Growing up in Northern California, I always thought of "the mountains" as The Sierra. I had no idea at the time that there was another range - one that I'd become familiar with in Washington - The Cascades.
Always looking for new places to explore, Northern California has been a challenge. Certainly, there are places, but - at least for me - finding them has been difficult. Stumbling across the Lassen National Forest Backcountry Discovery Trail, I knew it wouldn't be a treasure trove of the absolute best the area had to offer, but it would most definitely scratch the surface and give me an idea of where to look for those little nuggets that surely exist.
So, already in the area - having recently completed the Plumas National Forest Discovery Trail - and with a couple days to explore, we climbed into California's Cascades. What we found was nothing like what we'd expected, the trail exceeding our expectations time after time.
Lookout to Lookout | Lassen 1 - Growing up in Northern California, I always thought of "the mountains" as The Sierra. I had no idea at the time that there was another range - one that I'd become familiar with in Washington - The Cascades. With their southern end in the Lassen National Forest, they stretch all the way into Canada. Conveniently - having recently completed the Plumas National Forest Discovery Trail - we found ourselves at the border between the Plumas NF to the south and the Lassen NF to the north. And so, with a couple days to explore, we made the decision to climb…
Fearless Fred | Lassen 2 - It was just after 5:00pm as we pulled out of Mineral, opting to get started on the third leg of the Lassen National Forest (NF) Backcountry Discovery Trail (BDT), rather than simply finding somewhere nearby to camp. We hoped that somewhere - preferably early in the section - we'd find a nice ridgeline, or spur-road-to-a-ridgeline, where we could set up the tent and deploy the kitchen for the evening. I suppose we did eventually, but now I'm getting a few hours ahead of myself. Section 3: The Crossroads - Land of Transformation It is here where the granitic Sierra Nevada…