There are special hidden places along the trail that seems to lift the
hikers spirit. After the last week of being ill and having to deal
with a complex of 8 fires that closed the trail, we have finally made
it to the half way marker and Lassen National Park. Its a small
unknown park to many, filled with mudpots, geysers, boiling lakes,
lava flows and cinder cones. This is the start of the Cascade Mtns and
of course the home of Drakesbad Guest Ranch.
This is a special place because of the people that run this epicurian
getaway. Ed and Billy from Baveria, run it much like a Swiss Chalet.
They are welcoming and have wonderful stories of their own. For 19
years the have run Drakesbad getting the best consessionair award in
the Park Service. Before that they ran huts in Austria where hiker
would come in off the Trans-Alpine trail. So they understand the
hikers, and that they constantly hungry. The food here is great and a
good soak in the hotsprings relieves the sore aches from the trail.
Great way to celebrate the halfway mark (MP 1354).
After three meals and one good long soak in the hot springs waters, we
pushed out along the trail. Through a young forest and a few lakes, we
made our way out towards the lava plateau. Sand was the order of the
day, and we found huge cinderfields. The trail weaved its way through
the stand of trees and lava crags. As we turned the corner a large
black and red lava flow stood before us, with a black cone looming
over us.
The hiking was slow going, it seemed like. For every step forward you
would slide back some. After working our way around the different
crags, we set up our tent at the base of the cinder cone. The with the
coming sunset, we took the trail up the steepside of the cone. In all
directions the light of sunset was shining beautifuly on the smoke
from all the local forest fires. Lassen stood magesticly above the
lava plateau 10'000 ft in to the evening sky.
When we reached the summit of the black cone, one of the most
aweinspiring sights lay before me. The cone was two concentric circles
of crater within crater. Caught in a wave across the rim, the lines
seem to draw the eyes in as the skies become more and more brilliant
with the passing hour. We walled the rim looking down to the painted
dunes below. It was a magical place to be at, and well worth the hike
off the main PCT.
On towards Old Station and the Hat Creek Rim, the trail just keeps the
imagination rolling and my feet moving forward.
-- Ridgewalker
From the backcountry mile
Ridgewalker
山武士
Http://ridgewalkernw.blogspot.com
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