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Lassen Peak

Lassen Peak is an impressive mountain. It's only 10,457 feet, which isn't high by California standards. But it's stands out, much higher than anything around it. I've seen it many times when flying between Boise and San Francisco and it's always a beautiful site. I climbed to the summit many years ago, but have been thinking of doing it again for the past year or two. There is a trail to the summit and it is a reasonable hike. I just needed clear weather and a chance to get away for a couple of days to go and do it.

I also really wanted to do Clouds Rest in Yosemite National Park. Sandy was pretty sick when she came home from visiting the grandkids recently. I didn't feel right taking off while she was not feeling well. But she finally got over her bug and I was clear to go for a couple of days. just before Labor Day weekend. But when I checked the weather, it called for a chance of showers. Since I only had a day or two as a window to climb, I really didn't want to drive all the way there just to be thwarted by the weather. But the forecast for Lassen National Park was good. So that became plan B.

There isn't anyplace to stay really close to the park. I studied the map, found a small motel in Fall River Mills, and made a reservation. I didn't even need an early start since it would only be a seven and a half hour drive. The motel was nothing special but at least it was clean, and it was cheap. Fall River Mills was not very big but at least it had a pizza place where I had dinner. I was lucky and just beat a group of about twenty fire fighters there or I might have had a long wait.

Next morning I was up at 5:40 am and on the road at 6:00. I wanted an early start because I was worried that parking might be difficult at the trailhead. On google maps it looked to be pretty big but I knew it was a popular trail in a national park. Even though I picked a place as close to the park as I could get, it still was an hour and a half drive to the trailhead. It turned out I needn't have worried. There were over a hundred parking spots and there were only four cars there when I pulled in. Well, at least it was a beautiful morning and the trail wouldn't be crowded.

It's about two and a half miles and two thousand feet of elevation gain to the summit. It's steady uphill but a nice trail most of the way, what you would expect in a national park (at leat before the Trump budget cuts). It was fifty two degrees when I started out with perfectly clear blue skies. There was quite a bit of lupine in bloom on the lower half of the trail. As I got higher, the wind picked up but it wasn't really cold. I had the mountain pretty much to myself too. Only three people passed me going down. They must have had a really early start. A couple that was getting ready in the parking lot when I left caught up to me and passed me. Other than that, I didn't see anyone else all the way up.

The trail seemed to just keep switchbacking up a very long slope until it finally topped out on a false summit. The summit pinnacle was just two or three hundred feet higher after a slight dip to cross a snow-covered saddle. The caldera from the 1914 eruption was also visible. I didn't find it terribly interesting. I'm more into physics than geology.

The summit block was just a huge pile of big rocks. The trail wound around to the north side and then faded out. Climbing the last two hundred feet was an easy scramble...usually. But now the wind was really howling. It blew so hard that I used my hands to hold onto the rocks in many places, not because the climbing was difficult but to keep the wind from knocking me over. I have only experienced wind like that one other time - when I climbed Wheeler Peak in Nevada many years ago. What should have been the most fun and most scenic part of the climb was actually pretty unpleasant.

I made it to the top though. At least to a level area between two pinnacles of rock, each about ten feet higher. It looked like the one to the west was higher but I couldn't tell for sure. For most people, where I was would be sufficient. Normally I would have scrambled up and tried to perch on the very tip of the rocks. But in the fierce wind, that didn't seem like a good idea, especially since the one to the west which looked like it was probably the highest had some significant exposure. I settled for climbing high enough that I could grab the top of each pinnacle. Hey, I figured that if any body part made it to the top, then I made it to the top.

I had read comments on the AllTrails website about "ringing the cowbell". Sure enough, there was a bright red cowbell sitting on the summit. I gave it some really good rings but with the high winds I doubt anyone more than five feet away could have heard it. Still felt good to do it though.

Although the view was spectacular I didn't spend much time on top. While I had the summit all to myself, I had only descended about fifty feet before I encountered someone coming up. I told him about the cowbell and continued down. Descending the rocks in the high winds wasn't any more fun than going up had been. But once I reached the trail the winds stared to drop to a more reasonable level. From then on the hike down was pretty easy, and the lower I got the more the wind let up. All the way down I passed a continuous stream of people going up. I was glad for my early start after all.

As I got lower I passed about every type of person going up. That's typical on a trail in a national park. Many looked like serious hikers. Others looked really out of place on the trail. I saw some people who were wearing just shorts and a tshirt. No jacket. No hat. No pack. No water. I don't think they were really in danger as they could just turn around if they got higher and the conditions were too harsh for them. It wasn't that far to get back to their car at the trailhead. But if the weather was threatening, I could see where it could turn really nasty really fast on the upper part of the mountain. Some of these people would have been in trouble in that case. But not today. The sky was clear without a cloud in sight. Even so, I think that they were going to be quite uncomfortable when they reached the upper part of the mountain. I suspect that a lot of them didn't make it all the way to the top.

But down below the weather was lovely. When I reached the car it was seventy degrees and there still wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful day in the mountains, at least now that I was out of the jet stream that was blowing over the summit of the mountain.

I drove to the south entrance just to stop at the visitor center. It also gave me a quick view of the rest of the park. After buying my required Lassen NP tshirts, I turned around and started to head home.

The drive back took me about ten hours so I made it that night. It was an easy drive except for about an hour long stretch through eastern Oregon. Around twilight there were swarms of bugs, so many that it was like driving through a heavy snow storm. I didn't need gas but I had to stop in Vale just to clean my windshield. I could barely see out. Once it got dark the bugs disappeared again and the last couple of hours were no problem. I even got home by a reasonable hour.

It had been a really quick trip but I bagged an impressive summit. For me it was well worth it.