BOOT ‘N BLISTER REUNION TRIP, 1997LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK OVERNIGHT BACKPACK

August 15, 1997Dear Boot ‘n Blister alumni and alumnæ,

We are back on our Columbus-Day schedule thisyear. We are also back in the Cascades this year butfarther south. Last year we went to Crater Lake anddid it in August because it was too far north to do in

Lassen Peak from Kings Creek Meadows.Photo by Lyn Topinka, USGS.

October. We also attracted more folks from Oregon.Mount Lassen is where the gang decided to go thisyear and it should be a wonderful time of year for the

trip. Lassen is one of our oldstomping grounds although Irecall going there mostly oncross-country skis. Rumor hasit that Rick Robinson has hiked“every mile of trail” in thepark. So ask him any ques-tions you have left after read-ing this <grin>.

The trip last year was acar-camp trip with day hikes.That was quite nice for thelittle ones among us. We hadour resident naturalists withus; Carol and Chris Rushworked there in the ‘70s and

Jim carving Bigfoot, WillowCreek, 1967

were busy pointing out flowers between the rocks onthe hikes. I, on the other hand, was busy looking atthe rocks between the flowers... The gang lastsummer consisted of Kristie; Chuck and Darby;Kathy and Don; Rick, Candy, Ansel, and Janine;Carol and Chris; Jay and Alycia; and me.

This year puts us back into the standard over-night backpacks. For base camp, we will drive up toManzanita Lake Campground (see enclosed topomap) on Friday evening, October 10. The nextmorning we will drive on to Summit Lake to beginthe hike. There is a campground at Summit Lakealso but it is expected to close by about September15. We will hike a loop trip of about 11 milescamping half way on Saturday night. We will comeout on Sunday, October 12 and be able either to drivehome or spend another day Monday visiting thenational park. Further information can be had fromLassen Volcanic National Park, Mineral, CA 96063,(916) 595-4444. Information is also available on theWeb at http://www.nps.gov/lavo/ or at the Informa-tion Center for the Environment (ICE) at http://ice.ucdavis.edu/nps/ which has comprehensive plantsand animals lists.

Let me know if youmight attend so that I can getan idea of how many to ex-pect; I also love to hear fromyou folks. I’ll get a Wilder-ness permit for us when Ihave an idea of how manywill attend. I’ll add a few soyou can attend even if youpop in on Saturday morning.

Bring ideas of where tohave the trip next year andthe year after. Is the hike tooshort? Too long? Should westay closer or range fartherfrom Humboldt? Let meknow.

Joe and Sverre, Deadfall Lake hike, 1993

Maralyn on her horse somewhere nearPrice Creek, 1967

Carol planning a hike, Crater Lake, 1996

Mike DigglesU.S. Geological Survey, MS-

951, 345 Middlefield Rd.,Menlo Park, CA 94025.Phones: (800) 223-8081 x5404 or (650) 329-5404commercial. Fax: (650)329-5453 [note new areacodes]

Email: mdiggles @usgs.gov

The following write-up on this1997 Lassen Park Boot ‘n Blisterbackpack is mostly excerpted fromJeff Schaffer’s fine book LassenVolcanic National Park & Vicin-ity from Wilderness Press. I highlyrecommend that you buy a copyfor this trip or for doing an arm-chair hike if you don’t attend thisone. The Geology section is ex-cerpted from Hoblitt et al. 1987and copied out of the Sierra Ne-vada Ecosystem Project report (v.II, ch. 18 by Diggles <wink>)from U.C. Davis.Hike Location

Summit Lake to Cluster Lakesloop, Lassen Volcanic NationalPark, northern CaliforniaDates

October 10-12, 1997Hike Length

The trip is 10.8 miles in a loop withour hike-in camp at 4.9 miles.

Terrain

Roadhead elevation6,700 feet

plateau before Cluster L7,200 feet

Cluster Lakes6,950 feet

Feather Lake7,050 feet

Lower Twin Lake6,537 feet

Echo Lake6,850 feetMaps

U.S. Geological Survey Pros-pect Peak 15’ (1:62,500)quadrangle

U.S. Geological Survey Mt.Harkness 15’ (1:62,500)quadrangle

Insert in Schaffer’s book (seereferences)

AAA Northern California roadmap

Driving Instruction

Fifty miles east of RedBluff on Highway 36, and 50miles east of Redding on High-way 44 (see enclosed overviewmap)Trailhead

At the east end of SummitLake’s north campground.Since we are backpacking, wewill have to park by the Sum-mit Lake Ranger Stationtrailhead 0.4 mile from wherethe day-hikers can park andbegin their hikes.Hike Description

Here is the trail log fromSchaffer’s book (incrementalmilage):◊ 3.3 miles to Little Bear

Lake◊ 0.2 miles to Big Bear

Lake◊ 0.8 miles to Cluster

Lake◊ 0.1 miles to Silver Lake◊ 0.3 miles to northern-

most Cluster lake

◊ 0.2 miles to Feather Lake (where we plan tocamp Saturday night)

◊ 1.7 miles to Lower Twin Lake◊ 0.6 miles to Upper Twin Lake◊ 1.6 miles to Echo Lake◊ 2.0 miles to complete the loop at the trailhead

To begin, we climb east, first up a gully and thenup a ridge to a junction 11/4 miles from SummitLake’s north-shore campground. At the junction,we go left, eventually circling clockwise around tothis junction. Schaffer does not recommend goingaround the other direction because the climb out ofLittle Bear Lake is no way to end a vacation. Weclimb for a gradual quarter mile and another moder-ate quarter mile to the plateau east of Hat Mountain.The plateau is about a mile long and then we dropfairly steeply into Little Bear Lake. Beyond BigBear Lake, there is a junction to take a side trip a

Janet on the Falk photography trip, 1968

Alycia leading Jay and the other hikers, Crater Lake, 1996

couple hundred yards to the north to visit ClusterLake. You can never see too many lakes in your life,you know... After that visit, return to the junctionand continue on past Silver Lake over a low divideto Feather Lake where we will camp Saturday night.

Sunday morning, we go one mile to Twin Lakes’seasonal creek, climb about 250 yards past it and hitthe Pacific Crest Trail. A third of a mile more andyou are at Lower Twin Lake. The side trail to the eastfrom here takes you to Rainbow Lake where you cango up Fairfield Peak. To finish the hike, we continueup (duh) to Upper Twin Lake, around a nose of our

familiar plateau to Echo Lake, and hit the junctionwhere we were yesterday. Another 11/4 miles and weare back at the cars.Peak-bagging Opportunities

On the way in on Saturday, a nice side trip mightbe to go up Hat Mountain. It is a classic cinder-coneshape and is 7,696 feet high. You take off to the westonce you get on top of the plateau before the BearLakes. On the way home on Sunday, you can take aside trail to the east to Rainbow Lake (fun just for thelake) and go up Fairfield Peak just north of the lake.It is 7,272 feet high. Both of these peaks have nicelittle craters on top like good volcanoes should. Youcan stick around an extra day on Monday like I hopeto do and go to the top of Lassen Peak from the roadout to the south entrance. It is 2.3 miles up the trailto the summit. Bring water, dark glasses, and sun-screen. It is 10,457 feet high.Weather

September ends the season for mostly sunny skies,warm daytime temperatures, and cold nighttimetemperatures. The weather may stay mild intoOctober but bring warm clothes anyhow. The snowsdon’t tend to come until November but a Gore Texshell might be a good idea.

Hazards

Water needs to be run through a water filter toavoid Giardia. Many of us use a Katadyne orSweetwater filter pump now that our First Needs all

got clogged. Schaffer doesnot mention bears in hisbook and his reference tomountain lions is that theyare rarely seen and followthe deer herds. The deerwill be on their way backdown to the foothills aboutthe time we get to Lassen.We should be there too latein the season for mosqui-toes, but I always bringmy Cutters anyhow.

Don, Kathy, and The Blue Puma, Long Lake cross-country ski trip, 1971

Caribou Lake group, 1987

Geology

This text is excerpted from Hoblitt et al. 1987.Information about Cascade volcanoes is availablefrom the Cascade Volcano Observatory of the USGSon the Web at http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/

The Lassen volcanic center consists of a chain ofvents aligned roughly north-south that extends about8 km (5 mi) north from Lassen Peak. Althoughvolcanism began between about 600,000 and 350,000years ago, events of the last 35,000 years are the mostthoroughly studied and form the basis for assessinghazards from future eruptions in the region. Thestratigraphic record of late Pleistocene and Ho-locene eruptions in this region contains evidence ofmany eruptions during the last 35,000 years

• 35,000 years ago:Eruptions produced twopyroclastic flows from avent east of SunflowerFlat near the north end ofthe chain. These erup-tions were followed byextrusion of one or moredomes at vents in the samearea.

Crater Lake group, 1996

• 25,000–35,000 years ago: Eruptions at HatMountain produced andesitic lava flows that reachedup to 6 km (4 mi) from their vents. About the sametime, eruptions at a vent now buried by the LassenPeak dome produced at least four pyroclastic flowsand several short rhyolite lava flows.

• 20,000 years ago: Eruptions formed an ances-tral dome, now buried by the Lassen Peak dome,which is thought to have erupted shortly before

11,000 years ago. During late Wisconsin deglaciation,lahars formed on the slopes of Lassen Peak andflowed at least several kilometers, primarily to thenortheast.

• 1,000–1,200 years ago: The Chaos Cragseruptive episode began with eruption of a pumi-ceous tephra. At least two pyroclastic flows traveledwest down Manzanita Creek about 4 km (2.5 mi) anda similar distance north down Lost Creek. Explosiveactivity generated pyroclastic flows that extended

Canyon Creek group, 1995

down Manzanita, Lost,and Hat Creeks. Shortlythereafter, extrusion offive dacite domes formedthe Chaos Crags.

• 300 years ago: Threeor more rockfalls from theChaos Crags generatedhigh-velocity avalanchesof rock debris that trav-eled as far as 4.3 km (2.7mi) westward from theChaos Crags. The fallsmay have resulted from

earthquakes, steam explosions, or intrusion of adome into the central part of the Chaos Crags.

Ron near Sarp Peak in the North Cascades,1974

• a.d. 1914–1917: The most recent eruption at

Jeannie and Dan at CaribouLake, 1987

Lassen Peak took placeearly in this century, whena small phreatic eruptionoccurred on May 30,1914, at a new vent nearthe summit of the peak.More than 150 explosionsof various sizes occurredduring the following year.A vertical eruption col-umn resulting from thepyroclastic eruption roseto an altitude of more than

9 km (5.6 mi) above thevent and deposited alobe of pumiceous te-phra that can be tracedas far as 30 km (19 mi)to the east-northeast.The fall of fine ash wasreported as far away asElko, Nevada, more than500 km (300 mi) east ofLassen Peak. Intermit-tent eruptions of vari-able intensity continueduntil about the middle

of 1917.The record of late Pleistocene and Holocene

eruptive activity at the Lassen volcanic center sug-gests that the most likely hazardous future eventsinclude pyroclastic eruptions that produce pyroclas-tic flows and tephra. The Lassen volcanic center isone of the principal candidates in the Cascade Rangefor future silicic, probably explosive, eruptions.Based on its history, pyroclastic flows could endan-ger areas within several tens of kilometers of anactive vent. Lahars and floods could affect low-lying areas even farther from the vent, particularly iferuptions occur during periods of thick snow cover.Eruptions that produce lava flows are generally lessdangerous, although both lava flows and domes canbecome unstable and produce pyroclastic flows androckfall avalanches that could affect areas as far asseveral kilometers away. Mixing of hot debris withsnow can generate lahars that could inundate valley

bottoms for tens of kilo-meters as in 1915.

Barbie and herNorth Face

tent, DesolationWilderness,

1994

Canyon Creek group, 1991

Charlie Bloom and Mike Diggles, 1989. Photo by Mac

References

Harris, Fire mountains of the West: Mountain Press.Hickman, ed., 1993, The Jepson manual, higher

plants of California: U.C. Press.Hoblitt, R. P. C. D. Miller, and W. E. Scott. 1987.

Steve with Katherine andMartha, One-Mile-Lake hike,

1992

Volcanic hazards with regard tositing nuclear-power plants in thePacific Northwest. U.S. Geologi-cal Survey Open-File Report 87-0297.

Milne, Birds of Lassen Volcanic Na-tional Park.

Munz, A California flora and supple-ment.

Niehaus, Sierra Wildflowers: Mt.Lassen to Kern Canyon:

U.C. Press

Schaffer, Lassen VolcanicNational Park and Vi-cinity: Wilderness Press

Schultz, Road guide toLassen Volcanic Na-tional Park

Nancy (wearing her Keltypack) and Wayne catching up

on lost folk-dancing time,1991

Sharp, Grant, 1959, 101Wildflowers of CraterLake National Park:Univ. of WashingtonPress

Williams, Howel, 1932, Geologyof the Lassen Volcanic NationalPark, California: Berkeley, U.C.Department of Geological Sci-ences Bulletin, v. 21, p. 195-385.