Lassen Camping Trip

Hello again, long time no post!

I haven't had the chance to travel much lately, but a few weeks ago we took a long weekend to go live in the woods up in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Camping is the type of vacation that takes a bit more preparation and work than, say, an all-inclusive resort where all you have to do is throw money at people to have things taken care of for you. But there's something to be said for roughing it in the wilderness completely off the grid, and cooking your own food over an open fire as you gaze up at the stars, unobstructed by any light pollution or smog.

Banana smores are surprisingly good

We stayed at the Summit Lake campsite, a medium sized site conveniently located right in the middle of the park close to most of the major hiking trailheads. As the name implies, we were also right next to a small lake, which turned out to be a great place to dip our feet after a long hike, and also to get some great views of the night sky. My only complaint is that a few of our neighbors did not seem to care about quiet hours. (PSA: Quiet hours at most campgrounds are 10pm - 6am, and people will think you're a total ass if you're too loud during that time.) Oh well. Maybe we'll go to a more remote campsite next time.

View of Lassen Peak near our campsite at Summit Lake

National parks are great places to hike, and Lassen is no exception. Here are the hikes we did on this trip:

1. Lassen Peak: 5 miles roundtrip, 1950 feet elevation gain. Lassen Peak is the tallest mountain in the park, and the hike to the top is one of the most highly recommended hikes for the grand, sweeping, panoramic views at the top. It’s also a thigh burner - you’re climbing for 2.5 miles straight to the top. I would recommend this hike for anyone who hasn’t done it before, but I would also recommend being in decent shape and/or taking frequent breaks on the way up. Hiking at 9000 feet elevation is no joke.

Top of Lassen Peak

2. Cold Boiling Lake: 1.4 miles roundtrip, 40 feet elevation gain. Our second hike was more of a cool-down walk after finishing Lassen Peak. The hike started at the Kings Creek trailhead and followed an easy trail through the woods to a small bubbling lake. It was a nice walk, but nothing to go out of your way for. 

Cold Boiling Lake

3. Bumpass Hell: 3 miles roundtrip, 800 feet elevation gain. This is one of Lassen’s signature hikes that I would consider to be a must-see for anyone visiting. Lassen is known for its many geothermal features, and Bumpass Hell is one of the best hikes to see them from. The trail starts out flat and then descends into a small valley where you can get up close (but not too close!) to steam vents, bubbling mudpots, and boiling pools. It’s one of those things you don’t get to see just anywhere, so I would highly recommend checking it out.

Bumpass Hell

Lassen tends to be one of the more underrated parks, which is fine because that means less crowds to deal with. It’s a great place to get away and go on some nice hikes, and I know I’ll be back to explore the other regions of the park.

Journey to Wizard Island

My Oregon trip has come to an end and I’m back in the bay area again, but during the last weekend before I left, I decided to take one last adventure down to Crater Lake with M who was also visiting. Most people who visit the national park spend their time driving around the lake on the scenic Rim Drive. But we decided to try the road less traveled and take a boat out to Wizard Island, the small(er) volcanic mountain in the middle of the lake.

Wizard Island as seen from Crater Lake Rim Drive

Our day started with an early morning drive to Cleetwood Cove on the north side of the lake. We picked up our tickets the moment the ticketing office opened at 7:30, then started hiking down to the actual dock. The trail was pretty steep - makes sense considering it’s on the edge of a crater. We made good time going down and even had time to take some pictures before catching our boat at 8:30.

The dock at Wizard Island

The boat ride was wet and cold. A thick fog covered the entire lake, and the sun had not yet pierced through. As we kept going, a mountain suddenly materialized out of the darkness, and we were at Wizard Island.

On the way to the summit

There are two hiking trails on Wizard Island. We started with the summit hike, one mile of going straight to the top of the mountain, and then one mile back. 

Mini crater at the top of Wizard Island

It was a struggle up the steep trail with the oxygen deprived air at 7000 feet elevation, but we made it up right as the sun was just starting to peek through the clouds, making for some great photo opportunities.

View from the top of the island

After going back down, we had some extra time before the boat came back to pick us up, so we decided to take the other trail to Fumarole Bay. The trail was incredibly rugged. 

Look how rugged the trail was

We were basically walking on huge piles of volcanic rock, making it quite hard on the ankles. In order to preserve our joints, we just went to the first vista point of the bay and then turned back.

Beautiful Fumarole Bay

The boat ride back to Cleetwood Cove was a lot more pleasant than the journey out. By then the sun was completely out, turning the lake a brilliantly blue color.

We could actually see the island during the return ride

Despite having to wake up at the crack of dawn and make a final steep climb out of the crater at the end, it was totally worth seeing the amazing sights and getting to hike on trails orders of magnitude less crowded than those on the mainland. Wizard Island was definitely the highlight of our trip, and I would highly recommend it to anyone spending at least a full day at Crater Lake.

The North Oregon Coast

After a short three months at home, I’m off on another work trip again, this time to the greater Portland area. So far the transition has been pretty smooth. Portland actually seems very similar to the bay area, in that there’s lots of great food, a relatively diverse population, and debilitating traffic during rush hour. Just like home.

Hello Portland!

Last weekend my parents came up for a brief visit, and we decided to take a day trip outside of the city. There’s a charming little town on the coast that several people had recommended called Astoria, just under a two hour drive from the Portland area. Situated right next to the Columbia river and present day Oregon-Washington border, Astoria is where Lewis and Clark ended their journey and search for the fabled Northwest Passage. 

Lewis and Clark with their dog and a friendly Native American

The first place we visited was Fort Clatsop, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park. There was a nice little visitor center with exhibits and videos telling the story of Lewis and Clark’s travels, and a life-size replica of Fort Clatsop. Many hiking trails also extend out from the visitor center. One of the trails was the Fort to Sea Trail, starting at the fort and leading to the sea unsurprisingly. The entire trail was six miles one way, so we decided to just do two miles up to Clatsop Ridge and turn back from there. It was a pleasant trail, but the view at the ridge was a little underwhelming. There were probably nice views at the end of the trail, but not sure I would recommend going to the ridge in particular. 

In line for fish and chips

For lunch we went to the highest rated place in the area on Yelp, Bowpicker Fish and Chips. The restaurant is actually just a foodboat (as opposed to a foodtruck) - a boat parked in the middle of a dirt lot repurposed to serve fish and chips. The line was pretty impressive; we ended up waiting an hour before we got our food. 

Freshly fried fish and chips

But with all the locals in line raving about how good this place was, the wait didn’t feel too bad. When we finally got our food everything was freshly fried and crispy. The fish was nicely textured, and the freshest fish I’ve ever had for fish and chips. Definitely worth a try despite the wait.

Visited this ship next to the Maritime Musem

After lunch we visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum before making a stop at the Astoria Column. The museum had some interesting exhibits about all the shipwrecks around the mouth of the Columbia - apparently it’s one of the most dangerous rivers in the world to boat on - and we also got to walk around on a ship as part of admission. But I think the highlight of the day was the Astoria Column. 

The Astoria Column

Built on the highest hill in the city, the Astoria Column features the best view of the surrounding water and land at the observation deck on top. With the great panoramic views, it’s the perfect place to pause and appreciate the beauty of the northwest coast. 

View from the top of the column

New places to explore, new experiences to be had. Looking forward to seeing what else Oregon has to offer!

Hiking and spelunking at Pinnacles

Last week was National Parks week, meaning free admission at all parks. Taking advantage of the event, I went with a group of friends to Pinnacles National Park for a day hike. We decided to start out at Old Pinnacles trailhead, which was just as well because the Bear Gulch trailhead had just run out of parking by the time we got to the park (note for the future - 10am is not early enough to get a parking spot at the Bear Gulch day use area). 

View of Balconies Cliffs from the trail

Rockier terrain closer to the cave

We followed the Old Pinnacles Trail for a couple miles through relatively flat terrain. Several creek crossings later, we finally reached the entrance to Balconies Cave. 

Last bit of light before entering the dark cave

Flashlights were very much needed in the pitch black first section of the cave. We scrambled over and under fallen rocks and squeezed through tight crevices and eventually got to the other side of the cave.

Fallen rocks in the caves to crawl under

On the way back we took the Balconies Cliff Trail to see some different scenery. 

View of the high peaks over the ridge

We got a great view of Machete Ridge on the right, and watched a couple hardcore rock climbers scaling Balconies Cliffs to our left. After a little less than a mile, the Cliff Trail merged back with the Old Pinnacles Trail which we followed back to the trailhead.

I think this is Machete Ridge

This was my first time going to Pinnacles, and was a great introduction to the park I had heard so many good things about. I look forward to coming back sometime to explore the whole south side of the park and high peaks!