Lassen Volcanic National Park

On June 20th my brother Erik, our buddy Nic and I went backpacking in Lassen Volcanic National Park. This is about 4 hours north east of San Francisco. We arrived at the park around 12 and stopped at the Lassen Peak parking lot to climb the mountain. The trailhead was at 8,400 ft and the climb was a well worn, mellow trail the led up 2,ooo feet to the summit (10,462 ft). There was still a little snow of the trail which we climbed through. After an hour and a half we reached the summit to take in beautiful views of the park. We got back down to the trailhead around 4 and headed to the summit ranger station where we hiked in 5 miles to Rainbow lake where we set up our camp for 2 nights. Rainbow lake was a great place to camp. We had the place all to ourselves.

The next morning we headed to cinder cone peak, painted sand dunes and the fantastic lava beds. It was an absolutely beautiful hike there, unlike any terrain I have seen in my life. My pictures don't do justice to what it looked like in person. The dunes were a grey color with yellow and red sand strewn across them. In the background there was a large section of black lava beds that starkly contrasted the dunes. We hiked up half way up Cinder Cone ( which is an odd, 600 foot mound of volcanic sand and rocks, see pic below) and had lunch. Nic (our swiss friend) brought salami, avocado, cheese and bread for lunch. That was definitely a nice change of pace compared to my normal back country lunch of luna bars and trail mix. Thanks Nic! After lunch we headed up to the top of the Cinder Cone. We took alot of pictures and admired the view of Mt. Lassen which was peaking through the clouds. On our way back down we hiked near Snag lake on our way back to our campsite. We hardly saw anyone that day. I was blown away by how many downed trees there were due to lightning strikes.

The next morning we packed up and headed back to our car. We drove through the national park and stopped at Bumpess Hell trailhead where we hiked to this fumarole/hot spring phenomenon. This was an easy 3 mile round trip stroll. There was still a little snow on the ground but nothing to deter us from going. When we got there we snapped some photos and toured the place via the wood slat trail. After an hour or so we headed back to the car and left the national park.

All in all the backpacking trip was great. I could easily have spent another 3 or 4 days photographing the original landscape of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The park has something for everyone, fumaroles/hotsprings, 10k fooot peak, lakes, sand dunes, lava beds and much more. And a special thanks to Erik and Nic for scouting and planning such an awesome trip. I had a fabulous time.

Stats:

Mt. Lassen (10,462 ft): 4.4 mi round trip. 2K elevation gain.

Bumpess Hell: 3 mi round trip

Backpacking: 19 mi round trip (5 mi to rainbow lake & 3.5 mi to cinder cone)

*** Thanks to Nic for "donating" the 2 pictures above with Erik/Me and the three of us in front of the lake

My Google Map for Lassen is not working right now. Below is a screen shot of the map for now.

Me, Mel and Merapi

Monday night Melis and I were picked up around 10:30 pm in Yogyakarta. We drove for an hour and a half to a small town near the base of Merapi. Around 12am we went into a little house to have tea and wait another hour. The guide didn’t want to start too early because he didn’t want us to wait around for the sunset at the plateau. It can get pretty cold up there if you’re not actively moving. After some tea and inhaling a lot of smoke from the locals and other climbers we drove to the town Selo (around 5,500 feet), where we started our climb.

We stepped onto the trail around 1 am. The moon was almost full, however, it was hazy. It was a little daunting at first, there were lightning strikes lighting up the clouds in the distance. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thought it was going to be eaisier than it really was. The trail was very steep and narrow. We had one flashlight between us that was very handy since the trail was full of baseball size rocks and occasional branches to trip you up. The first hour or so Melis was not feeling well, I think nerves and her prior stomach ache from the day before were getting to here. After a few breaks, some food and fertilizing a near by garden she started to feel better. She did not want to turn around and kept on hiking. Pretty soon she was in full billy goat mode and we climbed to the plateau or base camp (around 8,500 feet) as I like to call it. We reached the base camp around 4:45 am, 20 minutes before sunrise. Our guide, Gilah made us some hot tea which was really nice since it was pretty cold. We watched as the gray haze covered the sunrise. There were glimpses of the sun but nothing spectacular. I was more impressed with the clouds and smoke that blew over Merapi which was just another 1,000 feet above.

After relaxing for awhile Gilah and I climbed up the last 1,000 foot section of Merapi. Melis hung back chatted it up with a fellow westerner who was also studying in Yogya. Gilah and I left around 6 and it took us a good 50 minutes to reach the summit. The climb up was a volcanic rock scramble. The rocks were large, loose, and sharp. It was not technically hard we just had to go slower since footing wasn’t as stable as we’d like. As we approached the top of the crater I noticed that some rocks were warm. I started to see the smoke coming out of the vents on the mountain. There were also bright yellow chunks of sulfur which is shown in one of the pictures I posted. Once we reached the summit Gilah and I took in the 360 degree view. It was hazy out but we could still see neighboring summits and the garden towns below. After about 15 minutes we headed back down. Going down was the hard part because of all the loose rocks. Both Gilah and I took a few spills.

Once we arrived at base camp we had some noodles for a snack. Then around 8:40 we packed up and started the long trip down. The trail was very steep and had many rocks so we had to watch our footing. This made our descent slower than usual. On our way down we took a short break while Melis curiously stalked wild monkeys. These monkeys we not as forward as the domesticated road monkeys in Lombok so we only got see them from afar. We finally arrived at Selo (which had a huge Hollywood style sign that read “New Selo”) around 11:20am. The car ride home was beautiful, there were fields of local farms with lush gardens surrounding the base of Merapi. Upon arriving back in Yogya Melis and I splurged the 4 dollars and enjoyed hour and a half massages. Good times!

There are a few other peaks I am planning on climbing once I return in July:

Bromo (East Java)

Rinjani (Lombok)

Agung (Bali)

Kinabalu (Borneo)

Anyone down to come out and do some climbing? Porters are 9 dollars a day and Melis said she’s willing to do it for 5!

Merapi (Fire Mountain) is one of, if not the most, active volcanoes in Indonesia. Click here for more information on Merapi.

Elevation start: 5,600 feet

Base Camp / Plateau: 8,550 feet

Summit / Top of Crater: 9,606 feet

Start time: 1am

Plateau: 4:45am

Summit: 7:00am

Return: 11:20am