Day 7: Summit and Echo Lakes

  Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, United States
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Nice, easy day today. Woke up slowly. Took my time getting going. Drove up to the summit trailhead to check it out: completely snowed over at the start. Then I worked my way down to Bumpass Hell Trail head past Lake Helen, which was still frozen but starting to thaw in places and a crazy, crystal blue. 

02 Lake Helen

 The Bumpass trail head was also snowed over, and while there were many people still doing it, despite the snow, I didn't like being one of them. I decided to save Bumpass for when I come back to do the summit. Instead, I headed back over the top and returned to the Summit Lake area.

09 Summit Lake

 

The campground at Summit Lake is the one I'd hoped to hit, but which isn't open until Friday. There was, however, a parking area at the trailhead. I pulled in there and took a look at the trail map. The loop I really wanted to do turned out to be 11 miles. While I didn't rule out the possibility, I wasn't feeling particularly hopeful about making the journey. It was already after noon, you see, and the projected trip time was 6-7 hours. While I certainly could do that within daylight, it certainly didn't leave much time for enjoying the journey. I decided to simply take my chances, and see how the day went.

10 Lassen

 

The trail hedged around Summit Lake and climbed a fairly steep 500 feet before even reaching the start of the loop. From there I could go to Echo Lake in .8 of a mile, and Upper Twin Lake in 2.4 miles. I decided to shoot for Upper Twin, and if I made it that far, maybe I could make the full loop.

08 Spicy Plants

 

The trip to Echo was in itself fairly strenuous, as I soon discovered. Either that or I'm just pooping out after a week of hiking every day. Echo was awesome, however. Probably the prettiest lake I've seen so far. 

12 Echo Lake II

 Nestled into the side of a mountain, it still had snow showing on the far bank. It glistened and sparkled in the bright summer sun. I determined that this would be the perfect spot for a refreshing dip on the way back. I guess I had already subconsciously decided I would not be making the entire loop.

Moving on past Echo, I knew I had about another mile and a half to get to Upper Twin Lake. I crested a ridge and found myself next to a puddle. "That can't be the upper lake," I thought to myself. "I haven't gone nearly far enough." Just around the bend I hit a snow drift that pretty much obscured the trail as far as I could see. This is where I decided to 180 and head back to the lovely Echo Lake. Last thing I needed was to get lost in the woods by myself.

Back at Echo I was surprised to have the lake to myself. It was just so inviting, I had to take a quick dip. Also had a snack and a little hang out before heading back to the car.

At Summit Lake, I scouted out an area that would be perfect for hanging. I went back to the car, grabbed my lawn chair and bathing suit, and walked back out to the lake. There was a little area just perfect for sunbathing and enjoying the sparkle of sunlight on the lake.

19 Summit Lake Again

Too bad the mosquitoes also found this place inviting. Sun bathing is less enticing when covered with mosquito repellant. Still, I enjoyed my swim and my sunbath while reading a book.

After reading and sunning, I headed back to the car, packed up my gear, and worked my way back to the campground where I grabbed some dinner, chatted with Jeremiah a bit about our days, read from my book, and tucked into bed early.  I fell asleep planning my next trip to Lassen, hopefully in the fall when the snow is melted, so I can do some more of the higher hikes.