After Shasta I grabbed a burger with Jeff at Yaks on the 5 and headed south. It was famous, but their claim to one of the top 100 restaurants in the country was perhaps a bit overblown. 120 miles later I found myself near Eskimo Hill just outside Lassen Volcanic National Park. In winter it's a backcountry ski area. In summer it's a dirt pull parking area off the road perfect for guerrilla camping. Instead of trying to stretch out in the back of the car like I did at the Bunny Flat trailhead I leaned the seat back and slept on the passenger side. It was far more comfortable.

From my "campsite" the drive into the park, past Manzanita Lake, and around the mountain to the trailhead was a great introduction. From the north, the views above the trees show snow-covered slopes with exposed rock spines. I started worrying about conditions. I forgot those worries as I passed through starkly beautiful burned areas, coasted by pretty little lakes, and resisted the urge to stop at the amazing King's Creek area. All this, combined with places like the geologically active Bumpass Hell makes me eager to return with the rest of the family and spend time really exploring the backcountry.

But all that was just a prelude to getting up Lassen Peak. The trailhead is already at 8,500 feet so the climb itself is only 2,000 feet. Since it's in a national park the trail is in great shape. It winds up through some sparse trees before emerging onto open slopes. Tons of switchbacks made it easier, but at the cost of distance. I was more than happy to have a lesser slope to contend with and predefined goals where I could rest a moment. I employed the Dora the Explorer method of hiking: Rock, squirrel, switchback. Rock, squirrel, switchback. It was slow, but I kept climbing higher.

Since there was snow at the trailhead and signs warned of hazardous conditions I was fully geared with crampons and ice axe, but never needed them. Only one spot near the summit had any real peril and in truth it wasn't that perilous. Besides, a little bit of peril is good for you. (Seeing others fearfully cross the snow reminded me again how I take my familiarity with snow for granted.)

Like Shasta, there's a plateau just below the actual summit. To the north is the crater left by the 1915 eruption. Given more time I would have loved to walk down the short hill and get a closer look. (One more thing to do when we come back.)

But this trip was all about summits in pursuit of my Cascade Volcanoes quest. The summit is about a hundred feet higher than the plateau. There's supposedly a trail to the top, but the loose pile of rock and sand results in a thousand maybe trails winding through the rocks. Leave No Trace says we should stay on the trail, but what do you do when you can't figure out if this is the trail or that's the trail? I just picked the most likely route and walked softly.

The summit itself is one of two high points, but since I couldn't say for certain I tagged them both. Great views in all directions including back to Shasta. It was only from this vantage point that I could see the entire route we took to climb just the day before.

The way down was far, far quicker than the walk up. There was no rest stepping, no labored breathing, no taking pictures to give myself an excuse to take a break. In fact, it was like I was just on a hike at home rather than at 10,000 feet. The heat was pretty brutal, though. When I started in the morning it was in the high 50s. By the time I got back down is was near 90F. That's too hot to lie by a pool let alone hike or climb a mountain.

Thankfully, this was the last of the major southern volcanoes so I won't have to deal with such heat as I continue checking off items on my list. After this trip, I'm down to just eight more. Unfortunately, just about all of them require some amount of technical climbing to get to the summit. I guess I need to learn to climb. Anybody want to teach me?