Truck since Mike was in no shape to drive again. After a last-minute stop for ground coffee, batteries, bridge and park money, we were on the road by 8am.

Awwww.... How adorable!

Setting up Camp

Stopping at McDonald's for breakfast turned out to be a bad idea. Someone was smelling up my car non-stop from Red Bluff until we finally arrived at Summit Lake. We were all grateful, however, to be spared enough of the wildfire smoke to be tortured by such emissions.

Entering the park

After proceeding slowly through the park and taking in the sights, we arrived at Summit Lake around midday. We cruised the loop and settled on a killer spot in the 'tents only' loop. We could have reserved a space, but it was clear from the maps that the best sites were First-Come/First-Served. Later we were distraught to see a motor home parked in the next site, but the rangers promptly got rid of him the next day. Hard to imagine how you'd miss the big "TENTS ONLY" sign.

Home Sweet Home

Bumpass Hell

After getting our food put away and our tents set up, we all headed together to check out Bumpass Hell. It's an easy trail and was quite busy. At the end of its easy/moderate 1.5 miles, is a awe-inspiring hydrothermal area thought to be fed by the relic lava dome of the ancient, destroyed Mt. Tehama. The whole place is a nook in the mountains with several acres of boiling mud-pots, hissing fumaroles, and steam vents.

Bumpass Hell's 'Big Boiler'

Some people DO NOT follow the rules!

Now where had I smelled this odor before? Oh right! In the car the whole way up. Looks like someone is getting a new nickname! In all seriousness, the area is quite active. I didn't really smell anything as acrid as sulphuric acid, but the place must be venting hydrogen sulfide by the ton. It was overwhelming at times. Also, a significant portion of the boardwalk was destroyed in recent years when the 'big boiler' erupted and burned much of it away. Makes me wonder how the level of activity has changed.

Lauren and KC investigate thermal features from the safety of the boardwalk

After a long day of driving and mysterious smells, we all scarfed down as much channa masala as we could handle and hit the sack.

Crags Crater / Crags Lake

After a long, lazy morning, including a 4th of July "Freedom Toast" breakfast, four of us headed up to check out the northern slopes of the park, Chaos Crags, and Manzanita Lake. Amber and I had hoped to find a decent patch of snow, so we could get a little climbing practice in and also try out our new crampons. I thought I saw some as we were coming into view of Chaos Crags, but this would later turn out to be a bust. I was a bit surprised as there was a lot of snow still in other parts of the park.

The Crags Crater / Crags Lake trail was quite nice. I don't really know what to call it since I'm pretty sure it had a different name on the map than at the trailhead. It doesn't really matter anyways it goes to the same place. I'd all but given up hope of getting a better map later, since the Manzanita Lake store was a bit of a joke. Amber and I were really excited about the hike because the two that joined up aren't huge hikers, and we enjoy sharing the experiences and trying to help the outdoor bug bite. The other two had stuck out earlier in hopes of hiking to the Painted Dunes, but would later return short of their goal.

Heading up the Crags Trail

The trail winds past a creek and then up through the trees for a good ways. This was the first time I'd really gotten to use my altimeter and it really helped motivating the whole party, especially near the top. About a half-mile from the trail's end, you suddenly break into a succession meadow. It wasn't a true meadow I don't think, but a mix of a small manzanita-like plant that was growing like ground cover, and very sparse trees. My first instinct was possibly a former fire scar, as I've seen the manzanita fill in like that before, but there was no evidence and the manzanita was small and odd.

Edge of the funny meadow


Hanging out at the trail's terminus at the base of the crags


Huge, imposing scree slope of doom and CHAOS!!

At the top of the meadow you are spit out onto bare rock at the foot of Chaos Crags. The lake was empty, but the views were stunning and our friends were breathless, not from the hike but the beauty! Originally Lauren and K.C. were going to hike back down while we headed for a snow climb, but the snow climb would have to be postponed. I tried climb up on a ridge to get a better view and consider heading for a far patch of snow or attempting to scale the Crags, but fate gave me a boot full of rocks after a few steps. I had forgot my gaiters at camp and thus our ambitions for the day were lowered.

Snow Climb Recon

After another soul-crushing stop at the Manzanita Lake store, I convinced everyone to tag along for a stop at the Loomis Museum / Ranger Station. I was a little pissed to see the ranger station was closed, especially on a busy weekend. However, I found they had helpful rangers at the Museum and believe it or not TOPO MAPS!!!! As we poked around the museum I chatted up a ranger about snow climbing, and found we could go pretty much wherever we pleased! She said just stay on the snow as much as possible and don't go off-trail on Lassen itself.

Amber and I dropped the other hikers off and headed up and down the park road to pick the perfect spot. Although there was plenty of snow we didn't want to attract any attention snow-climbing just across from the main road. Instead we spotted several filled gullies and wide snow slopes on Reading Peak. Reading is a nice-sized (~8690 ft) dome just ESE of Lassen Peak. The snow was clinging best in the bowls of the NW face and there was two approaches, a 3 mile gentle climb or a short (3/4-1 mi) steep descent. I can imagine that if you came just after the park road was plowed, this would be a fun peak for an easier off-trail ski experience. Later while climbing Lassen this would be confirmed by conspicuous ski tracks.

Plentiful snow in the Bumpass area

We decided we'd get up well before sunrise, eat breakfast, and head off to catch the snow in prime condition. Everyone else thought we were crazy... "But you're on vacation!!" All the better reason to savor the day if you ask me. That night we chowed down on a 4th of July dinner of sausages, cole slaw, and baked beans. After dinner we had a campsite rarity, a game night! Yes, we played Apples to Apples and enjoyed copious adult beverages. In-camp entertainment has been a rarity lately, but Apples to Apples was just right. I guess people just don't play domino's anymore. After a s'more and a few more drinks, Amber and I settled in for the short night and a long day ahead.

Dawn Patrol

I set my altimeter's alarm for 4:30 am. As soon as it went off we started putting all the right clothes on. Luckily we packed our daybags the night before, and we're heading back before lunch. It's amazing how much light there is an hour before sunrise, the whole meadow near camp was in a magical state. Early morning in the mountains I think you become aware of little mysterious things like how the trees wake up. After cranking out water for tea and then boiling oatmeal, we were on our way up to the trailhead. I think only Candida was awoken by our early morning clamor, but she claimed it was because of the loud morning birds.

Dawn creeps into the park

We didn't quite nab the sunrise we expected, but it was still a pretty stunning morning. I pulled off at one of the turnouts I thought would give us a good view of the sunrise. We could tell it was coming up in some areas, because we could see first light casting a morning alpenglow on Lassen, but sunrise hadn't reached us yet. We took the time to soak in a little more dawn (which is highly intoxicating for some reason) and put on our boots and gaiters and strap the ice gear to our packs. When it became obvious that the sun might have risen behind the nearby ridge, we finished the drive up to the Terrace Lake trailhead.

Fabulous morning alpenglow on Lassen Peak


Gearing up

What a miss! The trailhead would have had a spectacular view of the actual moment of sunrise. For some reason I didn't think you could see out from there. Oh well, I guess there's always a next time. We arrived just after sunrise and it was still spectacular. It takes the forest quite a while to warm up in the morning, and everything was magical as we made our trek. Everything was quiet and still and the light gives everything a blueish tint that does not wear off for hours. As everything slowly warms up you can literally feel the life-force of the forest coming on-line.

Thar she blows!!!

Reading Peak Snow Climb

We had decided to do a partial ascent of Readings NW bowls. The plan was just to hike and then climb for a few hours and then head back. We wanted to hike Lassen later in the day, and wanted a few hours to rest in-between. Setting out from the trailhead we descended quickly and easily to the Terrace Lake fork, but started losing the trail soon after. We expected cross-country travel at some point, so we just broke out the wands and started heading 'in the right direction'.

Reading Peak from the Lassen Peak trail

The right direction took us to a huge cliff overlooking the lakes. I could see the trail below! We had blown right past it and ended up cross-country to the north of the trail rather than the south like we wanted. Since there was no easy way to descend, we decided to backtrack and find the REAL trail to the lakes. Later we'd find that the REAL trail had been covered in snow still right at the turn we missed and people had beat a use trail off in the wrong direction.

Morning magic


Amber, ready to Rock and Roll

After finding our way back on the trail we descended down to Terrace Lake the smaller of the two prominent lakes under Reading Peak. The lake were crystal clear and the sun was at just the right angle to glimmer intensely, in contrast with the still subdued color of the shady, morning forests. You couldn't see into much of the lake because the reflections were so intense. We skirted the side of the lake, and continued the descent down to Shadow lake. Suddenly I'm feeling like I didn't factor all of the descending into my choice of the 'short' approach path, (oh well). If we hadn't spent so much time looking for the trail it still would have been a virtually-nil approach.

Terrace Lake, glass isn't this smooth

The cliffs over Terrace Lake were stunning, but Shadow Lake was even more so. There were little spots where you could see the sun taking tiny wisps of vapor rise off the lake, and the water was crystal-clear. It also helped that we were all alone out there and didn't see any other day-trippers till we were well on our way back. After gaining the edge of Shadow lake we immediately headed off-track in the most obvious gully heading towards the NW bowls.

Looking down to Shadow Lake

At the top of the gully, things flattened out and we hightailed it towards the first snow slope, leaving a single wand behind to mark the way back to the lake. This was it: crampon time! We'd climbed on snow a couple times in boots and axes, but this was the first time with crampons. We have some cheap, strap-on, 10-pointers; they're steel so we'll see how they hold up. We strapped on and started heading up. The snow was excellent, and the crampons were very grippy, but after 100 feet up or so (longer than that in the horizontal world), there was a huge boulder field to cross to the next snowfield.

Gratuitous crampon shot

At some point it got steep enough to switch from poles to axes, and after a quick boulder-hop, crampons in hand, we strapped on again and started up the next section. Steeper and more energy-consuming we kept trucking up, trying different steps, working to get all 10 points in the snow, trying the occasional front-point, duckwalking, keeping the axe planted firmly. After another 100 feet or so (up) the snowslope forked around a small prominence. Amber waited while I did some recon on the east side of the prominence. All I found was rotten snow that let me poke through to the rocks. We'd already went across a few rocks, crampons on. The screech of steel crampons on hard rock travels up your bones just as well as your nerves. With steel its ok to do it a little bit, but geez, it's really grating and unnerving. I don't know how those mixed apline guys handle all that metal on rock contact without going loopy.

View to Lassen from the slopes of Reading

We headed to the right instead, up a slope of much more solid snow. We climbed up about another 100 feet to a small round ridge. This would be good enough for today. Even though it was still early, it was July and the snow was starting to get loose and wet. We got a beautiful view of the rest of reading peak (which we could have done had we not had other plans for the rest of the day), as well as Lassen Peak and a whole swath of the park, out and past the desolated area. Even though it was a fairly short climb of only around 300' on the snow, it was moderate angle so much longer than it was tall usually and plenty to fill an early morning for the first time in crampons. Please note: snow climbing can be extremely dangerous and you really should practice using your ice-axe in a controlled environment and read "Freedom of the Hills" before you venture out into any terrain that would require an axe or crampons.

Snow and boulders


The remaining slopes of Reading

Heading back down in crampons was an even bigger blessing than heading out. Heading up you still have the distinct feeling that you could slip over your feet wrong, or slide backwards in a patch of rotten snow, but going down those 2nd row teeth grab hold hard and really shine. We experienced very little slipping and sliding even though the snow was in a much more shoddy state at this time. I'm totally sold on the utility of crampons now! These worked really well with heavy hiking boots and didn't constrict at all either. The only drawback was that you couldn't do much front pointing without really making your foot tired. A good pair of mountain boots would fix that and any serious front-pointing should be done in 12 pointers anyways.

Descent view to Shadow Lake


I miss the snow already!

Coming back we gathered the wands and my dropped sunglasses (oops!) and headed back down to the lake. We now had all that unexpected trail climbing to do. I guess it's a bit of a warm-up for the 2000' we'd be doing in the afternoon. We passed some of the first day-trippers at Terrace Lake. I think they were a little surprised to see someone coming up trail towards them at 9-something with heavy boots on carrying crampons and ice axes. They had shorts and tees and tanks on. That's July for you in the California mountains! They really missed morning magic at the lakes. It was still pretty but just not the same.

The hike out took a little longer than I expected. Didn't realize it but we pretty-much doubled our gain and descent by going down-up-down-up. We coasted back down to camp so we could prep for the afternoon and get as much rest as possible.

No longer reflecting, still a jewel

Lassen Peak

After waiting to see if the other party would make the go-ahead time, and waiting for our transportation to return, we threw some lunch in our bags and headed for the Lassen Peak trail. Personally, I wanted to go earlier in the day (and earlier in the trip) but sometimes group dynamics mean you change your plans.

The parking lot at the Lassen Peak trailhead was nearly full. I squeezed into a little space and then promptly squeezed into the restroom. I knew there would be scant chance for privacy on the popular, exposed route, especially on a holiday weekend.

Since we got such a late start (around 1:45 pm I think) there were not too many others coming up with us. There were a few, however, and a lot of folks coming down. This was the first time the whole trip that it really felt like we were in a national park on a holiday weekend. It's amazing the opportunities to enjoy serenity in LVNP that present themselves even when near capacity. Here on the Lassen Peak trail we came across people from all over the country and world. It's probably good for this park to get some traffic since it's often in the shadow of it's big brothers in the Sierra.

Lassen Peak from the trailhead

But not all of the traffic is positive. As we huffed up the switchbacks, running largely on energy snacks as we kept postponing lunch, we came across several examples of the downside of park traffic. One of the first things you see via the interpretive signs is an old 'use trail' scar that has been slowly healing for years but is still quite evident. Lassen is made of volcanic rock so loose and crumbly that it rarely qualifies as soil. As a result, the bare slopes are highly susceptible to erosion, and what few plants there are have a tenuous grasp at best. There are numerous signs and placards on the trail warning you of the consequences of cutting switchbacks or making your own trail, however we saw a handful of people ignoring the warnings and making shortcuts.

The Lassen peak trail is the only approved route to the summit in the summer, due to the erosional issues. In the winter the park is 'open' but not plowed. Lassen Volcanic National Park gets some of the heaviest snowfall in California. You can summit via any route when the peak is snowbound, you just have to be willing to brave the cold! For this reason Lassen is popular with the ski touring crowd, as well as mountaineers and other travelers who are seeking a winter challenge. Since the mountain has several permanent snowfields, you'll occasionally see someone braving the remaining snow and ice into summer. We saw one such brave soul ski down one of the larger snowfield on 'firn skis,' which he claimed to have acquired in Switzerland. Another goofball did a crouching glissade, I'm not sure if he was just showboating or a little crazy because he barely stopped himself before the snow ran out.

Apple Gel: Restores 30% of Max HP


The trail rises skyward

As we trekked our way further up the trail, the worn, sandy trail gave way to palm-sized chunks of scree. Someone had dropped pistachio husks on the ground and a cute little ground squirrel was investigating. If you've read our earlier post, Amber and I have strong feelings about humans, animals and food, so we were glad to see there was nothing really for this overly friendly chipmunk. After a couple switchbacks we look down to find out exactly why this chipmunk was so friendly. A foreign couple had discovered him and crouched over taking pictures and FEEDING HIM. OH HOW CUTE HE MUST HAVE BEEN! I wanted to scream, but we were a good ways above them and I'm not sure it would have done any good. I should have done something, but we just chalked it up to being a holiday weekend and tried to keep moving. We looked back again a few minutes later to watch an even more horrific scene; a college-age girl hiking alone came up the trail behind them and immediately proceeded to follow suit! Now 3 people were feeding the damned chipmunk! Next time I will definitely say something, even if I have to be an ass and rain on their parade.

One very naughty chip-chip!


Flora hiding amongst the rocks, very few plants up here!

The Lassen Peak trail is deceptively short. It's a 2.5 mile trail, but there is 2000' of elevation gain. In addition you're starting at around 8500 ft. above sea level, so if you dwell in the lowlands it can seem a bit brisk up there. This was one of the first trips I've taken on an altimeter on and it served as a much better indication of our progress than the trail distances. As we got closer tot he top we got more and more excited. All of the surrounding mountains begin to melt away as your vista spreads out across a wider and wider area. As the summit block began to come into clearer view, we picked up the pace and pushed hard to make it to the top. We ended up skipping our last snack break because we were 'so close', that may or may not have been a good idea.

Lassen's summit crater

Distances are always deceptive on top of a mountain. After the trail crests there's still 100' or so of class 2 (or three if you're feeling saucy) if you want to drag yourself up on the true summit block (and you do!). Maybe we should have had a snack instead of waiting to have lunch on top as we were really starting to drag ass right at the base of the summit block (and Amber was starting to feel not-so-well). Somehow we fought our way up it, completely oblivious to the true class 2 path. Everyone else on the slope with us had the same problem "where's the path", "which way do I go?", "is that the top?" Actually, one guy had *bigger* problems. He asked, "where is the volcano?" to which we replied "DUDE, THE WHOLE THING IS THE VOLCANO." That just shows the importance of having good beta, and doing what it takes to try and keep a clear head. Had we not let ourselves get drained the last bit would have been a lot less strenuous.

Mandatory phallic summit structure


Path of destruction from last major eruption


A long way down!

At the top it was not too busy, I think we had come up behind the biggest crowds of the day. Despite the persistent haze, we could make out several of the parks large shield volcanoes to the northeast. I quickly inhaled my sandwich but Amber was battling a bout of nausea. It may have been mainly the altitude, but I'm sure skipping a snack and being drained didn't help (we had only had snacks since before the snow-climb that morning). I gave Amber some electrolyte drink and some carrots and she was able to start replenishing. We took a few pictures and absorbed the view, and then suddenly I could make out a monster mountain on the far horizon. On clear days you can see Shasta like a gem, but we knew there was slim chance with all the smoke and haze. As I was eating though, I noticed the profile of a stout volcano on the hazy far horizon. Just as we were getting ready we got an even more spectacular glimpse as little bits of the upper slopes emerged from the clouds. For us it was a special treat we didn't expect, but unfortunately you can't see more than 2 pixels of it in my sad, old camera.

Nearly invisible, yet lurking, Mt. Shasta


Peak Hiked!

We quickly headed down the summit block and back to the main trail. After about 500' descending, Amber started to feel a lot better, I think she even ate some of her sandwich finally. One bad thing about the Lassen Peak trail is there isn't any good places to sneak off and relieve your bladder. The trail is totally exposed most of the time and you're usually in clear view of people above and below! In addition, you aren't supposed to go off trail at all... It's short a short trail, but still time consuming and so I was soon brimming full of urine. I knew I would have to swallow my pride and do the deed. Luckily I made it all the way down to the first (last) bush before I couldn't take it anymore. All in all the descent was immensely more rapid than the climb up. We passed a few unprepared-looking people still making their way up (mostly loners too). That late in the day it made us cringe a bit but I guess they all made it back safe!

As we finally approached the parking lot, I noticed a guy bushwhacking his way out of one of the nearby canyons, heading towards the parking lot with a bouldering pad on his back! I saw some big boulders in that gully, and I had to get the scoop from him. All of the park guides say that you should not rock climb anywhere in the park due to the low quality of the volcanic rock. Despite that it says "if you do plan on rock climbing, please talk to a ranger first," hmm... This guy obviously knew what was going on so I rushed down the trail to catch him. I practically ran the last 150 yards of the trail to catch up. He gave me some beta on a top-secret area near one of the parks many other mountains. Apparently the rock is more basaltic and the quality is totally bomber, but there's a good hike and the climbing is hard, mostly sport-routes. All and all I was glad the guy was nice and chatted us up for a while, and it was totally cool that he shared his info. Now we can finally head back to camp!

The Crash

Whew, what a day! We managed to hang on to enough energy to hang out and do dinner and all the usual stuff despite getting up a 3-4 hours before everyone else, especially after I sucked down some Gatorade. Even if I was awake I didn't feel all there. I felt a little brain-dead actually. I had a mild headache for an hour or so but it went away as soon as dinner got in my belly. Sleep came easy that night!

Fires still burning outside the park


The Lassen trip crew!

Heading Out

Wake-up, packing, breakfast, packing. Couldn't have gone smoother. We were on the road in record time and no one had to stretch to make their schedule. One of the best trips we've had, even though it was a day longer than usual, and the vehicular logistics were complicated. I was still a bit brain-dead when we stopped for lunch, and I accidentally ordered Amber and I both a heart-stopping double burger which I claimed I would "never do." I guess my body knew what my brain didn't because I was still starving from our long day! Although, neither of us could quite finish the burger. We got everyone as far as Oakland, and then Amber and I skipped unpacking and went straight for a much-needed dip in the hot tub.

Related Posts:

• Lassen Photo Albums Posted!

More Info:

• Lassen Volcanic National Park - Official Site
• Geology of the Lassen Area - Wikipedia
• Lassen Volcanic National Park - summitpost.org
• Lassen Peak - summitpost.org