Since both of our employers were kind enough to give us July 3rd off in addition to Independence Day, David and I headed up to Northern California for a four-day weekend of caving and hiking. The crowds were sparse thanks to the mid-week holiday, and we were able to enjoy exploring some new caves as well as some old favorites in Lava Beds. We finished the long weekend off with a hike up Loomis Peak (thanks for the info, mtnsteve!) and some geocaching in the national forest west of Lassen National Park.
We drove up on Friday afternoon, battling heavy traffic through San Francisco and along 80 until our turnoff on 505. We drove up to Red Bluff where we had booked a cheap hotel for the night so we could get an early start on our first day in Lava Beds.
Saturday morning we woke up early and hit the road. First stop: Dunsmuir Corner Stone Bakery and Cafe for some fresh coffee and the best cinnamon rolls ever. I had a ‘small’ cinnamon roll (small, my ass) and David picked up two large rolls to cover breakfast for the next four days. If you are passing through the area around breakfast time, I can’t recommend these rolls enough. You’ll be hiking it all off in no time, trust me!
As we approached the Oregon border we had a brief quandry – do we drive 40 miles out of the way up to Klamath Falls and watch the France/Brazil World Cup game and risk missing out on a good campsite, or do we suck it up and accept the fact that we chose to spend the weekend in the middle of nowhere and just enjoy ourselves without knowing how badly France was thrashing Brazil (because of course they would since David was wearing his loss-immune French jersey)? The lack of any sort of cell signal even kept us from calling someone who would update us with what was going on. We reluctantly decided to forget the game and go play in Lava Beds instead.
After finding a decent campsite in the busy park campground, it was time to play. The first place we stopped was actually outside of the park at Tichnor (or Tickner, depending on which map/sign you believe) and Bertha’s Cupboard caves. They are located just south of the park boundary and are part of the same system that makes up the popular ‘Cave Loop’ inside of the park.
A quick aside about the area: Lava Beds National Monument is packed with lava tube caves (505 as of this visit), all originating from the activity on the Medicine Lake Shield Volcano. Shield volcanoes have low slopes and multiple vents, and don’t typically erupt in the classic Hollywood sense (a big kaboom from a vent at the summit). The caves in the area are all lava tubes. These form as lava slowly works its way out of a vent and down the slope. The outside cools quickly and hardens, leaving an insulating shell so that the lava inside stays liquid and keeps moving. When the eruption ends, the lava flows out of the hardened shell and leaves behind a lava tube cave. At Lava Beds NM, they have a developed ‘cave loop’ – a short drive where people can pull out and climb down developed ladders and trails to explore the caves of one flow. The caves along the cave loop are quite interesting and fun to explore, but it is also where 99% of the crowds spend their time. The Cave Loop isn’t the only place to find caves, however. A bit of pre-study and topo map knowledge will help anyone find some ‘wild’ caves to have to their own even on the busiest holiday weekend, some of them within spitting distance of developed areas.
After visiting some of the ‘wild’ caves just outside of the park, we had a picnic lunch and David chopped some firewood. On our way back into the park we stopped at the Hidden Valley and Mammoth Crater vistas (Mammoth crater is the vent on the Medicine Lake Shield Volcano from which most of the Lava Tubes in the park were formed), then drove down to Caldwell Butte on the Southern end of the park.
At Caldwell there are a couple of ice caves to explore, only a 1/3 mile hike or so from the main road. The first cave we stopped at was closed due to bats, but the second one was open. There was something a bit strange about it though – there were two freshly dead ravens near the entrance. We reported this to the superintendent of the park – hopefully we didn’t contract Hanta Virus or the Bird Flu. Most likely it was two birds who got into a bit of a tussle – ravens frequently roost in the rocks around lava tube entrances and their nests are everywhere. After the Caldwell ice caves it was back to the campground for some grilled Dittmer’s sausages, s’mores, and some cold beer. Mmmm.
On Sunday we woke up early and were off exploring by 8 am. We stopped by the Visitor Center and reported the dead ravens, and also checked a few details about places we wanted to explore. We played Park Tourist for the rest of the morning, spending some time visiting the historic locations in the park. Back in the 1870s there was a standoff between the Modoc Indians and the US Government. 150 Modocs held off 1000 Army troops for five months during the Modoc War, here in the area now designated as Lava Beds National Monument. The Modocs used the volcanic terrain to their advantage – the natural formations provided a better fortress than anything that could be built by man. I’ll spare the details, except to say that the history of this region is messed up, and based on our current administration’s actions history hasn’t taught us a thing.
We spent the afternoon back underground, visiting the giant Heppe Ice Cave and others. A quick look into the NGS cave book showed us that there was a cave just outside of the campground that we had not yet explored. We hiked around until we found it (the book doesn’t provide coordinates, unfortunately), then visited a couple of others at the east side of the cave loop. It’s impossible to walk anywhere in LBNM without practically falling into a cave. Fun!
Monday morning we woke up early and hit the Cave Loop before the crowds. We only stopped at a couple of our favorites – Golden Dome, Ovis (which was closed) and Sentinel. David explored ‘off trail’ in Sentinel – there is a pit that allows access to lower lava tube levels. In the past it has been ‘hidden’ by guardrails, but they were gone this time. Other than a set-aside sign that said it was closed August through May, there wasn’t anything indicating ‘off-limits’. David was the only non-LB staff person to sign the cave register down this offshoot cave in the past six months. Sentinel is a great cave – highly recommended!
We left Lava Beds and drove south across the Medicine Lake highlands. Due to the heavy snow fall this year, the road had just opened a week prior to our visit and crowds were sparse. We stopped at Medicine Lake (the ‘crater’ of the volcano) and had a picnic lunch and a quick dip in the cold lake. From there we headed down to Burney Falls (which was exceedingly busy and hot) for the obligatory photos of the beautiful falls. We then found a relatively nice campsite along Hat Creek. It was a large site in a National Forest campground that was sandwiched between Hat Creek and the highway. The only problem was the truck noise on the highway – otherwise it was a perfect campsite.
After setting up camp we drove a bit further south to pick up a couple of geocaches and wander through Subway Cave. It was at this point that I realized I had left my two favorite headlamps on the back bumper of the truck after our last cave visit in Lava Beds. Someone driving down the road to Merrill Ice Cave may find themselves a nice Petzl Myo 5 and Princeton Tec Quad. With fresh rechargable energizer batteries, too. I’m still kicking myself. Poo.
Tuesday was ‘mtnsteve’ day. Steve had given us some good info about backroads access for hiking Loomis Peak and we decided to get the truck dirty (as if it isn’t always filthy). Following the maze of forest roads in Lassen National Forest we left our truck at about 6900′ and hiked up the ridge to the summit of Loomis (~2 miles one way, ~1700 ft elevation gain). Loomis is a great summit – an easy hike that puts you right in the middle of excellent scenery. Lassen Peak, Mt Diller, and Brokeoff all seem within spitting distance of the summit, and the open terrain offers amazing views toward Shasta and the Trinities on the hike down. Throw in some wildflowers and interesting rock formations and this hike is a winner in every way. Well, except for the gusting wind at the summit, maybe.
After the summit we hit some of Steve’s caches in the area, including a visit to the Hoodoos. Very nice area – I want to go back and explore some more. Then it was finally time to hit the road and head home, another successful trip under our belts.
