Lassen Volcanic National Park is a cool place. It is a lot like Big Bend in that few Americans have ever heard of it yet it is an excellent park with something for everyone, unless you're into NASCAR or Star Trek conventions (I've been to the latter - true story) (stop laughing). Also, they're both volcanic. The parks, I mean.
You're still laughing? I'll wait...
You're still laughing? I'll wait...
Okay, so when we were at Mono Lake last week we hiked to the Panum Crater, thinking it would be a 10-minute jaunt to a nice overlook of the lake. We spent well over an hour marveling over giant hunks of obsidian and pumice stones the size of my head (THAT big?) that we could toss around like Nerf balls. We had the kind of wonderful, real world experiential learning school day most kids only wish for, assuming they are nerds like us. I thought the Cinder Cone Trail was going to be more of the same.
I was all excited because this was a great opportunity to torture -- I mean, teach my kids some geology and check off another school attendance day. Cinder cone volcanoes are young, prone to quick erosion by the nature of their composition and so I'm thinking, "Hey, when else are you gonna get to do this?" The guide book mentioned something about it being a tough hike since the trail is soft. I think I saw the words "strenuous" and "deep sand/ash" but we've done Great Sand Dunes NP so blah blah blah whatever.
I should have heeded the warnings.
First, the Great Sand Dunes got nothing on this hike. The dunes are light colored and also, we were there in spring. It is now more like summer here and the cinder is nearly black. The higher you go the rockier it gets until you feel like you are stuck in one of those places that gets used as a location for filming space movies and the token red-shirted guy gets blasted by aliens. Your shoes get filled not with sand but fairly large pebbles. You chug water by the quart and of course there is no toilet at the summit, scarcely even a stout bush to hide behind (we're developing mad skills out here, people). And when you're all done enjoying the view from the top of High Dune or Star Dune you can sled down. Wheeeee! Try to pull that stunt here and you'll discover a new definition of extreme exfoliation.
I should have heeded the warnings.
First, the Great Sand Dunes got nothing on this hike. The dunes are light colored and also, we were there in spring. It is now more like summer here and the cinder is nearly black. The higher you go the rockier it gets until you feel like you are stuck in one of those places that gets used as a location for filming space movies and the token red-shirted guy gets blasted by aliens. Your shoes get filled not with sand but fairly large pebbles. You chug water by the quart and of course there is no toilet at the summit, scarcely even a stout bush to hide behind (we're developing mad skills out here, people). And when you're all done enjoying the view from the top of High Dune or Star Dune you can sled down. Wheeeee! Try to pull that stunt here and you'll discover a new definition of extreme exfoliation.
So we "hiked"down. I use that term loosely because it was more like "heel dig, pseudo-glissade, self-arrest by crashing into the one tree that figured out how to grow on this blasted wasteland of a 30 degree slope." Katniss ( yes, my camera has a name) was covered in a fine layer of ashy dust. We did make it to the bottom unscathed but we completely lost the trail. This sort of thing happens when you are surrounded by miles of black jagged rocks that all look identical and your brain has gone soft from eight days without S'mores. By now my shoes were laden with enough rocks to off set the six pounds I've lost since January (don't hate, appreciate) and I started looking for somewhere to sit and remove them.
I was going to try that rock but it does not look comfy.
Neither does that one.
Not gonna work.
Look, kids! Big Ben...Parliament.
When we finally gave up all hope of finding Jacob's pillow we plopped on the ground in the shade. Kristin dumped out her shoe before I could snap a picture, but it was just like that scene in The Princess Bride where Westley gets to the top of the Cliffs of Insanity and pours a pile of big stones out of his boots. I felt like I was toting around the Hope Diamond in my right shoe but all it produced was an unimpressive smidge of grit.
Still, I would not say hiking a cinder cone volcano was a total blow out (awesome!). If nothing else, we felt we earned some serious S'mores for the evening. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post when I will share the rest of Lassen's beauty and our pleasant surprises from our four excellent days here.
I promise -- this place is the bomb. (SCORE!)
-Jenni
Still, I would not say hiking a cinder cone volcano was a total blow out (awesome!). If nothing else, we felt we earned some serious S'mores for the evening. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post when I will share the rest of Lassen's beauty and our pleasant surprises from our four excellent days here.
I promise -- this place is the bomb. (SCORE!)
-Jenni