Thermal Pool

We had a good nights sleep last night in our own quiet forest. Although the forest was quiet, there was some noise emanating from both tents. The girls were practicing synchronized snoring for the Olympics. A song went through my head, Grizzlies to the left of me, Grizzlies to the right, here I am stuck in the forest with you. We had a leisurely morning eating breakfast and packing up,

Rebel Hikers

as we were only hiking to Drakesbad Guest Ranch to hang out and have lunch. I saw a deer before we left camp which today was at the late hour of 0800. About a mile up the trail, we spotted another deer, which promptly bounded away. We came across a short spur trail to Boiling Lake, so we took it to check things out. Boiling Lake is a steamy, rolling boiling mud lake. Lassen National Park is an active Thermal area, like Yellowstone, just on a much smaller scale. Mount Lassen is the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range and last erupted in 1917. It and Mt. St Helens were the only two volcanos to erupt in the contiguous United States in the twentieth century.

From Boiling Lake, it is a short hike to the Guest Ranch. We arrive there at 0930 and Carol goes to ask about lunch. She comes back and says they serve lunch at 1130 and we now have reservations. While sitting at a table outside, we see the hiker that we passed yesterday and who later passed us. He says he got here after dark and camped near the Warner Valley Campground. He said he had a nice breakfast here this morning and tells us that we can use the thermal pool and take a shower down by the pool. He shows us some moose pajamas that he just bought so that he could swim in the pool. The girls opt to have coffee and we go to sit and relax by the small general store. As I am generally not the sit and relax type, my sitting only lasts about an hour before I decide to go take a dip in the pool.

Heated by Volcano

I do not mind swimming in my ex officio boxers, so there will be no moose pajamas for me. I walk to the pool and find the showers. They are very nice and I rinse off all my clothes in them also. The pool is a greenish color due to algae that has formed in the warm water but the temperature is very inviting and in I go. At first, I have the pool to myself but eventually some guests at the ranch start to show up. The hiker we spoke to also shows up and as I heard him tell someone his name (which was Mitch), I tell him that maybe his trail name should be “Just Mitch”. Carol shows up and decides to go for a swim also. The water is very soothing on our muscles and then I get out to dry off after taking another nice shower. Carol stays in and I go back to the General Store to see if Shannon wants to go in.

Shannon does not want to swim, but after I tell her how nice the showers are, they are too much for her to resist, and she heads down to the pool area, while I watch our stuff. the girls come back and we all head to the restaurant where much to our dismay, we are told that the hikers eat after the guests are done, usually around 1230. We pick a table outside and just wait, being tortured by having to watch the paying guests gorge themselves in front of us. Mitch sits with us a while still in his Moose Pajama swimsuit and says he is going to hike out in them. He has them rolled up like shorts and Shannon and carol think his trail name should be Jammy so that is what we all decide to call him. We thought Jammy was waiting for lunch but he packs up and says he is on his way. We also see Cookie, who Carol met in Sierra City, and another hiker whose name escapes me now. Our time for lunch finally arrives, and we go in to get our food. It is buffet style and they have salad, pasta salad, fried chicken, biscuits

Drakesbad Lunch

, and other food to satisfy our now ravenous appetites. A hiker we have not met before is also having lunch and we invite him to join us. His trail name is Sunshine and he is from Fort Collins, Colorado. He is/was a pilot for SkyWest but was not crazy about it so he has quit and is hiking the trail. He is 26 and a really nice kid. After stuffing ourselves to the point of no return, we pay our 50% off bill and pack up to continue on. It is 2:30 and much later than we had planned on leaving here but the stop was definitely worth it.

We plan on hiking a little over 8 more miles to Lower Twin Lake this afternoon. We walk along the dirt road from the resort to Warner Valley Campground, where we can pick up the PCT. As we get close to the campground, Shannon spots a bear cub hanging over a rock about 30 to 40 feet from the road. The cub almost looks cartoonish, with his paws draped over the front of the rock, staring at us with a strange kind of smile. I am imagining him saying to his mom, ” How about these mom, can I eat them, Can I?”, as we walk by. I would have loved to take a picture but we did not see mom and I did not think it would have been prudent to stop and make her think we were interested in her baby. We mosey by and through the campground, telling several campers that a bear is nearby. We join the trail and immediately start an 800 foot climb above the valley that the ranch is in.

Log Rider Creek

We come to a creek that does not have a good spot to cross. We scout around and find a log that we can cross on. It is about 5 feet above the creek and maybe 25 feet to get across. The creek is unnamed but will now be known as Log Rider Creek for the way that one of our party members crossed it. We will not mention names but she crossed it by straddling the log and scooching across the river. In a skirt no less, this did not seem like the best way to go to me. The other two original party members managed to slowly side step across the log without incident. It was an exhilarating experience for all of us. We did some more climbing before breaking out in a weird kind of flat area. There were lots of downed trees here but no sign of logging or forest fire. From this point on, it was mostly down hill and level walking to Lower Twin Lake.

We passed Swan Lake along the way and walked above Upper Twin Lake before the final descent of the day to Lower twin Lake. When we get there, a family of four is sitting around eating. Besides the parents, there are two children ages 6 and 8. They have hiked in about 4 miles from a trail head and are camping the night here. They tell us that another hiker told them that a bear had gotten someone’s food at Upper Twin Lake and also at a lake about 2 miles from here. They planned on hanging their food tonight as they did not have odor proof bags. We on the other hand have been sleeping with our food inside our tents, but put the food and other smelly things in odor proof bags and in an ursack. We set up our tent near theirs and Shannon sets up right next to us.

Filtering at Lower Twin Lake

We go down to the lakeshore to eat a snack and get water for tonight and tomorrow. Back at camp, I filter water and then journal while Pit Stop talks with the neighbors. Another thru hiker shows up and sets up camp near the other side of Shannon’s tent. Carol soon gets settled in our tent as well and we get ready for bed. Tomorrow we will hike out of the park.