The Folding Harpsichord: 7/28/06 Lassen Volcanic National Park Part 2

LASSEN PEAK

決定攻頂，是在走完之前Bumpass Hell之後。從trailhead出發的時候，差不多是中午的時候。我們在前一天基本上是直接放棄吃中飯的打算，爬完Lassen Peak之後再直接一並吃晚餐。現在想起來，當初的決定是不怕死的做法。

Lassen Peak於1915年5月22日的下午，在幾天的小規模火山活動之後終於爆發了。Cascades山脈，一直要到1980年的Mount St. Helens的爆發，才會再見到下一個火山的情景。當時因為前兩天的熔岩所產生的火山泥流(lahar)，使得四周圍的農莊的住戶們馬上遷離，並沒有造成任何人死亡。而這個大爆發所製造出來的火山泥流，往北邊流去，破壞掉的大片森林，至今因為土質成份的原因，樹木都沒有長回來。

The day before, we already made up our mind to do the Bumpass Hell and Lassen Peak trail on the same day. When we started at the Lassen Peak trailhead, it was already close to noon. Having only eaten some snacks for breakfast, we agreed on skipping lunch entirely and treat ourselves to a good dinner after finishing the Lassen Peak trail. In retrospect, this was a crazy move.

Lassen Peak erupted in May 22, 1915, after minor activity a few days before. It wouldn't be until 1980's Mount St. Helen's eruption would people witness an eruption of this kind of scale in the United States. Fortunately, the lahars that flowed down two days ago made the owners of the summer ranches nearby aware and thus evacuated immediately, preventing any fatalities during the major eruption. The major eruption's lahars swept down the northern side, and the so called Devastated Area remains sparse in terms of vegetation even today, due to the nature of the soil unable to sustain plant life.

Lassen Peak的trailhead開始就已經在8500英尺的高度了，而單程的2.5 mile的步道，就要上升2000多英尺，所以算是相當俱有挑戰的。加上，海拔之高，空氣怖薄之外，許多地方仍積著雪，我們腳上只穿著平時上學時的球鞋，所以遇到有雪的地方的時候，也是吃了不少苦頭。不同於Bumpass Hell的雪地，這兒是峭壁旁的走道，邊走身體得蹲低，還得貼著壁走。除了要小心腳底的冰，有反方向的登山遊客過來的時候，非得好好橋一下不可。

The Lassen Peak trailhead starts at 8500 feet. The trail is 5 miles roundtrip, but the trail ascends 2000 feet, a considerable gain for a 2.5 mile hike. To make this hike more challenging, parts of the trail were still covered with snow and were not cleared out. Wearing the same old sneakers we do back at school, by no means were we well-equipped at all. Unlike Bumpass Hell's snow covered ground which was flat throughout, here you are actually facing the edge of the cliff on one side. Any slip in the wrong direction could easily mean instant death. Some of the narrow snow-covered paths also had to allow traffic in two directions, which involved courteous coordination from the hikers.

紅色的藻類微生物在融化的冰附近生長

snow algae growing around a thawing ice

沿路上旁邊的雪地上，可見到紅紅的一點一點。起初以為是雪中的什麼金屬礦物，不過事後得知道這些紅紅的都是一種叫snow algae，又名watermelon algae的微生物。這些snow algae是綠藻的一種，除了喜歡在寒冷的地帶生長之外，也有葉綠素外的第二種紅色素，正是保護其葉綠體不受高山上高紫外線的破壞。至於為什麼又叫watermelon algae，除了紅色的顏色之外，聽說這些藻類還散發著西瓜的淡淡幽香。可惜，我的鼻子並沒靈到有聞到這個味道。這些snow algae，冬天的時候不會有什麼活動力，是呈現休眠狀態的。要等到春天夏天雪水融化了，有充足的養份，才會開始大量繁殖。

On the snow, you can see something red seemingly powdered on top of it. Thinking it was some kind of mineral, it turns out to be a kind of green algae called "snow algae." Not only loving to grow under extreme cold conditions, in addition to chlorophyll, they have a second red pigment to protect against the strong UV radiation and store more energy. Mostly dormant during the winter months, they spring to life (pun intended) in the warmer seasons. Supposedly they give off a fresh watermelon scent, which earns them the other name "watermelon algae." My allergic nose didn't seem to catch the scent.

要到山頂，除了雪以外，還有諸多碎石。而且，因為很陡，使得有許多蜿蜒的轉向步道(switchback)，常常繞了半天，也才上升一點點。每到一個牌子，發現才多走零點幾mile而已，望著好遠的山頂，心裡不免會打退堂鼓。

The trail to the peak is steep with very loose rock and soil, with many switchbacks. The distance markers often are very misleading, seemingly giving the direct distance to the peak instead of the actual physical trail distance. The amount of ground we covered during the first half seemingly was just as much as the second half, but the second half was disproportionately shorter according to the park signs. Many times we would be spending half an hour or more to inch ourselves by merely 0.2 miles.

照片中這幾座小山，是原始六十萬年前這兒火山中心Mount Tehama所殘留下來的遺跡。Mount Tehama山頂，早已在能量釋放後崩塌，被風化侵蝕地不見任何蹤影。現在取而代之的，是左邊最遠方的Brokeoff Mountain(不是斷背~~~)，也是Lassen Volcanic NP裡繼Lassen Peak後的第二高峰。

This is a view midway through the trail. These mountains are remnants of an ancient volcanic mountain Mount Tehama which started to form around 600,000 years ago. It would rise to more than 11,000 feet, but it would collapse after successive eruptions. Brokeoff Mountain, the peak on the far left, is now the tallest part left of Mount Tehama. After Lassen Peak, it remains as the second largest peak in the park.

接近山頂時旁邊的風景。多了2000多feet，視野是寬廣得多呀

View near the summit. An additional elevation of 2000 feet does make the view more breathtaking.

好了，即將要到Lassen Peak了。最後這一段，比之前的山路還要難搞。這兒沒有公園ranger真正鋪的路，只有ranger在石頭裡插的若干紅色旗子指引著遊客。除了坡度更陡以外，還全部都是石塊。起初還可勉強又走的，不過到了最後幾公尺，每個人都是雙手雙腳在爬行的。雖然爬得很狼狽，不過總算是會到達終點的。

This is the final stages of the Lassen Peak trail, arguably the toughest part of the hike. Being even steeper and rockier, there are no paved out trails in the ascent to the final peak. Instead, rangers have red flags marked within the cracks to guide the hikers. If at first you can still seemingly walk up the rocks, it turns vertical quickly, forcing you to get down on all fours to crawl the final meters. You might look ridiculous, but so will all the others before and after you.

這是這些石塊的近照。要拍最這後這一段，是真的不簡單。

Close-up shot of the rocky terrain. You've been warned of the challenge~

終於上來了！在山頂上，可以遙望遠方，可以清楚看見西北方的Mount Shasta。Mount Shasta是華盛頓到加州這一帶Cascade山脈裡第二高峰。第一高峰為華盛頓州的Mount Rainier。Mount Shasta比Lassen Peak還要高4000feet左右~~~

View on top of Lassen Peak. Mount Shasta visible in the northwest horizon. Mount Shasta is the second highest peak in the Cascade Mountains, second to Washington's Mount Rainier. It is higher than Lassen Peak by around 4000 feet.

不知哪來的小松鼠，在石縫中找尋食物

where did this little fella come from?

山頂上往回照。下山將又也是一番小折騰。

On Lassen Peak, with trail in the background. It'll be a long way down.

下山的路快得多。而且我一向是「上山一條蟲，下山一條龍」，一下子陳晟就被我拋在後面，還要不時停下來等他。日後我發現我有非常輕微的地中海貧血，上坡在加上空氣稀薄的情形下，一下就會不行了。不過，Lassen Peak是那一陣子爬過比較俱有挑戰的步道，慢慢建立起日後健行的信心和了解自己的極限在哪兒。

這次上山時，自己身上只帶了兩小瓶的水，走到上面時早就都喝完了，又累又渴。所幸旁邊有一位背著小孩爬山的美國爸爸(！！），之前上山的時候就有互相超來超去，不過最終我們還是敗給了他。這位爸爸身上，除了帶有多餘的一個三明治，還有多一瓶水，非常好心地就給了我，使我在上頂上曬著陽光，吹著風，還可以半享受地吃著被好心施捨的食物。不過，我跟陳晟兩人一天挑戰Lassen Peak跟Bumpass Hell兩個trail，其他常來的遊客，以及就住附近的那位美國爸爸都稱讚我們不簡單，還蠻有能耐的說~~~~

I had a much easier time going downhill, as I normally do anyways. The trip down took maybe half the time it took to go up. Lassen Peak trail also turned out to be one of the more challenging trails I have done in a while since going to Yosemite a few years back. It would boost my confidence and understand my limits.

As for being ill-equipped, I started out with only two bottles of water. Needless to say, I was all out by the time I was at the top. Thirsty and tired, an American dad who carried has son (!!!) throughout the latter half of the hike had an extra sandwich and a bottle of water, which he nicely shared with me. We encountered him when he started out hiking the Lassen Peak trail, where we each passed each other during numerous occasions along the hike. In the end, he was able to beat us to the top with a kid on his back. However, having learned that we did the Bumpass Hell trail earlier, he was genuinely impressed.

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7/29/06
LAKE ALMANOR

經前一天的健行，全身酸痛，最後一天我們打算直接開車走馬看花。前天晚上到東邊的小城Chester吃晚餐時，就看見旁邊有一個相當大的湖。這一天早上，當要進公園前，我們特地跑過來看這個大湖。

Lake Almanor是一個人工湖，是因為建水壩而堵起來的大湖。雖然主要是發電供應附近Plumas County的用電，不過湖上本身夏天時有許多水上渡假活動。更令人嘆為觀止的是，我們在這個社區附近繞繞，不僅發現這兒住的每個人，後院都停了一艘小汽艇，讓我們一直稱奇道，美國的富人之多。而且，這些房子，看似都是暑假時渡假用的別墅。平時他們住哪兒，住多好，也是不得而知。

We stopped by Chester for dinner the day before and noticed the large lake in the area. Before entering the park on our last day, we decided to make a stop at Lake Almanor first. The lake is actually an artificial lake, dammed up to generate electricity for Plumas County. Despite its practical existence, Lake Almanor is popular for its summer water sports. Driving in the neighborhood, we could not help noticing that every household had a motorboat parked in their yard. Marveling at the number of wealthy people that are able to lead such luxurious lives, it was also clear that these houses were just their summer resort getaways. Where they actually lived most of the year is a total speculation to us.

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Lassen Volcanic National Park 其實原本是由兩個不同的National Monument：Cinder Cone National Monument 和 Lassen Peak National Monument，合併起來所組成的。那個Cinder Cone要從西北邊的入口進來，向東開到東北邊後，再向南開才會到。很多網頁都說到那兒的交通非常不方便，而這次的Lassen行，也只有打算走公園裡的主要CA-89公路。公園東南邊的部份，我們當然也是沒有去。

我們在公園的最後一天，直接沿CA-89，從南邊入口進去，開過前一天Bumpass Hell和Lassen Peak，一路開到北邊的入口出去，到Redding接到了I-5後才南下回灣區。沿途，我們只在幾個湖邊稍作停留，在樹陰下乘涼吹風，吃完前一天買好的零食當中餐，隨便吃吃就上路了。