On our second day at Lassen Volcanic National Park, we took a dayhike to climb the Cinder Cone, which was a very fun hike yielding excellent views of lakes, lava flows, and Lassen Peak in all its glory.
We woke up that morning and ate breakfast, then packed up the car. We had a big day planned, and, sadly, a lot of it was going to be spent driving, thanks to the 2023 road closure high on Lassen Peak, which meant that we had to travel the long way around to reach the southern entrance. Plus, even the Cinder Cone hike required extra driving.
We left the park via the northern entrance and drove back on Highway 89, then turned right on route 44 near Hat Creek. Eventually, we turned onto a long, dusty, gravel National Forest Road, which led to the trailhead parking lot. This was a quite a bit of driving, but a friend of ours highly recommended this hike, so here we were.
We loaded up our official dayhiking backpack with snacks and water, then headed out. The elevation profile was interesting, in that most of the hike was a moderate uphill slope. It was the climb up the Cinder Cone itself that was steep. The hike started next to Butte Lake, which was quite pretty. After that, it followed along the edge of a chunky lava flow, and we were glad not to be on top of it, as those rocks are rough. It was good to be on properly flat dirt.
Soon enough, we arrived at what was unmistakably the Cinder Cone. My GPS showed two trails leading to the summit of the cone, which had a ring trail around the crater, with each ascending trail spiraling counterclockwise up the slope. It was obvious that a small bulldozer created these trails. There were also signs asking hikers to stay on the trails, and not to climb or descend the slopes as the smooth sides would be defaced by footsteps. Fair enough.
Vicki took one look at that trail and decided that she didn’t have the energy to climb it. I was sad, but what could I do? I wasn’t going to drag her up. So she took a seat in the shade of a tree and I began the climb. The trail was entirely made of loose cinders, just as you might expect. Loose, sloggy cinders. Two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back cinders. But I was determined. Climbing a volcano was my kind of thing.
So on I slogged, pausing for breath every so often (and also to take photos of the increasingly-better vistas). Lassen Peak came into view to the west, and there were enough puffy clouds all around that the pictures would be extra-dazzling. Clouds can make or break a photo.
Eventually, of course, I made it to the crater’s rim. I took more photos and videos. This place was beautiful! And the central crater turned out to be a Double Crater! Excellent. This was worthy of further study.
But first things first, I said to myself. The Summit must be Well and Truly Bagged. So I decided to circumnavigate the crater in a clockwise direction. I got to the top and looked over the edge, down the straight steep slope of cinders. Vicki was a tiny dot under a tree, and I tried waving a bit, but I wasn’t sure if she knew that it was me. Oh well. Then I got another hiker to take a couple of shots with me and Lassen Peak. I reciprocated, and we parted ways as she was going counterclockwise. Once I was alone on top, I took a megaton of photos and videos. This place was great. My friend was right. Totally worth it. I just wished that Vicki had made it up here.
Hiking along the east side, I was treated to great views of the Painted Dunes, a multi-colored set of sand (cinder?) dunes next to the cone. Stretching away to the north was a huge lava flow that my topo map calls the “Fantastic Lava Beds” and I must say that I agree. The name was simple, but effective, just like the “Painted Dunes” but not quite as simple as calling the cinder cone “Cinder Cone” – surely a name to remember as it was so distinctive. Apologies for the sarcasm, but the USGS cartographers must’ve been super-tired that day.
Around the southern end of the rim, I decided to check out the inner rim. There was still a bank of melting snow, which I decided to crunch across just for fun. This cone was 6907 feet tall, so it wasn’t surprising to see residual snow on a north-facing slope, even in Summer, after the big Winter of 2023. In fact, I wondered just how full of snow the crater got by the end of the season. Sounded like a fun place to be if you were properly prepared.
One of my fellow hikers hoofed it down into the inner crater, but I didn’t bother. I already knew what he would see: Sloping cinders all around and a narrow view from the bottom of a pit. Where’s the fun in that? Peak Baggers aren’t big on bagging valleys, after all, because there aren’t any views down there.
Continuing the circle, I arrived back at the down-spiral trail. I didn’t want to stay here too long because Vicki was probably bored down there. So it was time to go. On the way down, I decided to take a GoPro video or two. Why? Because I wanted to jog down the trail, plunging my feet into soft cinders all the way. Yes, it was fun. And the trip took only a fraction of the time it took to climb it. Good Times.
Winded, I sat down next to Vicki under the tree. The sun was playing hide and seek in the puffy clouds, but I still wanted to be in the shade, just in case. I took off my shoes and poured out a pile of tiny cinders. Then we took a drink of water and prepared to hike back to the car.
It was an uneventful hike back, not surprisingly. It was hard for any hike to compete with the Cinder Cone. Along the way, however, we met with a couple of hikers that wanted to climb Prospect Peak via a side trail. Prospect Peak was a Shield Volcano, one of the four main types of volcanoes (plug dome, cinder cone, shield, and composite) so I started getting interested. Maybe we could bag that one, too, I thought, but one look at Vicki’s face was enough to shut me up. There was no way she’d have the energy to do that climb. Plus, we really needed to get to the park’s southern entrance today, as we had no camping reservation for tonight.
So off we went, heading back toward Lassen Peak on Highway 89, then continuing the long way around the mountain, a drive of several hours. It sounded boring, but I didn’t care. I was still totally excited about the climb I just did on Cinder Cone. What a fun hike!
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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