Lassen Adventure - Pt.2

The next morning of our Lassen adventure, we got up bright and early-ish, had breakfast at the restaurant by the motel, and pumped ourselves up for the big climb. Connor kept saying, "I can't believe I'm going to climb a volcano!" And I said to myself, "Who's idea was this?" since I'd climbed this once and I remembered it being hard.

We climbed and climbed and climbed. We stopped many times to catch our breath. A family was hiking right behind us and their three little boys had boundless energy. Connor's theory was that because they were shorter, the altitude wasn't affecting them as much. Har har.

Eventually we made it to the top, but not before we explored the crater just below the peak. That was a mistake. We were so tired after struggling up and down crevices that we almost didn't get to the peak. But when we finally summited, it was glorious.

We ate our lunch. Everyone up on the peak that day celebrated with everyone else over how we all made it.

Look! It's Shasta in the distance. It's about 70 miles from Lassen.

Then came the climb down. I had borrowed hiking sticks from my parents. It was a good move. The trail is pretty rocky in places and it's easy to loose your footing. As we got lower and lower, the air becomes positively soupy. There was so much oxygen it was exciting.

And so on September 27, 2015, we earned our Lassen patch. We climbed the mountain and lived to tell the tale. 

Then we stopped by Dutch Bros to get some liquid energy (Dutch Freeze) before driving all the way back home.

Eureka Peak And Home: ERT 2014 Day 6 & 7

Day 6 of the Epic Road Trip of 2014 started out with eggs and bacon. Actually, every morning at Camp Layman started with Mum making eggs and bacon in the little kitchen. (So yummy!) After filling our tummies we drove out to start our hike at Eureka Peak. Years ago I'd been to this lake and Mum had said, "One day I'd like to hike that." And I thought to myself, "Me too!"

One of the neat things about Eureka Peak is that you are hiking above many, many miles of mining tunnels. Although there isn't really any evidence of mining along the hiking trail. 

We passed by a little creek, and as we turned a corner, I got to see some Leopard Lilies up close.

We'd driven by some on the day we looked for the Pioneer Tree. It has been so dry this year in California that I wasn't sure if we'd see any of these lilies. They tend to grow where it is a bit marshy. But half way up a mountain there was a whole collection of them.

After hiking for awhile longer, we came to a confusing part of the trail It wasn't really clear how to get to the peak. After scrambling up lots of loose rock, we did manage to get to the top of the peak. The view was marvelous, so all the scrambling was worth it. We could even see Mount Lassen in the distance.

Mount Lassen is just below the cloud

It was a warm day, so Mum and I made plans to get another Orange Freeze at the Graeagle Frostee when we made it back down. 

One of those brownish spots by the other set of mountains is where the Frostee is

We had a relaxing afternoon followed by a tasty dinner. And in the evening we walked out to the train bridge nearby Camp Layman. It's a bit of a tradition to walk out to the bridge. If you are lucky a train might go by. There was no train, but I enjoyed the smell of the pines and watching the bats flit by in the dusk.

The next morning we headed back home. But since we were passing the Frostee, I suggested that we order one last Orange Freeze. It was a perfect end to a really fun roadtrip.