PCT mile 1340.7 to 1357.6
Morning dawns and we arise early. Hiking in the dimly lit forest brings a reverence and awe and a deep connection to nature and our place in it. Our voices are lowered and our loads feel light as we climb out of the creek drainage.
An hour or so later we exit the deep woods and spy a rocky spot with a view to eat our breakfast bar and enjoy a cup of coffee. We are immediately alarmed by what looks like smoke in the forest on yonder hill. It’s only after watching it a while and then looking at our map, that we realize it is what Lassen calls a terminal geyser. It’s steam we are seeing and we are very enthused to hike on and see this vent up close and personal.
The terminal geyser is just a wee bit off the trail, but so worth seeing, in our view. It’s eerie and the ground there covered in white deposits. Close to the vent the water boils. There is a bit of a smell too.
Later on down the trail we come to the Boiling Springs Lake and it’s other worldly as well. We have never been to Lassen Park before and we are starting to realize what an awesome geothermic park it is.
When we arrive at Drakesbad Resort, we stop and have a beer and learn that a Mr. Drake started the resort. He was German and the German word for Bath is Bad and that’s why it’s called Drakesbad. Back in the day, people would visit this place to enjoy bathing in the thermal waters. It’s since been taken over by the National Park, but folks still come to enjoy all the geothermal activity and the beautiful scenery.
It’s a wee bit of a climb after Drakesbad and we sweat profusely, as it is also very hot. At the first stream we stop and dunk our heads and get water to drink. We also have a lovely chat with a Russian immigrant. She’s out for the long weekend dayhiking most of the trails in the park. She hikes with salad tongs and a garbage bag and collects any trash along the way. A very worthy endeavor.
When we arrive at Lower Twin lakes three young men in park service shirts stop us to make sure we have the required bear can. We do and we make camp on a bench above the lake. We are really surprised to see so many campers here. We check our map and realize that there is a short four mile trail to get here and the crowds make more sense.
We swim and enjoy the mountain sun and breeze and each other.
Later, while eating our dinner, two bold young ladies in bikinis rush into our camp and apologizing for the intrusion they ask if we saw the bear and cub. We didn’t. They say they were right behind us. We then notice the bear spray in their hand. They tell us a single bear had startled them earlier while they were reading in their hammocks. No noise would make it leave, so they sprayed it. Even though they knew it was illegal in California. They wanted to spray these bears too and make them leave.. They also told us they didn’t know they were supposed to have a bear can. We wondered how they got by the young rangers without a can, it just might have been the bikinis. Lol!
Great tales from the trails. Keep them coming! Thanks
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