During my hike from Summit Lake to Kings Creek Falls it occurred to me that although never proclaimed, I was practically on a sort of a quest to hike all the trails within Lassen Volcanic National Park. I still have quite a bit of mileage to go but nearly all of it is in the remote back country of the park. By my latest visit there last July I have hiked nearly all the major attraction trails and reachable within a day's hike trails in the park, and many of these trails I've hiked numerous times. There was one place however, that had been on my 'wanna go there' list for quite a while, and somehow I never went there - the Terminal Geyser. On my trip to Lassen last July I finally made it to the Terminal geyser.
On the previous day I said goodbye to my family hiking group, then hiked by myself from Summit Lake to Kings Creek Falls. I finished that hike at sundown then drove all the way to Chester and up the road to Domingo Springs Campground. I arrived the campground after dark, pitched my tent and cooked dinner. Usually when I camp on my own I don't bother with campfires but that night I lit a campfire and sat next to it for a while before going to sleep. In the morning I had the chance to see how beautiful the place was before breaking camp and heading to Warner Valley where the trailhead was.
It was Monday morning and there was only one other car in the small parking area. I sat at one of the picnic tables and had my breakfast while watching the birds that were active in the trees surrounding the parking area. One of these birds was a brown creeper which kept going up and down the large pine tree near my breakfast table.
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| Brown Creeper |
The trailhead to the Terminal Geyser is the same one going out to the Devil's Kitchen, where I hiked by myself at the beginning of my trip and two days later with the group. The first half a mile of these trails overlaps, and it is also a part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which runs through the park.
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| My hike as captured by my GPS |
Byte time I finished eating a couple more cars pulled into the parking lot. I got into a chat with one of the other visitors and he confirmed the forecast that I saw earlier online - rain was expected around noon that day. I stuffed a light rain jacket into my backpack, gathered the rest of my needs and started down the trail.
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| Devil's Kitchen Trail |
The first part of the hike I already knew well - it was the beginning of the Devil's Kitchen hike as well. I I went through it quickly, but I did take a moment to photograph some plants that I had ignored on my previous hike.
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| Grassy Tarweed, Madia gracilis |
I walked quickly through the meadows and the boardwalk as well, although I did look sideways for the possibility of seeing orchids.
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| Devil's Kitchen Trail |
I didn't see any orchids there, not this year. I did get to appreciate once again the beautiful thistles that bloomed in the meadow.
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| California Swamp Thistle, Cirsium douglasii |
I made it quickly to the bridge crossing Hot Springs Creek but this time I didn't linger there for more than the moment it took to snap a photo.
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| Hot Springs Creek |
From the bridge to the trail junction where the Terminal Geyser Trail splits off I didn't stop at all. I already knew the bypasses and the hops over all the flooded, muddy areas of that trail.
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| Diffuse Groundsmoke, Gayophytum diffusum |
The trail to the Terminal Geyser splits from the Devil's Kitchen Trail in the southeast direction. The trail was surprisingly narrow considering that it is a part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
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| Terminal Geyser Trail/PCT |
The forest all around my was completely burnt. The trees, dead and charred stood like a sad memorial of the majestic forest it once was. The forest floor was covered with thick, spiny mat of the whitethorn - a low spreading Ceanothus shrub. The creek that the trail followed for a little bit looked bone dry but on a closer look I could see a small trickle of water between the rocks.
The view of he burnt forest with the gray thorny Ceanothus and the dry creek, along with the gray, cloudy sky, seemed a bit bleak. I was seeing wildflowers however, and many of them. Despite the devastation left by the Dixie Fire of 2021 there was life all around me.
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| Woolly Nama, nama lobbii |
The trail forked, separating the Terminal Geyser Trail from the Pacific Crest Trail. These trails meet again just above the Terminal Geyser so it is possible to do this hike as a long, narrow loop. I took the right, non-PCT trail which continued below the crest of the hill. The forest was already in the process of recovering. There were sprouted and sprouting baby trees all around. Before too long the fierce competition for resources will thin them out and the winners will be the new forest.
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| California Incense Cedar, Calocesdrus decurrens |
Lassen Volcanic National Park has five geothermal spots, three of which are located in the area of Warner Valley. The terminal Geyser Trail goes by two of them, and I was coming up to the Boiling lake. I wished to see the lake again so I turned on the trail spur that led to it.
Only once before have I seen the Boiling Lake. Years ago, when I visited Lassen Volcanic NP with my family we went to see it after having visited the Devil's Kitchen. We were with Grandma Quail too that time, and with Pappa Quail's sister and her family, and our own chikas were very young at the time, so we didn't continue to the Terminal Geyser and settled for the much closer Boiling Lake. I was to occupied by our visitors and my chikas at the time so I didn't remember much of that lake and I was glad for the opportunity to see it again, this time without distractions.
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| Boiling Lake |
Well, as soon as the Boiling Lake came into view I did get distracted. A slender doe walked slowly by the bushes that grew above the lake. The doe didn't seem too bothered by my appearance but she did walk away and disappeared in the vegetation.
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| Columbian Black-tailed Deer, doe |
As soon as the doe slipped away a buck came into my view, following closely in the footsteps of the doe. The buck's antlers were still growing, wrapped in velvety skin and showing only one branch, indicating that this buck was fairly young.
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| Columbian Black-tailed Deer, buck |
The buck didn't stop at all. He looked at me briefly as if to acknowledge my presence, then commenced walking into the bushes where the doe had gone. I continued also, stepping as close to the lake as it was safe and taking a good look around.
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| Boiling Lake |
The geothermal areas are not safe to get too close to. The soil's crust is thin and brittle, and can break under the weight of a person, as Kendall Bumpass found out in 1965 at the price of losing his leg. Bumpass was immortalized with the naming of the geothermal area he discovered after him. Bumpass Hell is now the main geothermal attraction in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
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| Boiling Lake |
I could feel the waves of hot air mixed in steam on my skin, and smelled the sulfuric fumes that permeated my nostrils. The Boiling Lake is probably the geothermal area that has the second shortest walk to get to. The most accessible geothermal area in the park is the Sulfur Works area which is right on the Park's main road near the south entrance.
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| Boiling Lake |
Boiling Lake is quite large. I believe it is the largest geothermal pool in Lassen Park, fitting in the scale with Yellowstone's hot pools. As I ascended back to the trail to reach the south end of Boiling Lake I got a glimpse of Lassen Peak through the burnt trees. The mountain had a wisp of cloud near its summit, making it look like an active, steaming fumarole.
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| Lassen Peak |
The south end of Boiling Lake was where the geothermal action was. The steam was most intense on that side, and bubbling, boiling water was springing from below the surface.
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| Boiling Lake |
At the edge of the lake was an area of muddy, steaming fumaroles that smelled of sulfur and were lined with thin belts of sickly looking grasses. I guess the only organisms that would happily live there would be thermophilic bacteria.
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| Fumaroles of Boiling Lake |
My attention was diverted to a quick movement in the air. It was a western wood pewee, which is a small flycatcher bird. True to its classification, caught an insect in mid-air and settled on a nearby branch to consume it.
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| Western Wood Pewee |
There were a few more birds in the nearby trees. They were chickadees - I could tell them by their distinctive tweets. Getting a good photo proved to be much more challenging though, because the little birds kept inside the net of branches.
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| Mountain Chickadee |
The trail continued southeast past Boiling Lake. I passed the junction with the lake-surrounding trail and continued on to Terminal Geyser. The trail was considerably thinner now, reflecting, I guess, the thinner human traffic.
More birds crossed the air in front of me, moving through the forest of dead trees. An American robin stopped atop a broken stump and regarded me warily until I passed him.
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| American Robin |
Apparently burned trees are food and/or home for enough invertebrate creatures to attract woodpeckers. A hairy woodpecker was knocking her way along a branch of another dead tree, occasionally stopping to preen her feathers.
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| Hairy Woodpecker |
I was also seeing more forest floor plants and wildflowers, such as the lovely wintergreen plant, which I saw here and there along the entire trail.
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| White-veined Wintergreen, Pyrola picta |
The wildflowers I saw along this trail were of the same species that I've seen on my hikes to Devil's Kitchen and on the back country trail to Kings Creek Falls. I was happy to see that so much bloom on this hike as well.
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| Slender Beardtongue, Penstemon gracilentus |
The spreading dogbane, an integral part of the forest understory in Lassen, was making a good recovery. I was seeing good size patches of this plant in many places.
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| Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium |
The clouds that covered the sky earlier drifted away. Bright sunshine, unstopped by a forest canopy, washed the forest floor. It looked like the rain forecast might be null.
I don't normally pay too much attention to grasses. They look very similar to one another, and they can be very difficult to identify. Sometimes however, grasses can be very beautiful.
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| Squirreltail, Elymus elymoides |
The trail undulated on the mild ripples of the earth. In some places it was very faint but I never had a problem finding were to go. I moved swiftly along, pausing only to take a closer look at wildflowers and other interesting sights.
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| Wirelettuce, Stephanimeria lactucina |
Some of those other interesting sights were galls. Galls are plant growths that are induced by insects which lay their eggs in them and their larvae develop in them. Some galls can be quite colorful and pretty.
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| Manzanita Galls |
Fruits can also be very pretty and interesting. The gooseberry blossom is beautiful but it was already done for the year when I hiked in tat forest. Its fruit however, was also quite impressive. Those shiny green thorny spheres looked like holiday decorations.
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| Sierra Gooseberry, Ribes roezlii |
Almost without noticing the sky darkened again. Then came down drops of water which raised tiny dust wisps from the trail. The smell of rain came to my nose but the drops didn't develop into a real rain and ceased after a few minutes. I was glad that I wasn't smelling the chinquapin bushes that I saw in that area. Chinquapin bloom can have a very strong musky odor.
The trail was losing altitude now at a mild, yet steady slope. Eventually I reached a trail sign that marked a junction - loft to the north-bound PCT and right to the south bound PCT. I knew that a short distance ahead there should be another junction where the trail to Terminal Geyser forked off from the PCT. The problem was that there were too many paths cut through the thicket of whitethorn shrubs and all of them had recent footprints.
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| Mountain Whitethorn, Ceanothus cordulatus |
I chose the one that looked like it was going in the correct direction. It wasn't the right path but I soon came into view of the indisputable sign that I was indeed going in the right direction, sort of: the sight of the steam coming from the Terminal Geyser itself.
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| Terminal Geyser |
I navigated carefully through the vegetation and fallen burnt logs until I found the right path leading down to the Terminal Geyser. There was a short stretch of a steep trail which I descended carefully because the soil was crumbling. At the bottom the trail split off from the PCT to the left where the Terminal Geyser was.
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| Terminal Geyser Trail |
The last bit of trail from the PCT to Terminal Geyser had very different vegetation from what I've seen so far on my hikes in Lassen Park. I wonder if the heat coming from the geyser had anything to do with it. Perhaps it was simply coincidental.
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| Western Morning Glory, Calystegia occidentalis |
There were lots of thimbleberry bushes there, for instance. I was too late to see their bloom though, and too early to enjoy the berries.
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| Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus |
I've also seen a single plant of blue mountain penstemon blooming there. This species I've seen in many places in the mountains of California but I don't recall having seen it in Lassen before. I'd have to go and check my records.
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| Mountain Blue Penstemon, Penstemon laetus |
I hopped across a small brook on my way to the geyser. The brook was choked with vegetation but I ignored it and had my attention on a different thing - I heard human voices coming from the geyser area.
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| Cattail |
Up until then I was alone. I did see other hikers going on the PCT whenever it was within sight from the Terminal Geyser Trail, but on the trail I was walking I was all alone until now. When I turned the corner I found a young couple climbing down the rocks after taking some close up shots of the geyser. We greeted each other and then I asked if the saw the geyser erupt. The didn't, and they didn't know when it was expected to erupt.
I stared really hard at the geyser but all I could see through the steam was some regular shoot outs of water, none going very high. When I saw that the guy was checking his phone I took out mine and discovered that surprisingly, I was within reception range. I quickly checked the Terminal Geyser online and found out the truth - the Terminal Geyser wasn't a real geyser. Not in the sense of cycled pressure-triggered eruptions as seen in the geysers of Yellowstone, but a very active boiling spring and steam vent.
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| Terminal Geyser |
Even if it wasn't a true geyser, it was definitely terminal. It was the end of the trail and the turning point of my last hike of this year's trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I sat down on a rock by the small creek that drained the geyser and opened the melon that I carried with me all the way there.
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| Terminal Geyser drainage creek |
The other hikers took off before me and once again in solitude, I took my brunch break. The clouds were moving and the sunlight was coming in and out of the cloud holes, like some elaborate patchwork. It was quite hypnotic. Eventually however, I snapped out of my reverie and got up to go back. This time I did take a moment to examine the vegetation that choked the little side brook that crossed the trail.
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| Whitestem Hedgenettle, Stachys albens |
The creek that originated at the geyser continued flowing downhill. It was only then that I realized that the trees closest to the geyser were green and very much alive - apparently the fire missed the nook where the geyser was.
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| Terminal Geyser Trail |
I headed back towards the PCT junction and into the more damaged part of the forest. The wind suddenly picked up, the clouds were closing in again and I thought I could hear thunder far away.
I didn't worry so much about getting wet but storms are known to knock down trees, especially dead trees that are yet standing. I increased my pace, but only to stop again and try to get a decent image of a tiny flower.
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| Spanish Clover, Acmispon americanus |
The sun broke through the clouds again and I eased up my pace. I moved with caution up the slippery slope of crumbly soil.
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| Slender Cinquefoil, Potentilla gracilis | |
I reached the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail, which I had somehow missed and bypassed on my way down. I couldn't help thinking about how lonely this section of the PCT was compared with the High Sierra portion. I was sad that Lassen Volcanic NP doesn't get highlighted much and on the other hand I was happy that it wasn't overrun by people yet. Certainly not in this part of the park.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
The grasses were swaying with the wind and a beautiful, colorful moth was swaying with one grass blade. It was the first time I saw this type of moth.
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| Western Sheep Moth |
There were other insects that didn't mind the wind and kept on their activity. I found an interesting bee that was busy gathering pollen from a bull thistle. The thistle was more stable than the grass and didn't sway as much, though.
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| Urbane Digger Bee visiting a Bull Thistle, Cirsium vulgare |
Back on higher ground I turned around and looked at the steam coming up from the Terminal Geyser. Without bearing the expectations of its name, the Terminal Geyser is a pretty cool geothermal feature. Now I have seen all five geothermal sites in Lassen Volcanic NP.
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| Terminal Geyser |
I made it back to the other trail junction that split the Terminal Geyser Trail that I came down on from the PCT and this time I chose to walk northwest on the PCT. The PCT rides on a crest rather than a depression. There was more light there and more open area, meadow-like vegetation.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
Of the numerous plants I recognized right away my favorite mountain herb - the mountain monardella. There was no mistaking in that fresh minty aroma.
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| Pale Mountain Monardella, Monardella odoratissima |
One open area plant makes large fields Lassen is the woolly mule's ears. The entire east-facing slope behind the Kohm-Yah-Mah-Nee visitor center,
on the way to Mill Creek Falls is covered by these sunflower relatives. With good seasonal timing one can see these mule's ears fields light up in bright yellow.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
I was a bit too late for the mule's ears bloom display and had to settle for a few straggling blossoms here and there.
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| Woolly Mule's Ears, Wyethia mollis |
I wasn't too late for the monkeyflowers though. The trail cut through some moist depression areas where there must have been ponds until fairly recently. Large patches of the primrose monkeyflower covered much of these places.
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| Primrose Monkeyflower, Erythranther primuloides |
The common yarrow wasn't so common here but it wasn't exactly rare either. The yarrow was at its peak bloom and I saw quite a few of them during the hike.
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| Common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium |
The most common plant there by far was the whitethorn ceanothus. I love the ceanothus plants because their bloom has one of the most wonderful fragrance I get to enjoy in California's wilderness. In some places however, the price for it is blood, or at least some holes in the clothes. On my way up from the Terminal Geyser I came across a single hiker who was making his way down there. He was wearing short pants and his legs were
bleeding from numerous scratches and he warned me about this plant. Now I could see why - the trail was nearly completely overgrown by the whitethorns. I was glad to be wearing my high shoes and sturdiest long hiking pants. It was also too late in the season to have enjoyed the ceanothus fragrance - the plants were already bearing fruit.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
The whitethorn patches were interspaced with grassy savanna-like areas. The grasses also choked the trail but they weren't prickly and it was easy enough to see where the trail was for the trampled vegetation.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
There were quite a few wildflowers blooming in these grassy savannas, including species that I was seeing for the first time on this hike.
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| Oregon Checkerbloom, sidalcea oregana |
The grand colloma that was blooming in one of these grassy areas I was seeing for the first time on this trip.
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| Grand Collomia, Collomia grandiflora |
The birds of that forest I knew already - most of them were dark-eyed juncos. These birds are very common but they aren't easy to photograph because they tend to stick to the shadows and they are constantly moving. Every now and then however, one would sit still just long enough.
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
I walked through one meadow depression where I saw young trees that clearly have sprouted before the Dixie Fire. Somehow they had survived the fire and now they had a head start over the baby trees that sprouted after the great devastation.
Thistles can be very beautiful and on this trip I was seeing many beautiful thistles, including a species I wasn't familiar with.
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| Anderson's Thistle, Cirsium andersonii |
The trail was going down on a very mild slope, undulating a little up and down with the curves of the land. There were no obstacles to consider except for the occasional whitethorn patch. All fallen logs had been removed or cut through to allow passage. Belts of naked buckwheat lined long portions of the trail.
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| Pacific Crest Trail |
On one of the buckwheat plants sat a gorgeous fritillary butterfly. The butterfly cooperated and stayed put for a good long minute before flying away.
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| Great Basin Fritillary |
I cleared one more low crest and Lassen Peak appeared before me - large, majestic, and wearing no clouds.
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| Lassen Peak |
The clouds were on the other side of the sky and the wind was pushing them in my direction. From my vantage point I could see the vast forest devastation left by the Dixie Fire. It was a sad sight but I already seen the new generation of trees coming up. The forest shall renew.
The trail continued downhill on a somewhat steeper slope, and the whitethorn fields changed to manzanita shrubs. It was easy to walk faster now and I charged down at an almost trot.
Yellow trail mark discs were nailed to trees along the way but one of them made me stop - it had a handwritten piece of wisdom left there by one hiker who thought it would be a good thing to cheer up other hikers. While I like the general sentiment of the quote, I like less seeing human markings in the wilderness.
Once again I had to walk through a large patch of whitethorn. below me were a mother and two young boys who were struggling up the trail and through that same patch of thorns. The boys were wearing shorts and they were very unhappy. I Reassured them that the whitethorn doesn't continue throughout the entire trail but was concerned that they might remember better their pains rather than the beauty around them.
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| A Moth on a Whitethorn |
When I reached Boiling lake again I knew I was nearing the end of my hike. I paused by the lake to look at it from the PCT side. I had a better view from that direction of the colorful ground that surrounded the lake.
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| Boiling Lake |
From Boiling Lake it was a short and quick way down to the trail fork where the PCT and the Terminal Geyser Trail reunited. Down I went by the dry creek which at its base turned out to not be dry after all.
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| Creek |
I continued all the way down to the valley where I connected once again with the Devil's Kitchen Trail, this time taking it east towards the parking lot.
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| Devil's Kitchen Trail |
It was also the perfect view point on Drakesbad resort and the new buildings they were erecting after the fire devastation. I now have the urge to book myself a vacation there and enjoy the geothermally heated spa they have.
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| Drakesbad |
Fir the last time on this trip I had to negotiate the muddy parts of the Devil's Kitchen Trail. For the last time on this trip I was taking in the beauty of the park's summer bloom.
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| Seep Monkeyflower, Erythranthe gutatta |
As I marched on the last stretch of boardwalk I saw a number of hikers making their way out towards Devil's Kitchen, or Boiling Lake, or maybe even to Terminal Geyser. For many of them it would bethe first time discovery hike, and I was envious. I love coming back again and again, but nothing quite matches that first time discovery feeling, especially in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
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