In the grand tradition of summer hiking trips, we did almost no planning until the very last minute. The result was that when we did arrive at the park, there were no campsites to stay at. Eventually, we ended up at a little National Forest campground, in the Caribou wilderness for the night. The next day, we did a nice hike around some lakes, and got very dusty.
One of our luckier choices was going to Butte Lake after the second night. In the morning, we went up East Prospect Peak, in the evening, we went up Cinder Cone. It was a busy day, full of views, cinders, sun and water bottles which mysteriously emptied themselves when nobody was looking. The following morning, we did an early ascent of Lassen Peak, before an exceedingly hot drive back to the bay area.
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Two very tired hikers on top of East Prospect Peak. |
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The painted dunes, viewed from the trail to the south side of Cinder Cone. |
Me and my dad on top of Cinder Cone- yes it really is made entirely of cinders! |
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Cinder Cone had a massive, although rather empty crater. |
The view south from Cinder Cone shows the Painted Dunes and lava beds as far as Snag Lake. |
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Looking north from Lassen Peak, we could see Mt. Shasta vaguely in the distance. |
Westward down Lassen's ridgeline were Brokeoff Mountain, and a good bit of snow. |
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East of Lassen Peak are a lake, several peaks, and more snow. |
From above, on the Lassen Peak trail, we see Lake Helen. |
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Lassen Peak itself, much more impressive-looking from a distance, but... |
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Here we are, at Lake Helen, looking west. |
Looking east, we see the road. |
