WHERE:  Lassen Volcanic National Park

WHEN:  July 18-25, 1981

WHO:  Marlene Kleinman as Senior Patrol Leader
 Kim Hotz
 Michelle Daman
 Jennifer Gotz
 Lia Hughes
 Mary Ann Tucker
 Cindy Giver
 Denise Harrington
 Denise Tobias
 Pam Wigdahl
 Ray Waugh
 Mr. Waugh
 Mr. Hughes
 Mr. Hotz
 Mr. Tucker

WHY... Reasons explained throughout log ...

 So ...  Read On!

(7/17) FRIDAY NIGHT
7:30 PM-10:00 PM

Pack inspection or the IMPOUNDING of packs. What a sight for sore eyes, especially Mr. Waugh's!  We had to dump out all the stuff from our packs on the floor. Mr. Waugh read off the equipment list and we put stuff in our packs. Anything left over was considered "contrabands". If Mr. Waugh only knew about all the extras we put into our packs: hand lotion, razors, cream rinse, deodorant, nail files, and extra clean shirts, etc.

(7/18) SATURDAY

 It's a little after 6:30 and we're still here at Portal School. For being early in the morning, everyone seems to be in good spirits: lots of smiles and a lot of talking. Underneath all these happy faces people are probably saying, "I wish I were back in bed." We could all use at least four more hours of sleep in a nice, warm, comfortable bed.

The car ride up was a little tiring and long. To prove that it was long, a note reading, "Do you think we could stopat the next gas station, PLEASE?!!" was given to one of the drivers while on the road. The ride was interesting if you like looking at open fields. We passed through several towns such as Sacramento, Corning, Red Bluff, etc. From Red Bluff a sign read only 52 miles to Lassen Park (yea!). As we got closer to Lassen Park, there were a lot of mountains. The mountains were covered with trees, rocks, and a yellowish-green grass. The area along the way seems to be dry and warm .......

We're finally here at Lassen Volcanic National Park! We drove almost 350 miles in 6 hours. We stopped to eat lunch at the Lassen Chalet. By just taking a look at everything around us and seeing Mt. Lassen as we drove in, I think we knew that this backpacking experience would be well worth it.

After lunch we drove to Lost Creek Group Camp where we would spend our first night at Lassen. Along the way to the campground we checked out some of the points of interest. We found that there was so much to see! Everything is so beautiful! The sky is a pretty blue and there isn't a cloud in the sky.

We stopped at a point of interest called the Sulfur Works. It is the most accessible hydro-thermal area in the Park. It is said to be a part of the central vent system of ancient Mt. Tehama. Paved trails lead us to the sputtering hot springs, steaming fume roles and hot bubbling mud pots. We were warned for our own safety to stay on the trails in any of the thermal areas because slippery clay and thin crusty coverings could lead to a dunking in scalding hot water and mud. Most water in the thermal areas of the Park contain sulphurous or sulfuric acid and the odor is mainly hydrogen sulfide.

We passed Emerald Lake which was named for its beautiful green color. Another lake is Lake Helen. Lake Helen is a beautiful blue-green color. We could see the patches of snow on Lassen Peak. We learned that there aren't any trees in alpine meadows because it's too moist and wet. We also learned that snow causes a tree to have a curved trunk. Just driving to the campsite we saw meadows with wild flowers. Several different pine trees, and several peaks and mountains.

After checking out the points of interest we set up camp at Lost Creek and then decided that we would do some exploring. Our first day up here was basically for getting used to the altitude. Some stayed in camp, while others went for a walk along the road. And then there were some of us who went hiking at Kings Creek to see the magnificent falls. They made it to the falls (safely), but on the way back they decided they needed more of a work out then the skimpy trails could provide so the energetic, attractive, and very intelligent group plot-ted their course back to the car using a digital watch as a compass (See, I told you they were intelligent).

For tonight's dinner we had minestrone soup, baked potatoes, and steak. A few words to the wise: EAT NOW, for tomorrow we shall diet with dehydrated food.

(7/19) SUNDAY

For breakfast we had fresh eggs and a fresh fruit salad. We packed up & before leaving we had a birthday celebration for Cindy.

We hiked less than 5 miles into Silver Lake and had lunch. Afterwards everyone went swimming in a refreshing, solar heated lake. We had a great time as we watched Marlene get thrown in by Mr. Waugh.

After dinner there was a big commotion over the amount of drinks in the "groovy" patrol. Chaos followed and every-one had to go get their food and sort things out. After that Mr. Waugh had a hard time getting his food rehung. He broke the branch and thereby dropped the food. It took him several throws to get the rope rehung.

What else could go wrong in one day?!!

(7/20) MONDAY

What a beautiful morning! As the sun shines on Silver Lake, steam can be seen floating on top.

We had dehydrated eggs (Mmm-delicious??) for breakfast and were on the trail by 8:35 AM. The leader did an excellent job of leading the group cross, country by using a compass and following the sun until we hit the real trail. We were headed for Snag Lake.

Vie-passed several beautiful lakes such as Feather Lake, Lower Twin Lake, and Rainbow Lake. We hiked up a couple hundred feet and reached an elevation of 6,780 ft., then we dropped 700 ft. in a distance of a mile and came to 6,076 ft. which was our lowest elevation.

We arrived at the campsite at 10:35 and camped on the south west shore of Snag Lake. The total hiking distance for today was 4.8 miles.

Snag Lake looked like a great lake to swim in after hiking in warm weather and on a dusty trail. We went swimming in the lake and discovered that it was a little colder than Silver Lake. The description of the lake given by swimmers was "muddy, getting towards the center of the lake, cold but refreshing".

The entertainment for the day was watching one of the girls get her blister drained. Why was it so entertainin g? 1,1ell, first of all, the girl put up a struggle. And second of all, everybody was so interested they just had to watch and comfort the struggler.

Mr. Waugh told his famous and scary Judge Bradley story around the campfire. No one walked away from the campfire without a partner after that.

(7/21) TUESDAY

We were woken up early this morning (5 AM to be exact) to get an early start on the trail and beat the heat. While packing our packs we were serenaded by geese that were flying around Snag Lake. We watched the sun come up. It was a beautiful sight to see the sun reflected off the water! It was also a comfort to have warmth from the sun that early in the morning.

We hit the trail at 7:12 AM and headed for Cinder Cone. We hiked over cinder and ash most of the way. The hike up Cinder cone was steep along with being covered with loose rocks. The view from the top of Cinder Cone was worth the hike up. We could see Snag Lake, Butte Lake, Mt. Lassen and others. When we looked down from the top we could see lava beds. It's hard to believe we were standing on top of a volcano. Six of us hiked down to the inside of the crater. It was a fast hike down the side of Cinder Cone because each time we took a step we slipped a half a step because of the dirt and loose gravel.

We hiked to Butte Lake where we camped out. Butte Lake campsite can be described as close to civilization because of the flush toilets and faucet water.

After we washed our hair and did our laundry (we took advantage of the facilities), most of us went swimming. A few people went to Butte Lake to swim and the remainder of people went to the nearby Bathtub Lake. Bathtub Lake was fairly warm (comparatively) and Butte Lake was chilly.

When we returned late in the afternoon we cooked our dinner of Beef Stroganoff, minestrone soup, Kool-Aid, with raspberry cobbler for desert. The raspberry cobbler was so sweet that it caused people to become extremely hyperactive. Either that or we didn't do enough strenuous hiking. Vie played frisbee and horsed around then had a campfire as it got dark and cold. Most of us were in bed between 9-9:30.

(7/22) WEDNESDAY

We got to sleep in this morning.,(5:25 AM)! All we had to do was pack our day packs with our breakfast (oatmeal, hot chocolate, tang, sausage), stove, and canteens. And we were off to Prospect Peak a 2,200 foot climb in'21'ihilitt--to eat breakfast at the top, We were on the trail by 6:36 and at the end of our long grueling hike to the summit by 8:46 AM.

After eating our breakfast we all took a walk along the rim and were treated to some absolutely spectacular views. From our vantage point we could see Cinder Cone (Boy, did that look puny!), Lassen Peak (The base of Lassen Peak was level with the top of Prospect Peak!), and Mt. Shasta all covered with snow.

We left Prospect Peak at 9:55 AM and by keeping up a good pace going down, reached Butte Lake by 11:11. We finished packing our packs, cleaned our dishes, and hiked the 2.4 miles to lunch at the South end of Butte Lake.

We then made the 800 foot climb up to Widow Lake, arriving there at 3:00. The total mileage for today was 10.2 miles. As soon as our camp was set up everyone went sunbathing and swimming. A small group of people swam across the entire lake!

After dinner we walked to a pile of rocks where we could see the sunset and had a Scouts' Own. The theme was Happiness through friendship. A couple of poems were read along with singing, thinking, and a group hug to end it. After the Scout's Own we walked back to our campsite and had a campfire. We sang our hearts out until 10:30 PM.

(7/23) THURSDAY

This morning brought another very early start-5:30 AM. After our cold breakfast of granola with raisins, tang, and hot chocolate we learned a new song for our opening.

"Sunshine dancing on mountain tops
Waking up to a bright new day
Music echoes from trees and rocks,
The whole world smiles cause, it's Thursday!'"

We hiked12 miles today.  An excellent pace was kept up by our leader and it seemed to go faster because everyone was singing on the trail. The first 6 miles took only 2 hours 16 minutes. On this very picturesque hike we passed several lakes whole shores were covered with many different types of wild- flowers. Unfortunately however, there were also hundreds of mosquitoes and many of the girls were eaten alive.

After hiking to Juniper Lake we ate our lunch there (on picnic tables yet!!) Then we split into two hiking groups. Ten people went the short way directly to Horseshoe Lake while 5 people went the longer way around Juniper Lake, by Indian Lake to get to Horseshoe. The difference in the hiking was 4 miles.

It took quite awhile to find a decent camping site because of all the people camping there. The hike was so easy that only 8 out of 10 girls had bad blisters on their feet. Un-fortunately after setting up camp we soon discovered the entire camping area was covered with killer ants! Those things hurt when they bit. One group decided that the only way to keep the ants out of their sleeping, bags was to cover their ground cloths with insect repellant. It worked too!

From our campfire, just after sunset we could see the lake, a dark shadow of trees, Lassen Peak in the background, and the first star to the right of' Lassen Peak.

(7/24) FRIDAY

This was our day to sleep in. We were up at 6 AM and left Horseshoe Lade by 8 AM. We hiked an easy 7.6 miles, reaching Summit Lake by 11:25 AM. 'vie would have reached the campground sooner, but someone who shall remain nameless had the trotts (or dysentery) along the way. According to reliable sources, that someone had the trotts because for the entire trip she licked her spoon clean and then put it in her pack instead of washing and rinsing it in hot water. She paid the price.

The campsite around Summit Lake were more for campers or car camping. We found it hard to make the transition from quiet and peaceful to loud and noisy. After eating lunch, most everyone went swimming while one person sacked out due to a late night campfire. Around 3:30 Mr. Waugh called "sick call". There were a lot of ugly looking blisters. Tom and Mrs. Hughes repeated the performance that Mr. and Mrs. Waugh had done 4 years earlier by bringing hot dogs, beans, milk, and marshmallows, all fresh & not dehydrated, for everyone.

Some people got a little carried away with the fresh food and one girl ate 4 hot dogs.  After pigging out, we left for Bumpass Hell at 6:30 PM.  It was a 2.6 mile after dinner stroll. Bumpass Hell is the vent for Mt. Lassen.  It is the most spectacular thermal area in the park.  A self-guiding trail lead us  to steaming fumeroles, hot springs and boiling mudpots.

We were back at the campsite around 8:30 PM. We sang songs and talked a little about the week around our last camp-fire. The campfire lasted until 2 AM with only 2 people left to watch it burn and stay warm. (Actually the purpose of the campfire was to see how long the wood would burn: but I don't think anyone would believe that if they knew which two people were left around the campfire.)

(7/25) SATURDAY

We were up at 5 AM to eat breakfast, put the packs in the car, and to clean up the campsite.

We're on our way to climb Lassen Peak (This is the big one) We drove out of Summit Lake to Lassen Peak Trail.  The peak certainly looks big from the bottom. It's 2.5 miles to the top.  The maximum grade is 15%. The starting elevation is 8,463 and at the top our height will be 10,453.

We must be on top of the world!  From Lassen Peak we can see Cindercone, Prospect Peak, Lake Helen, Mt. Shasta, Horse- shoe Lake, Summit Lake, and just basically all over Lassen Park.  There is so much around us and so much to appreciate!  There's snow on top of Lassen and the air's a little thin.  The climb was worth it.

It seems so sad to leave such a beautiful and peaceful place and to enter into the noise of civilization. As we leave Lassen Park, all are quiet in the car to soak up last minute memories.

We stopped off at Lassen Chalet to buy shirts; change into clean clothes for the trip home, and to receive a well deserved Lassen patch.

We stopped again in Red Bluff to eat a non-dehydrated lunch at Burger King.  Believe it or not; but in one of the cars on the way back some of the girls, along with a little help, were already planning next summers 50-Miler.

Driving into the valley we found that compared to Lassen, the air is moist, the skys are hazy, and the news is just as bad as it was when we left for Lassen. In other words, it's ugly here!

THE END RESULTS

When you spend a week with the same bunch of people you find out what kind of habits they have.  Through speaking habits we formed a vocabulary lists "That's groovy”.. "I'll tell you

The remainder of this text has been lost – maybe one of the participants will contact me with the missing pages  --  Heber