Go upstate and get your head together

I love foggy San Francisco in the summertime, but sometimes I can't help but think we're robbed of a real summer. That's when I get the itch for another roadtrip. Thursday afternoon was one of those times, so I got in the car and drove up I-5 for a brief sojourn, documented in photos here.

The pictures are nearly all from my hike through Lassen Volcanic National Park early Friday. (For the uninitiated: Lassen Peak is the second-to-last volcano to erupt in the Lower 48 states, with only Mt. St. Helens popping twice since. Lassen is also the southernmost of the Cascade Mountains.)

You can climb and descend the 10,450-foot peak in an afternoon, but I didn't bother this time, having summited it three times before. I'd also been down to the memorably-named Bumpass Hell twice, so this time I elected to explore the northwest corner of the park. There's a pretty alpine lake, Manzanita Lake, and nearby Reflection Lake, for scenic views, but those were fairly well populated with RVs, families and senior citizens, so I elected to embark on a four-mile jaunt out to Crags Lake and back.

The treelined path to Chaos Crags is well-maintained, but still fairly remote and unoccupied. The ranger said I didn't have much to worry about hiking alone, and I saw no large fauna on the way up or back, save for about ten people over the course of three hours. The soft dirt trail winds up through the pines, many of them covered in iridescent moss that looks a little like farofa, then gives way to a mostly-meadow area before cresting above the lake. I sat for awhile in the meadow, enjoying the emptiness and gazing out at fifty-mile-away peaks, before descending into the crater and pausing beside the lake.

I admit that I expected a larger lake, rather than the tadpole-filled green pool at trail's end. It's still a pretty spot, sure. But this place is interesting because of its geologic instability more than anything else. The land simply collapsed there -- about 300 years ago, the geologists say -- and now is strewn with relatively lightweight rocks that shift beneath your feet, sounding like crunching broken glass and providing ample opportunities for twisted ankles. I was just fine in my Asics, though, scampering up for a pretty decent look at Mount Shasta across the way before heading back to the trail. [Google Earthers or GPSers: the lake appears to be the black dot at roughly 40°31'57" N, 121°31'50" W -- roughly in the center of the frame.]

This was a low-to-moderate impact hike any healthy adult could complete in a few hours, across spectacular terrain in a National Park with geologically interesting phenomena along the way, and yet there was almost nobody there. I've heard that Lassen is the least-visited National Park in the Lower 48 (true?), and I've met many lifelong Californians haven't even heard of the place. (Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be publishing this stuff -- I should really keep it all to myself.) I suppose the Park isn't long on stuff for Grandma to do, lacks a marquee attraction like Yosemite Falls or Old Faithful, and is easily accessible for only five months out of the year. (There's no lodging anywhere near the place, save for a guest ranch in a remote area of the Park.) I have a hunch I'll be returning before long, though not on a day when temperatures in the Sacramento Valley are expected to reach 112 degrees. Yikes!

[UPDATE: Check this. Isle Royale seems to get the most citations, but people definitely have differing views on what the least-visited National Park really is.]


FMFM: "St. Dominic's Preview," one of the all-time great San Francisco songs. Inspired by RustedRobot's link to Van The Man's performance of "Caravan" in The Last Waltz.