On our last day of Memorial Day backpacking, we woke up at our Lower Twin Lake campground to the sounds of birds chirping. I was a little sad to be going home, but excited to see my cat and to wear shoes that were not hiking boots. Also, In-n-Out burgers.
This past summer was the first time I’ve ever been to Mt. Lassen. Here’s a quick recap and photo dump of everything I tried to jam pack into four days.
Really long days like this happen when I try to jam pack a lot of things into a short amount of time. I started at the Summit Lake trailhead where our campsite was. My intention was to go all the way out to the Cinder Cone (which I will be tackling this weekend), back and down around the whole Clusters Lake loop. It didn’t happen. It ended up being an out and back past Echo Lake, two unnamed lakes, Upper & Lower Twin Lakes, and Rainbow Lake to just a mile short of the Cinder Cone near the Fantastic Lava Beds and Painted Sand Dunes. This trail loops around Lower Twin lake and connects with the Pacific Crest Trail so you can opt to take that for a bit of a change of pace on your way back.