While my wife headed off to Southern California to meet up with high
school friends, I headed north to Lassen Volcanic NP for 3 days of
peakbagging on my own. Temperatures would be in the low 70s with a good
wind picking up in the afternoon, making for comfortable hiking. I hit
up a collection of summits in the park and the adjacent national forest,
most of them fairly short but steep ascents. No trails found on any of
these.
Cold Creek Butte
After leaving San Jose around 6a, I had a four hour drive and planned to
do Bumpass Mtn as the first hike of the day. This one popped up on my GPSr as I
was and it seemed a short easy one. Plus, Chris Kerth had
climbed it, so I couldn't simply ignore it. I in the
shade of a pine and went steeply up of the small peak,
about 350ft of gain in 1/4mi. No views from the forested summit,
one of several stumps in the immediate vicinity.
Morgan Mountain
This was also unplanned, found just outside the southern boundary of the park,
sporting nearly 800ft of prominence. I parked off SR89 and followed the North
Ridge to the summit, a distance of less than 3/4mi. Most of the mountain had
in the 2021 Dixie Fire, one of the largest in the state that
year. were popping up in the thousands, a welcome sight
for regeneration. A had been stretched the entire
length of this ridge, but abandoned as the fire swept over. Many segments
of the hose were consumed in the fire, but one can follow the remnants up
what might be the easiest line on the ridge. There was other gear abandoned too,
included of hundreds of plastic water bottles.
Many survived the blaze and still hold water. I salvaged a handful of them to
take back with me. The would be devoid of views
normally, but with the trees torched, there are partial views in most
directions, including a decent one of to
the northwest and north. I left before heading back down.
Bumpass Mountain
I drove into the park and bought my Senior lifetime pass for federal lands - one
of the few perks of getting old. I had planned to take the Bumpass Hell Trail
to approach this one from the west, but the trail is closed due to snow. It was
closed when I was last here as well some years ago, that time for trail
restoration. Instead, I drove further up the road to make a shorter, all
cross-country route near ,
a little over half a mile. Some snow and lots of on
this one, with some weaving for about half the route.
The provides in all directions. I
could smell
the sulphur from Bumpass Hell, but didn't drop down the southwest side of the
peak to visit the mud pots there. Bighorn Bill had left a register here
with about 13 pages of entries (mostly one entry per page).
Most of the entries were from 2015-2018, then only one in 2022. I think this has
something to do with the trail being closed for the restoration effort.
Reading Peak
This one is found about 2mi , on the north side of
SR89 and southeast of Lassen Peak. It has more than 700ft of prominence.
, I hiked north up to and
followed that . The slopes are a mix of sand, rock and
forest, not a particularly pleasant hike, but the off
either side of the ridge are nice. I thought I'd find a register here, but
couldn't locate one, so of mine. I included an entry for John
Ide, who'd visited it in 2010 (having passed in 2018). My descent route went
more directly back to the roadway, down some sand/scree slopes that made
things easier, save for several stops to empty debris from my shoes.
Hot Rock
This is a small that I first visited in 2018. It's
a large boulder, about 10ft high and 20ft across that had been ejected
from Lassen's crater when it erupted early in the last century. It's a
class 3 effort to from the back side.
Peak 7,220ft - Peak 7,340ft
I was pretty knackered before starting this last outing, the longest
of the day at nearly 3mi and 1,700ft of gain. It was barely 3:30p so I
steeled myself for the slog, a steep climb through forest, the first third
through . It around the halfway point,
but it was a pretty slow effort, taking me over an hour to cover the mile to the
first summit, Peak 7,220ft. There are several rocky outcrops vying for the
highpoint, but I visited towards the west proved to be about
6ft higher than the next contender. There is an impressive view of Chaos Crags
to , towering more than a thousand feet higher. I planned to
visit those tomorrow, but the terrain looks exceedingly steep and difficult -
we'll see.
I next turned my attention to Peak 7,340ft, about half a mile to
. Getting between them was the easiest segment of this hike,
but still felt like a slog due to my tiredness. It, too, had a rock outcrop at
,
this time with no contenders. The views were poorer, with more surrounding
trees. I descended pretty directly to the northeast to return to the Jeep,
about 4/5mi. There was much whacking through downfall that seemed worse
than the ascent line. One of the collection of branches I was stepping on
sent up a small piece directly into my eyeball, causing me to yell out.
This wasn't any sort of freak accident - there were pieces of wood snapping in
all directions as I stepped through the dry downfall for such a distance, so it
was highly probable something would find find a mark. I was sore, but no real
damage. I also took a tumble near the end of the descent that tweaked my bad
leg, resulting in more cursing, but after finishing up, it didn't seem any worse
for the fall. I shortly before 6p, ready to call it
a day.
I would end up driving out the north end of the park and finding a Forest
Road that would take me most of the way up Table Mtn. I didn't have the
energy for the half mile hike to the summit, but it made for a nice,
quiet campsite where I showered and settled in for the night. I would make
Table my first stop in the morning...
Continued...