Lassen National park

T and I made the 4 hour drive up to Lassen National Park over the weekend for a long overdue camping excursion. Lassen is the site of a massive series of volcanic eruptions that, prior to Mount St. Helen's in 1980, were the most powerful on record, leaving behind a group of active volcanic domes in the Cascades.

We spent the first night at a hotel near Redding, then drove the next morning to the camp site, pitched our tent, and proceeded to hike to the 5 mile trek to the peak of Mount Lassen, which is nearly 10,500 feet above sea level. T had a pretty cool GPS app on his phone that let us track our route, and as he took pictures, it recorded their exact position and stored them accordingly. You can check out our route here. The hike was pretty grueling ... 6 hours of what amounts to a constant, never ending 20-30 grade incline along cinder cone rocks and pebbles, with a total elevation gain of 2500 feet. That said, the views from the top are breathtaking, and ultimately worth the exercise.

Once we made it back to the campsite, we cooked up some yummy dinner, and spent the night laughing and enjoying the meal underneath a crystal clear blanket of stars. It's funny ... we spendmost of our lives under a roof, or protected by walls, but nothing makes you feel more naked or vulnerable than being out in the pitch black of night. Not to be cheesy, but it's truly awe inspiring.

The next morning, we woke up early, cooked ourselves some breakfast burritos, and took a walk around the nearby lake for a couple hours. We had initially planned to do another hike around the cinder cone, but were both exhausted by the last day's hike, and facing another 4 hours on the road, we decided to head back home early.

And with that, here're some pictures from the trip!