My wife Beth and I flew into Reno the previous day (the 14th) for the start of our 15-day journey of the northwest United States, including a bit of Canada. Our eventual plan was to make our way to the Seattle area for the 2004 Highpointers Convention in Puyallup. With both of us having lots of time on our hands, we decided to really go slow and explore. The only reason we chose to fly to Reno, aside from cheap air-fares, was that we weren't interested in taking two days to get this far from Phoenix. I've done that drive a few times and it gets old fast. We stocked up on food and supplies in Reno and drove about 180 miles toward Lassen Volcanic National Park, where we would spend two nights camping and hiking the two signature mountains of the Park: Lassen Peak and nearby Brokeoff Mountain. Lassen Peak is a dormant volcano that last erupted in 1916. It is the southernmost Cascade volcano, a line of volcanoes that stretches into Canada and includes such peaks as Mts. Rainier, Adams, Baker, Hood and Shasta, among others. We arrived to our camping area about 4 p.m. in very nice, clear and dry conditions. We found an open site and set up our simple camp. We spent the day just sitting around and enjoying the cool temperatures.

We awoke the next day and drove the few miles to the Lassen Peak trailhead, arriving to the large parking area around 8:15 a.m. The lot can hold easily 100 vehicles, but as we rolled in there were maybe five cars already there. We got dressed and got our stuff in order, and in about 15 minutes we were on the route.

The trail starts as a wide road, then switchbacks once, gains moderately, enters a thin stand of pine, then contours mostly east for a short ways, always gaining at a moderate grade. There was a surprising amount of snow still on the ground down low; we were told (and read) that mid-July is often the start of the hiking season for Lassen Peak, since it takes that long for the snows to melt satisfactorily! In fact, around Helen Lake nearby, the ground was mostly snow with occasional open patches, and the lake itself still was iced over in places. In any case, our progress was not hampered at all by the snow. Only in a few spots on the trail did we have to cross it, and often, we just walked around the drifts. Shortly, the trail made a sharp left turn and we could now see the summit for the first time since the parking lot.

From here the trail switchbacks up a sharp souheasterly ridge. The trees, never very thick anywhere, reduced to occasional stands of krumholz and eventually, to nothing. The trail is well maintained, never very steep, but never very flat either; just a consistent moderate-to-steep uphill grind. We had to contend with some extremely strong winds on the exposed ridge. They were sustained 25-30 mph for minutes at a time and gusts over 50, which sometimes forced us to walk in a squatting position or even just to sit out the gusts behind the occasional rocks or shields. Nevertheless, we made good uphill progress. The trail eventually works its way to near a large rocky promontory about a half-mile below the summit. Afterwards the route's gradient lessens and shortly, brings one to the "top", a secondary summit not far from the real thing. We rested here, the wind having died down for us, thankfully.

To reach the summit we walked across a snowfield, then followed some trails in the loose rocks and rubble to the rocky, spiry true summit of the mountain. We identified a couple of rock spires that seemed to tie for highest honors; we scaled them both. One contained a brass USGS marker. I also walked over to the little building situated in the rocks, and checked it out. Not much to look at, except for lots of scratched-in graffiti. There was no sign-in register I could find. We stayed at the top for about 20 minutes and had a late breakfast. We looked over the summit caldera, and stared at the massive Mt. Shasta, plain as day in the clear sky, still a hundred miles north of us! After a spell we walked back to the first area of the summit (across the snowfield) and rested again, chatting it up with the new arrivals. On our ascent we'd only passed one couple, and were met by just a couple others on their way down. However, on our way down the crowds were really starting to come on up!

We made good time on the descent, stopping occasionally to snap photos. We literally passed over a hundred people coming up. There were lots of families, including one where the littlest hiker, a girl of about 4, was slowly making her way up without assistance from mom or dad. She was real cute and she impressed the hell out of me ... 4 years old, climbing a Cascade peak! We met our camp neighbors also, plus lots others. In time we made it to our car, a round trip of just under 4 hours for the 5 mile hike, right at 2,000 feet of gain. A superb hike with wonderful views. The parking lot was jam-packed; it's reasonable to guess that hundreds of people hike this peak in a day. The trail is in good shape and the veiws are stupendous! We returned to our site, then drove to the Manzanita Visitor's Center to shower and get some grub. Then, back to camp for some relaxing and preparation for the next day's hike of Brokeoff Mountain.