I’d always meant to hike up Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park someday but “that some day” always seemed to somewhere in the future. The effort I put into climbing Mount Shasta (twice) might have been one reason Lassen got neglected for so long. Then 3 years ago, we decided it was time to hike Lassen Peak and take another step toward climbing all of the 9,000+ foot Cascade volcanoes. Our only problem was that Lassen’s summit trail was being rebuilt (slowly) and was only open at odd times. This year it was scheduled to be open only on the 4th of July weekend, the weekend of August 13-14, and Labor Day weekend but could still be closed AT ANY MOMENT! Attempts in recent years had been derailed by road closures, lack of enthusiasm for a long snow climb, wildfires, and trail maintenance. Labor Day was booked, so we drove to the Lassen Peak Trailhead with just a little trepidation about its being open (yes, this time we did call ahead).
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