As a part of my national park road trip back in 2015, I was planning to hit all the national parks in Norther California. Unfortunately, I got sick half way through it and had to cut it short just after Yosemite National Park. Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) is a less famous national park, but certainly no less beautiful than the others. What makes this national park unique is the access to volcanic mountains that are easy to get to and stunning lakes surrounding these volcanos. Additionally, the Lassen Peak marks the beginning of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway stretching from California through Oregon and all the way to Washington. It is a gorgeous road with spellbinding views – a must do for a road tripper! By the time we could free up a weekend to make the 4 hour drive from the Bay Area to the LVNP, we had entered into October. The weather was cooler and the leaves had changed color. On arrival at the park, we realized that most campgrounds were closed due to the end of the camping season. We then set up camp and decided to find dinner nearby. This was not a great idea, because the nearest town Shingletown (yes, this is actually, what it is called…) was a good 25 miles away. Once we arrived here, the only decent food we could find was pizza at a local bar. It is in places like these that you come face to face with the beauty of rural America. Someone decided to pick up our tab of drinks, because they liked us. This is far from the first time this had happened to us, and we were, as before, surprised and touched by the gesture of strangely familiar people. After dinner and drinks, we drove back to our campsite and promptly fell asleep. We woke up early, made breakfast and played with our dog around the beautiful area. We then drove to the Lassen Peak trailhead, and hiked to the summit of the mountain. This was not an easy hike, with 2000 feet of elevation gain in 2ish miles. With howling winds in the nearly freezing temps that morning, it was actually quite challenging for a shorter national park hike. After a couple water and snack breaks, we made it to the summit. The last bit of the trail involved some scrambling, but we quickly made it to the top for stunning views of the national park, the forests and Mt. Shasta in the distance. By the time we returned to the car, it was 11 AM. The sun was up, but the car hadn’t warmed up yet. Our dog was happy to see us back. After a quick clean up and watering the dog, we headed back home to the Bay Area with good memories of our journey to this uniquely beautiful national park. Here’s the downlow:
Overall, this was a great summer/ fall hike. We hope to return to this beautiful place for some ski descents in the future!
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Apparently, Mt. Hood is the second most climbed mountain in the world, after Mt. Fuji in Japan. While I am not 100% sure this statistic is correct, I can tell you first hand, that this is an awesome mountain to summit. With 5000 feet of elevation gain and 7.5-mile round trip hike, it is not an easy mountain, but it is certainly a doable one. Another awesome fact about Mt. Hood is that dogs are allowed to hike, or even summit on the mountain. On this beautiful hike, we learned the hard way, that it’s absolutely important to know your dog’s limits. While we have hiked longer, higher mountains and skied on snowy terrains with our pup, we hadn’t attempted an icy mountain hike. This ended up being a bad idea because Snow ended up hurting her paws only ~500 feet short of the summit. Before embarking on our journey, we called a few ranger stations and Timberline Mountain Guides to assess the weather and mountain conditions. Based on their recommendations, we settled on the South Side, Hogsback approach that finished with Old Chute near the summit. Here is a link to the route: http://www.summitpost.org/south-side-old-chute-variation/265416 The night before our hike, we parked the car at the Timberline Mountain Lodge (A must see! Its an incredible hotel) and slept in the car for a few hours. We made sure that all of our gear was completely ready to go, so we didn’t have to do any busy work in the morning. Before the hike, we even made sure that the crampons were adjusted to the shoe size and could be easily clipped on in the morning. At 1:30 AM, we woke up and had a banana and a granola bar. We then put on our gear quickly and were on the trail at 2 AM. Rookie mistake, we didn’t diligently memorize the path of the hike and assumed that there would be clear markers for how to get at least half way through. We were SO wrong. Initially, we stayed way right and came face to face with a few crevasses. This scared me, since were didn’t have any crevasse gear. I decided that it was way safer to just hike next to the ski resort on Mt. Hood, which rests in the center of the South Face. After traversing right, we noticed a lot of people were hiking in the ski area boundary, which was groomed. This would have been much easier, but didn’t know if this was the correct approach to mountaineering haha… Anyway, we stayed outside the ski boundary and kept hauling ass. We also made really good time, and got to around 10K feet by 6 AM. The sunrise was spectacular and the views of the Cascadian Volcanos and glistening snow was incredible to say the least. We kept moving forward, feeling very strong. My recent hiking and running was coming in handy as the altitude seemed to be making little different to my pace. At about 10,500 feet, we started noticing that Snow (our dog) was sitting down at every chance she got. With the steepness increasing, she was working really hard to stay on the snow, that hadn’t yet softened from the direct sunlight. When I looked carefully at the hiking path, I started seeing red in Snow’s paw prints and my heart skipped a beat. This didn’t look good. We were near Bergschrund and didn’t want to leave her there until the summit nor did we want to push her to go any further. We had to make a choice and turn around to descend the mountain. It was a total bummer to miss out on the summit after feeling great and being fully prepared. In the future, I think we will board our dear dog. Here’s the gearlist for Mt. Hood (appropriate for a late season clear weather hike):
Hope you choose to hike this beautiful mountain and have better luck than we did!
The Bay Area doesn't really have "mountains", however, our hills are not for the faint of heart! Mission Peak is one such ginormous hill, and to get to the top, you have to be ready to ascend nearly > 2100 feet in under 3 miles. This altitude gain per mile is sure to give you the chills in the rockies. But since the summit of mission peak is only 2516 feet in elevation, its far more doable than any similar hike in the rockies or sierras. Another huge awesome fact about Mission Peak Regional Preserve is that its dog friendly! So bring your stronger 4 legged friends for this great adventure. We went chose this hike on a warm June day, well into the afternoon. The temperatures were sort of on their way down and the afternoon fog was lifting, making the visibility pretty good. We also took our dog, although its important to know your dog’s limits before taking them on the mountain. Snow hikes and runs with us quite often, so we knew she would be fine. But we took strong measures to make sure we rest often and give the dog plenty of water to keep her from getting too tired or dehydrated. Even then, she was exhausted after we got down from the hike. The hike starts with a nice even trail for the first ~2.5 miles and then becomes quite steep towards the stop. It is during this section that shoes with traction are a huge help. I have several friends who have slipped and fell during this part of the hike. Here’s what I recommend you bring for the hike:
We went later in the afternoon, so we had no problem finding a place to park. I have heard that earlier in the day, the parking lots are all full and people are scrambling to find a parking spot on the street. If you choose to go later in the afternoon, be mindful of the weather. I have attempted to hike this several times, but was stopped by the wind and the clouds. Mission Peak is at an elevation of 2500 feet, sitting much higher than the sea level bay area. So this creates its specific weather conditions. Overall, this was an excellent hike. I will repeat it a few times while training for imminent races as it gives your legs a great warm up for climbs and gets your heart stronger to handle elevation changes. And the best part? The views! You can see all around the bay area region from Marin to the Peninsula and through Walnut Creek to Castro Valley! Pretty neat! Here are some pics from our hike! Gorgeous view of the bay from the top of the Mission Peak
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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