The Emotional Attraction of Mount Lassen

I've been attracted to Lassen since I was younger than ten. It might have come about because of a family vacation we had to the area. I was able to climb to the top. That offered a sense of accomplishment. Then there was the awesome power of the explosion in 1915. When I was young the interpretive center had a bunch of pictures, mostly from B.F. Loomis. They showed in black and white the impressive force of the eruption in May 1915. There is also the Mark Twain connection. Twain describes a trip he made to Lassen in Roughing it. I think I read his description about the time I first climbed the mountain. Whatever the cause - the area holds a high attraction for me.

When my son was about seven or eight I tried to take him up to the top but did not take enough water so we failed to make it to the summit. A few years later he and I went back again and had a wonderful hike to the top.

A few years after that a good friend from Mexico was going through a rough time and I picked him up in SFO and we went straight to Lassen and hiked and talked for two days. It was a wonderful experience - but we did not make it to the top. So my experience over time has been mixed. Lassen is an easy climb - all trails, no scrambling - but in the times I have been into the park I've only gotten to the top about half the time.

For the last year, my oldest grandson and I have had a plan about climbing Lassen Peak this summer. We got there today and found that the trail was closed because of a slide - and it will be closed for the rest of the season. So we went to Bumpass Hell. The hike is a bit shorter than the peak. The temperature was wonderful - although because of a fire in the general area it is not as clear as it usually is in August.

The area is remote enough so while there are always tourists in the summer - it is never very crowded. It is also a more pristine part of the Sierra (actually Mt. Lassen is at the bottom part of the Cascades).

I hope I conveyed the mystery and the majesty of the area to my grandson. We had a good hike - even if it was not to the top of the mountain and there is always next year.