Scaling New Heights - The Peakers

Location: Burney Falls State Park, CA

Much to my surprise, Denise was up before me this morning at 5:45am! What's up with that - I'm the morning person and she's the sunflower that slowly opens. However, I'm not going to complain about waking up to a cup of coffee handed to me. Okay, I can see this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...Our goal was to hit the trail for the peak of Mt. Lassen early and we certainly attained that goal. We were the first ones in the parking lot, but by the time we got situated (backpacks loaded up, feet taped up, one last pee stop) someone else actually started the climb before us. The climb was actually not bad compared to yesterday. It's a steady up with a lot of switchbacks. Yesterday's hike was just plain straight up for a good couple of miles. We were hoping to reach the peak within two hours and were on track when..doh! an obstacle prevented that from happening. A real obstacle, a metal gate. We were so close to the top but the last .9 miles was closed off for trail repair. Bummer! However, we saw that the trail will be opened for full moon hikes in August or September. We vowed to come back and own the peak. (Thomas you don't know this but you are already recruited to make this trek with us). We were back at the winniemobile much sooner than anticipated so after some reconnoitering we decided to head for Burney Falls and get in a bike ride and perhaps another hike. Yes, we are two girls ready to feel the burn. Once at Burney Falls, we checked out the Visitor's Center, watched a video and got some great ideas on how to spend the rest of the day. We took a short bike ride to the cemetery to see where the McArthur Brothers or Sam Burney was buried, the co-founders of the park. Much to our surprise neither were buried there. Oh well, good ploy to get us moving. The ride back was a bit uphill in the blazing sun. (Oh yeah, we needed another layer of dust to top off the Mill Creek and Lassen Peak hikes). We continued on the bike ride down to the lake and had quite a climb back up. If there is a God, our quads HAVE to look better after this trip! We both agreed that if we were going to continue to ride together in the winniemobile that showers were a must. Late afternoon showers...ahhh best damn .50 cents we ever spent! On the bike ride we ran into a park ranger and asked about the evening program. We decided to join him for an early evening hike around the falls up to the headwaters. He was disappointed that we couldn't join him for the old fashioned campfire sing-a-long tomorrow night. Oh and how I love to belt out "On Top of Old Smokey!" As Ned always tells me, what I lack in tone I make up in enthusiasm! The hike began at 6 and lasted for almost 2 hours. We started at the top of the falls and walked to the headwaters. Pretty amazing that millions of gallons of water pour over the falls each day all originating from tiny springs about a mile upstream. The ranger identified plants and provided great tips such as how to tell where the sun will be in a hour's time. Handy bit of knowledge when you're hiking. We totaled up the day's hiking miles and we figured a little over 7 miles. Not bad considering a lot of it was uphill. We are going to see how we feel tomorrow and maybe do a hike before we take off for Oregon. We are having a blast taking photos and blogging together. (Hint to Chuck. I think Denise would LOVE an ipad for her birthday - wink, wink - let's talk). Let's see if Ms. Earlybird is going to bring me coffee again. Mmm, better not push my luck.

Mill Creek or Hill Creek?

Location: Lassen National Park, CA

A month or so ago, my friend Denise Allured and I dreamed up the perfect summer camping getaway. Our plan was to head north to beat the summer heat and explore the backbone of the Cascades from Mt. Lassen to Mt. Rainier. We named this trip the "Double D Cascade Jaunt." Everyday has a hike or bike trek planned. If we are not dead by the end of the trip we at least will be in better shape. Wahoo...the day finally arrived. We took the scenic route of highway 32 and really enjoyed the vistas on both sides of the ridge. By the time we arrived at Mt. Lassen we were in awe of the killer views - you could see Lake Almanor, the wooded valley and beyond.

You know that old axiom, it's not the destination but the journey, well that pretty much described today. When I was about 33 years old, (for you bean counters out there that was 20+ years ago) I hiked to Mill Creek Falls. Somehow I remember that hike as being relatively flat and through a meadow. WRONG! This was supposed to be our "ease into the trip warm-up hike" to get ready for the climb to the top of Mt. Lassen tomorrow. Instead the hike was a very strenuous downhill/uphill climb. I think we hiked a little over 7 miles today. The walk really was about the journey. We ventured through meadows of wild flowers, sometimes waist high in lupin, Indian paint brush, daisies, and corn lillies - to just name a few. We started at Kings Creek and were accompanied by several babbling brooks meandering through the wildflower meadows. We skirted two lakes and then began the descent down, down, down. When we finally reached Mill Creek Falls it was nothing like I remembered. It's the biggest fall in the park of at least a 75 foot drop. Unfortunately, we approached it from the top and were never able to get a view of the actual falls descending. The climb back was a challenge especially since I was still recovering from the Half Dome hike, blistered included. Thank goodness for Denise's patience and expertise on how to tie up laces for a tight fit - way to go Denise! One of the scientific highlights of the hike was stumbling across some bear scat or to be more specific the "fecal plug". When I was in Glacier the ranger gave a talk about when a bear sleeps for the winter (not hibernates) it licks itself and digests its own hair. This forms a "fecal plug" so that he isn't awakened by bodily functions. Apparently it's a rare find to come across this. Imagine our surprise! We spent some time examining it and thought it pretty cool. I know other chicks dote on their looks we get our kicks out of bear scat. This is definitely a match made in heaven. Our campsite tonight couldn't be better. Not bad for showing up and winging it. We are camped at the summit next to a meadow at the end of a loop. We have privacy, shade and a killer view. We got back from the hike a little later than anticipated (3 hr. 47 minutes and close to 7 pm) so instead of cooking up veggies and salmon we made a killer salad with veggies from our gardens. Yum! Of course, the wine helped it go down easy...Tomorrow is the big hike to the top of Lassen. Here's to a good night sleep, blistered healed and an early start!