Location: Lassen Volcanic National Park, Shasta County
Height: 43 ft.Access:
Distance: 2.2 miles
(RT) Elevation: 7300 ft. (-500 ft.)
Season: Jun-Sep
Difficulty: Lat/Long:40.45968, -121.44140
(or 17 miles from the north entrance).
If you are coming from the south entrance, the trail head just past the Kings Creek picnic area. There is a long parking area along the roadside
I have been mulling in my mind something that happened to us a few years ago, in fact at least 15 years ago.
It was brought back to mind this morning as I read my daughters blog, (Theshadesofpink.blogspot.com)
David and I love to hike, or did before legs and feet became too bad to take a chance on falling.
We had driven to Mr. Lassen, We sat up camp and off we went on our treks. (our favorite destination).
We had hiked to Kings Creek Falls on numerous occasions. It was a beautiful hike, across meadows, jumping small streams, look outs on occasion.
There was a well marked trail. However there was another trail. (horse trail)
As we reached the falls, the shale seemed unusually loose and I did not have on non skid shoes. I kept sliding. There was a warning about loose shale. The shale was right beside a small cliff that ran down to the water. (not the falls but the creek running to the falls).
You did not want to fall in. (Burrrrr Icy water).
So on our way back, we saw the Horse trail. We decided for safety we would take the Horse Trail. (Big Mistake, we are not horses).
Somehow we lost the trail. Somehow we forgot it was at over 2 miles of meadows and streams and up and down hiking to make it to the falls. You forget that important information when you are loving the surroundings.
Once we stopped to rationalize. OK we know the Creek is on our right, Lassen Road is on our left, if we keep going to the left we eventually will come to the road. Right???
Well in essence when you are lost in the mountains, you are not sure of directions.
We prayed a lot and convinced ourselves we were headed in the right direction.
Lassen has Bears, and Mountain Lions and Lord knows what else..
We trudge on. We want to stop and drink the water but we know it can be contaminated with germs, parasites to get into your intestine.
We just know we are OK, Our hearts are also pounding but we never voiced the idea "We Could be lost. "
We came to a place where the ground was so mushy it was like a swamp. We try to find a way around it.
Suddenly we hear cars or a Car. We are on the way to the road.
We had to cross the mushy swampy ground, we had to climb over logs, ( I can guarantee no horse would have taken this path).
When we hear the car, the road is about 100 feet ahead, we think, sound carries in the mountains too, We see a high hill, "Is the road on top of this hill?" Maybe? We have to try, it is getting late.
.We walk the hill bottom to find a semi decent way up.
Finally we give it all we have and pull ourselves up the hill. We slide a few times but it is just red mountain lava dirt. We again hear a car.
God how much further? We are exhausted.
That's it, the Highway. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!! We climb to the top and sit down. Thanking God for helping us. David looks at me and laughs because I am covered in dirt. ( I had on white shorts).
Are we at the parking lot? NO!!!!! We still have to walk at least a few miles to the car.
I have been mulling in my mind something that happened to us a few years ago, in fact at least 15 years ago.
It was brought back to mind this morning as I read my daughters blog, (Theshadesofpink.blogspot.com)
David and I love to hike, or did before legs and feet became too bad to take a chance on falling.
We had driven to Mr. Lassen, We sat up camp and off we went on our treks. (our favorite destination).
We had hiked to Kings Creek Falls on numerous occasions. It was a beautiful hike, across meadows, jumping small streams, look outs on occasion.
There was a well marked trail. However there was another trail. (horse trail)
As we reached the falls, the shale seemed unusually loose and I did not have on non skid shoes. I kept sliding. There was a warning about loose shale. The shale was right beside a small cliff that ran down to the water. (not the falls but the creek running to the falls).
You did not want to fall in. (Burrrrr Icy water).
So on our way back, we saw the Horse trail. We decided for safety we would take the Horse Trail. (Big Mistake, we are not horses).
Somehow we lost the trail. Somehow we forgot it was at over 2 miles of meadows and streams and up and down hiking to make it to the falls. You forget that important information when you are loving the surroundings.
Once we stopped to rationalize. OK we know the Creek is on our right, Lassen Road is on our left, if we keep going to the left we eventually will come to the road. Right???
Well in essence when you are lost in the mountains, you are not sure of directions.
We prayed a lot and convinced ourselves we were headed in the right direction.
Lassen has Bears, and Mountain Lions and Lord knows what else..
We trudge on. We want to stop and drink the water but we know it can be contaminated with germs, parasites to get into your intestine.
We just know we are OK, Our hearts are also pounding but we never voiced the idea "We Could be lost. "
We came to a place where the ground was so mushy it was like a swamp. We try to find a way around it.
Suddenly we hear cars or a Car. We are on the way to the road.
We had to cross the mushy swampy ground, we had to climb over logs, ( I can guarantee no horse would have taken this path).
When we hear the car, the road is about 100 feet ahead, we think, sound carries in the mountains too, We see a high hill, "Is the road on top of this hill?" Maybe? We have to try, it is getting late.
.We walk the hill bottom to find a semi decent way up.
Finally we give it all we have and pull ourselves up the hill. We slide a few times but it is just red mountain lava dirt. We again hear a car.
God how much further? We are exhausted.
That's it, the Highway. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!! We climb to the top and sit down. Thanking God for helping us. David looks at me and laughs because I am covered in dirt. ( I had on white shorts).
Are we at the parking lot? NO!!!!! We still have to walk at least a few miles to the car.
That is OK, We now know where we are and we are safe, The car is to the left of the hill and all down hill. We really had a huge climb. The creek? Well it was well off the road and behind us.
I do not recall ever making that trek again, We saw enough of Kings Creek Falls.
Thank God he did show us the way home. We could have been lost forever in those mountains. We persevered. We never gave up, we convinced ourselves the creek was behind us so the road had to be ahead of us.
We did not cut anything off the trek, we made it harder.
When we reached the road, we were both covered in dirt and grime. Did we care? No we just wanted to shout to everyone, "We survived a treacherous trek!!!!"
When I called my Mom to tell her of our adventure she said, "Carolyn Sue you could get lost in those mountains," I never told her the whole story, (As children do, even as adults we are still cautious with our parents. We don't want them to worry needlessly. )
Oh Mom, we were technically lost. I just never let her know or totally admitted it.
I only admitted it to myself this past week or so.
Our Marriage has been a journey of this kind. We often stepped off the main trail, our hearts would pound for fear of the unknown, our feet would slip, and as Sheri stated, The other was there guarding the footsteps, watching for the shale and walking through the muck to reach our destination. We pushed and pulled each other to the top.
We made it through some pretty treacherous valleys only to reach our destination.
Maturity and Love and knowing the other will always be there to reach out a hand.
I do not recall ever making that trek again, We saw enough of Kings Creek Falls.
Thank God he did show us the way home. We could have been lost forever in those mountains. We persevered. We never gave up, we convinced ourselves the creek was behind us so the road had to be ahead of us.
We did not cut anything off the trek, we made it harder.
When we reached the road, we were both covered in dirt and grime. Did we care? No we just wanted to shout to everyone, "We survived a treacherous trek!!!!"
When I called my Mom to tell her of our adventure she said, "Carolyn Sue you could get lost in those mountains," I never told her the whole story, (As children do, even as adults we are still cautious with our parents. We don't want them to worry needlessly. )
Oh Mom, we were technically lost. I just never let her know or totally admitted it.
I only admitted it to myself this past week or so.
Our Marriage has been a journey of this kind. We often stepped off the main trail, our hearts would pound for fear of the unknown, our feet would slip, and as Sheri stated, The other was there guarding the footsteps, watching for the shale and walking through the muck to reach our destination. We pushed and pulled each other to the top.
We made it through some pretty treacherous valleys only to reach our destination.
Maturity and Love and knowing the other will always be there to reach out a hand.
Our Destination, The Mountain Top.
1 comment:
Yes, that is all true but think of the fun we had finding ourselves.
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