...of the Cinder Cone trail, found in the remote eastern edge of Lassen National Park. In the photo above, you can see the ant-sized hikers on their way to the summit from our vantage point on the rim
TSG was rather surprised to encounter a huge contingent of grade schoolers from Merced, CA out on a early-session field trip (only a small group shown here). They were a motley bunch, and only one of them was able to surpass TSG's scorching pace up the cone's face. (Truth be told, we weren't in the race for the glory, but only for a chance to have the rim to ourselves for just a minute or two...)
Anywho, TSG was quite happy to share the top o' the cone with the kids
as they ended up being quite well behaved.
2 comments:
Man. That's quite a field trip for some elementary school kids. The most significant field trip I ever recall taking was to visit an old Spanish mission. Climbing up there is something else again. Public school, or perhaps a private school instead?
As for the snapshots, nice. Bizarre terrain. Especially the lone tree here and there in that blasted-looking landscape. Would have been a worthy place to shoot a few Compan scenes!
Were any of the kids disappointed to discover that, after all that effort, there was not a concession stand at the top of the climb?
Taking a clue from the buses in at the trailhead, the youngsters appeared to be part of a Christian School outing. (And our google fu confirms it--a peek at the Merced Christian School's online calendar shows that the 8th graders were indeed my companions on top of old (ex)smokey.)
There didn't seem to be a lot of disappointment up on the rim, the general consensus seemed to be one of acomplishment and awe. That might not have been true for the later groups that TSG passed on the way back: they were going to attempt the slog up the pumice-y trail in the heat of the day. Not a fun prospect no matter how old one might be.
BTW, the staff at TSG would be remiss not to mention the 500th comment milestone that was reached last week. If only there had been a contest or something--the lucky poster might have had something to show for it. But no, the only satisfaction on offer here is a passing mention and a hearty thanks.
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