volcanic surprise

Day 85 ~ miles 1338.4 - 1356.6

The day started with a pity party in the tent.  My stomach hurt, I was absolutely exhausted, even after a long night of uninterrupted sleep, and the tears were flowing.  Moonshine coaxed me out of the tent as I tried to calm my emotions.  The last thing I wanted to do was hike, but I knew I didn't have much of a choice.  We're racing against Mother Nature, and if we're going to make it to Canada before the snow does, we need to move.

We've had views of the volcanic Mount Lassen for several days.  We knew we'd enter Lassen Volcanic National Park, but we'd never heard anything about it.  We crossed over the park boundary and decided to take a short side trip down the Terminal Geyser trail to check it out and eat lunch.   Never have either of us seen a geyser, and it was legit!  We could smell the sulfur well before we could see the constant flow of steam escaping from below the surface of the earth.  Signs everywhere warned of the potentially dangerous volcanic conditions.  After lunch, we decided to travel another side trail, which skirted a mint-green colored acid lake surrounded by bubbling mud pots.  What a surprise!  Never did we expect to be wandering around this kind of volcanic activity today, or at all on the trail.

Still weak from our illness, we were somehow able to push through the extreme heat and have a sort of decent day of hiking.  Camping with several other hikers by a nice stream, hoping to continue to gain energy tomorrow.