Lassen TR

“We went XC skiing last weekend....

Photos and videos here: http://sports.webshots.com/album/561962904iVMyST

Brief trip report here....

Drove to Red Bluff on Friday - only about 3 hours from the East Bay. Stayed overnight. Drove to McGowan Lake trailhead near 36/89 - light snow started at about 1000' elevation! Got to trailhead at about 9:30; sat in car and read books for about a half hour, waiting to see if snow would let up. It didn't, so we just suited up anyway and headed down the road/trail. Before reaching the spur to McGowan, we took one of the other trails leading up the hill to the north. We ended up tooling around up and down and around a couple of ridges for an hour or so, then, with the snow continuing to fall, decided to return to the car for lunch. It was a nice couple-hour first-ski-of-the-winter warmup. We returned to Red Bluff and enjoyed the down time by watching a movie.

Sunday, we drove into the park to the parking area near the construction site for the new visitor center. We were the first ones up the road, and it was a gorgeous day. We stopped for a few pics at the boiling mud pots, then continued up the road to the (sort of) marked trail that bypasses an avalanche zone on the flanks of Diamond Peak. We worked our way up the hill until a little after noon, found a nice flat sunny spot, and pulled out our thermos of hot soup, cheese, crackers, and cookies. While sitting there, we watched a daredevil scrambling around a ridge of Diamond Peak above some gnarly looking rocks, no doubt looking for an appropriate vertical chute to fly down. Eventually, he disappeared over the other side.

After lunch, we basically retraced our steps, including some nice runs through the few inches of fresh powder left by the storm. It was an easy drive home - we got home by 6:30 or so.

Key observations:
- There's plenty of snow in the area for snowshoe or skiing fun.
- There seemed to be lots of excellent areas for winter camping inside the park, although I did not look into what their regulations are (e.g., do you have to be a certain distance from the road, etc.).
- BowlderSon is about to surpass me as the best skier in our family. Time to let him carry the pack....”

“Sounds COLD! Thanks for the TR. Nice pics too!”

“I'm gonna do that some day. :) Thanks for sharing BowlderMan.”