Lassen Wilderness

 Last weekend, Scott and I headed out to Lassen to try for a 14.0 mile loop.  We would hit two lakes, the largest lakes in Lassen Wilderness and one cinder cone mountain.  We ended up getting up late so a late start all around.  We had a nice breakfast in Chester, which is a special place for me.  My grandparents use to go up there every year so my grandpa could hunt.  Some time I am going to catch a trout in Lake Almanor just like my grandpa and dad!  We finally made it to the trailhead by 10:00.
Picture of us at the trailhard, ready to go!

 The first lake we start is Butte Lake.  There were tons of brook trout spawning!  See the circles in the sand in the lake.  It was amazing.  And none of them were intersted in our bait.

 About a mile into our hike, we decided to take a break.  At that moment some guys with their dog were hiking out, I just happened to look into the trees and I was like " Scott there is a bear right there", and I was very calm.  We were able 50 feet from the bear.  Its a black bear but golden at this time.  So cute!  Scott thinks it was about 1-2 years old.  The wind was blowing in the opposite direction than us so he could not smell us.  Once he finally saw us he climbed up a tree.  It was so cool!  We headed off on the trail with our eyes open for a mama.

 One of Scott's goals for the year is to climb a mountain.  Before we saw this I was like its not a mountain, well I was wrong.  Its huge.  This is cinder cone at an elevation of 6700.  We made it up with our packs in about an hour.  It was so hard.  The ground is sand so your feet go in about 2 inches and its steep.  My calves were burning.

 A view from hiking the mountain.  Lassen Peak in the distance.

 Finally we made it!  and Look snow in the cone.  By the way it was so hot!  About 85-90!

 Scott at the top with Snag Lake in the distance, where we were going to camp for the night.

 Picture of the fanastic lava beds and painted dunes.

 Going down cinder cone.  I could not get the picture of the desert part to upload.  It felt the Sahara Desert.  So hot, no trees.  We decided to camp out the first sight of the lake.

 Look I caught a good size rainbow trout at Snag Lake.  I actually caught two that size and then smaller ones.

 Me sitting on our private beach.  I got the chair for Christmas, every backpacker needs one, its awesome.  With a beer of course!

 The next moring at snag lake.  It was gorgeous.  The night before we were going to jump into the lake because we were so hot but thunderstorms threaten us getting in.  So beautiful up there.

 View of Butte Lake

 Us at Snag Lake

 Scott says this is my happy dance for catching fish.  Guess it worked since I caught so many last weekend!

 Fishing at Bathtub Lake.  No fish though.  Nice side trip without packs.

 Finally got a picture of my with a brook trout.  Beautiful trout!

 We hiked back out on Saturday even though we were not due home until Sunday.  We were tired and decided to fish Deer Creek on the way back.  We were fishing from 2 until sundown!  I caught 5 more rainbows and Scott got one!  It was a great finish for our adventure.