Hike and Bike Event at Lassen Volcanic National Park

Some national parks have each day or weekend at the start or end of the regular season when the roads that are covered in snow over the winter are cleared and prepared for cars. But before the cars are allowed in, hikers and bikers get to use the road without the presence of cars. Crater Lake features a weekend before the rim road is closed for the season where bikers can ride the road with none cars along the way, before the road is closed to everyone, in September. Lassen Volcanic park has such each day at the start of the season, right after the roads are cleared of snow within the spring. today is named the Hike and Bike Event. within the year 2016, it happened on June 11, and that we made each day trip of driving there from Sacramento to participate.

We started at the Kohm Yah-Mah-Nee Visitor Center at the south end of the park. We could see that the road into the park was gated after the doorway station and there was a string of hikers on the road leading up to the geothermal area further inside the park, the Sulphur Works. After a quick stop within the visitor center to ask questions and to vary to our biking clothes, we unloaded the bikes from the rear of our vehicle.

We started biking up an extended slope to the Sulphur Works and after crossing a bridge, stopped to seem at a bubbling mud pot. Then the road continues climbing again to an overlook with a view back to the visitor center. It then curves around Diamond Peak to point north and supply a view of Mount Lassen. We stopped along the thanks to take pictures and make adjustments to the bikes. We also got video footage of other bikes coming down the slope, besides our point-of-view footage using our GoPro cameras.

Mount Lassen dominates the view to the north and it is a very distinct peak. Since it is a volcano, it's that cone-like shape you'd expect, but on its southern slope are huge blocks of cooled lava that form a definite wall downslope of the ridgeline. It gives Lassen's southern face a glance that basically stands out.

After climbing up an excellent switchback, the foremost curvy a part of the road south of the height , we continued on the road reaching Emerald Lake. it had been still filled in with snow with some melt water round the shore. a touch farther along, we reached Lake Helen, an outsized body of water south of the Lassen peak. South of Lake Helen are some steep slopes.

We've skied the Lassen Park Road before and this a part of the road always gives us some reason for concern. The winding road that leads up to Lake Helen often has snow accumulated on the slope such an error together with your skis could end in a really long slump the slope below the road. Also, at Lake Helen, the slopes to the south often have overhanging cornices that would break off and tumble down the slope to the road that we're skiing along.

After curling along the southern side of Lake Helen in an eastward direction, the road again curls northward and climbs to the Lassen Peak parking lot , which is on the brink of the very best point of the road. We biked up this slope that had snow on either side of the road and a plow parked partway up. We were on mountain bikes, but still felt a touch embarrassed when a man riding on a road bike passed us by. We consoled ourselves in thinking that his bike was lighter than ours were so it had been easier for him.

When we reached the Lassen Peak parking lot , we pulled in and looked it over a touch bit and skim the sign at the trailhead. The snowbank round the parking lot was above the highest of the sign. We could see from the tracks within the snow, that some were trying to climb to the height even with the snow so deep.

Just a touch distance past the parking lot is that the highest point along the Lassen Park Road. We reached it briefly order, then had an extended downhill in an eastward direction faraway from the height . there have been switchbacks farther down that slope also , but these aren't as tight because the switchback arising the slope from the south entrance. Either way, reaching the part of the road involves switchbacking.

We hoped to travel farther along the road to the Devastated Area or maybe Manzanita Lake, but we didn't reach the park as early as we wanted, so we rotated at the Kings Creek Trailhead turnout and climbed back toward the part of the road so as to urge back to the car before sunset.

We've since acknowledged that Lassen gets more snow than almost the other location in California. The road east of the road's part had many snow albeit we were doing this ride in June. As we rode copy the switchbacks to the part , there was enough snow that we couldn't see over the banks. By now , we weren't so curious about taking too many photos and wanted to urge GoPro point-of-view video footage, so we didn't stop as often. Plus, the sun was getting closer to the western horizon so still photography wasn't such a priority.

After the part , we didn't stop at the Lassen Peak trail parking lot and looked forward to some fast downhill stretches getting back to the car. We discussed any upcoming shots we wanted to urge with the GoPros before we started getting up to hurry . We got footage looking back at the rider, trailing the rider from behind, and following the rider from the side, right and left.

Before continuing past Lake Helen, we stopped to urge pictures of the lake filled in with snow and a blue ring of melt water around it. The white snow with a light-weight blue ring looked very interesting, especially with Lassen Peak looming over it.

We hit the switchbacks after Emerald Lake, but had to use brakes to stop build up an excessive amount of speed because there was water on the road from snow melting off of the snow banks that caused us concern about slipping. once we came to the Sulphur Works, we were in deepening shadows because the sun got lower and there have been many hikers hurrying down the road back to their cars.

We received our car while it had been still bright enough to ascertain what we were doing as we loaded the bikes back onto the car rack. Then we changed out of our biking clothes at the visitor center's bathroom before making the repel to Sacramento.