My Utah Adventure 2025

Heading to Terrace Lakes TH, this is the BEST view in the whole park: Not to far up the road is the pull-off for the Lakes. There's a single car there when I arrive arrive 9:30'sh. This is a 3.4 RT with 700 ft of elevation change. And unfortunately, the climb is on the way (AGAIN!). I start down the trail thru an unburned forest. The trail can be hard to follow but with the help of AllTrails, I'm finding my way. Terrace Lakes in 1/2 mile downhill. I pass some snow piles on the way down. Some of the trail is pretty steep and on an edge so it is slow going. Terrace Lakes is so pretty and clear. I slow walk around the lake. Then there is more downhill before arriving a Shadow Lake. Again a beautiful clear lake.  I walk the lake to the opposite side where there are great views of Lassen Peak. Cliff Lake is a little over a mile away and another 400 ft downhill. It's almost 11 now. I'm hungry, it's getting warm to be climbing (in my opinion) AND I'm happy to stop ...

Sunny day with temps in the low 70s. Heading into Lassen to hike the Bumpass Hell Trail and the Terrace, Shadow, Cliff Lakes trail. Thanks to a 6am breakfast at the hotel, I'm on the road by 6:30. Not sure how crowded the park will be but want to get Bumpass in early so I'm not doing the Lakes trail during the heat of the day. On the drive in I slam on my breaks to miss a deer crossing the road. Her gal pal just stood on the opposite road watching. And on the way into the park, a Jackrabbit scampers in front of my car only avoiding my car by a burst of speed. At the gate, there is no ranger so I pass right thru. The park is too shady for photos so I'm the 2nd car in the Bumpass parking lots. It's in the low 50s with a nice breeze. I kill a little time checking out the volcano monitoring system and the views. The trail is 2.6 miles RT with 300 ft elevation change. The trail starts around 8100 ft and climbs to 8400 ft before dropping 300 feet into the basin. Love climbin ...

Today is the day I get to step foot into Lassen National Park. I have wanted to go here for years but never signed up for the hiking trip or gathered the nerve to go on my own. Well today is the day! I leave Reno around 7am. It's supposed to be around a 2.75 hour drive (yuk)! But it's a pretty easy one; mostly 65 mph, lots of cows and lots of dry landscape. Things moving smoothly until the stretch of Rte 36 which was under road construction intermittently the whole way -- one lane traffic. I definitely was slow going but I still arrived at the park around 10am. (I forgot about the Lassen 2021 fire that burnt 73K acress - coming extremely close to the town of Chester (where I am staying) and burning thru alot of Lassen. Lots of scars clearly visible but lots of new life as well in the form of saplings, large trees that survived in pockets of death, and lots of plants now blooming. That's the way Mother Nature works! Oh, and lots of windy roads to get here. There's only o...

Another sunny day with temps in the low 70s. Heading for a new hike today at Virginia Lakes. Made a scouting attempt yesterday and I think it'll be a good one. I'm really excited about the hike and leaving Mammoth for a new destination. It's time! I'm lazy this morning as the parking was not crowded when I arrived around 9:30 yesterday. But I still leave before 7:30. I have a slight panic because I forgot it's an hour drive but very few cars when I arrive. It's chilly in the low 50s with a slight wind. I have my light winter if I need it but it's in the pack. The trail starts at 9836 ft. I take the dirt trail out of the parking lot instead of the trail down by the lake that I was on for a minute yesterday. My trail has a slight uphill thru the sagebrush. When I look at Alltrails it says I'm not on the right path. The other trail is the "right" one but they do connect. To a lake; it has 2 streams in-flowing I take a spur down to walk along Blue ...

 Well, I was expecting to be hiking Virginia Lakes today and then heading to Reno BUT good thing I checked my  reservations because I have another day in Mammoth. What to do? I guess I'm heading to hike Parker Lake this morning. Supposed to be another sunny day. Since I have no plans after the hike, I do not pack a lunch. I got up early to be on the trail just after 7am as I'm expecting Saturday crowds. But as I head up 395 to the TH, there are some ominous darks clouds building where the TH should be. I get off at the exit anyway and stop at the gravel road. It looks nasty. I have a raincoat but no pants with me. I really don't want to hike in 45 degree rain. And maybe this is a sign that I'm not supposed to hike Parker Lake - didn't feel it yesterday and mother nature appears to be telling me something today. So I'm not hiking Parker Lake. Now what am I going to do? I could hike Saddlebag; the right side to Hummingbird lake. It's about 4.5 miles. But again...

Another sunny, mid-70s day. Final day in Mammoth as tomorrow I start making my way back to Reno to start Phase 2 of my journey. My plan for the day is to hike Parker Lake but in the back of my head I'm thinking of going back to hike the right side of Saddlebag Lake (flat around 4 miles). I head to Parker Lake but when I get to the parking lot, it's small; there's a person that has made camp in the lot,  another couple large trucks, etc. Not alot of organized parking. I'm not feeling it so I'm bailing. I'm heading to Saddlebag Lakes. When I get to Hwy 120, I remember I don't have a lunch but I start up the road. Part way there, I decide I'm turning around and heading to Covict Lake. I've been there before but never got very far. Today I will. I arrive at the Lake and it's busy. I easily find parking in the Day Lot. It's a beautiful day! Water is clean and beautiful. Exiting parking down a spur trail to the lake, I see a Behr Hairstreak and a W...