July 19th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 25
Start Location: Mile 1338
End Location: Mile 1363
End Location GPS: 40.56309, -121.44291
Today we entered Lassen Volcanic National Park. There were a few interesting thermal features including a geyser which was just steam comming out of a big hole in the ground and a larger geothermal lake that looked a very light mustard color. It was a bit underwhelming.
The terrain was flat much of the day and unexciting. A large portion of forest near the trail today was burned by a fire in 2012. The second half of the day was spent traversing this wasteland of dead and desolate trees. When you stopped you could hear them all creaking and cracking in the wind, like the sound an old wooden rocking chair makes as it seesaws back and forth, like in a horror movie when nobody is sitting in it.
The demons and ghosts play in this forest of the dead. You hear it in the wind here. But there is always life where there is death, like in the low green grasses with their bright purple flowers, the bees that buzz around and pollinate the plants and the deer that still graze the meadows. Perhaps there is no room for demons here among the dead when there is so much rebirth- like a candle that lights up a dark room on a cold and rainy November night. Shedding just enough warm light to make everything bright and cozy.
