09/17/03 Hiking Lassen Peak Trail (5 miles round trip):
Sitting on top of the Lassen Volcano and enjoying good views I thought I really shouldn't have made this hike. It started at 8500 feet and climbed 2000 feet to 10,500 feet in 2.2 miles. I haven't even been above 7000 feet for many months, let alone begin a hike 1500 feet higher than that.
Last night dropped into the lower 30's at 6000 feet but nothing froze. At the 8500 trailhead at 8:15am the temperature was in the 40's but complicated by a 25-35mph wind. Nice blue sky though.
The trail itself seemed fairly easy with gradual switchbacks. The wind was something else though. Every time the switchbacks turned into the wind I'd get it full force in the face. Nose and cheeks were soon hurting. I didn't take me long to lose my breath, presumably because of the altitude. I started stopping at each switchback for 15 seconds or so until the heart rate slowed down some. Between the wind and the breathing I almost turned back.
Views are good the entire hike. Rugged nearby volcanoes with colorful slopes partially forested. Almanor Lake and, probably, Mountain Meadows Reservoir showed up nicely through the smog and distant mountain ranges, some of which would have been the Sierra Nevadas.
The far side of the peak revealed lots of volcanic formations, basically, giant cinders. What I believe to be the volcanic crater was covered with a hard snow pack or glacier. I was the first one up the peak but on this cold Tuesday in September I passed many hikers on the way down. Quite a few kids too. Whatever happened to school?
09/18/03 Hiking Ridge Lake Trail (2 miles round trip):
Mid-30's last night but it didn't seem that cold. Truck didn't fog up or anything.
Tried Bumpus Hell Trail but they were ripping the parking lot up for something and no where else to park. Don't know why they're complaining the National Park Service is billions of dollars behind on projects... they've always got something ripped up.
The Ridge Lakes Trail is only 1 mile in but its 1000 feet up. Lassen Peak Trail yesterday was also 1000 feet per mile but was nowhere as steep as this one. The trail winds up through a forest till it gets to the Ridge Lakes. There's really only one lake but a small bar appears when water levels are down cutting off one end of the lake from the rest. What little wind there was wasn't reaching the lake so it was like glass providing nice reflections of the deep blue sky, slopes and nearby volcanoes.
The trail started somewhere around 6500 feet which is still higher than I've been hiking. I did have some breathing problems but just took frequent 10-15 second breaks to get the heart rate back under control.
Hiking Miller Creek Falls Trail (3.2 miles round trip):
The trail guide indicated this was nothing more than a walk in the park, at least that's the way I read it. As it turns out there are a lot of ups and downs, nothing of any concern, just not flat. I was in a hurry to get back for lunch so was pushing it a little and kept moaning and groaning every time the trail turned upwards or downwards. Once I stopped doing that the trail became easier.
Another walk through the woods with a 50 foot waterfalls at the 1.6 mile mark. A fair amount of water tumbled down 2 levels to drop in a pool at the bottom. The trail interconnects with other trail to form a 12 mile loop but I turned back at the falls.