Warner Valley, Lassen Volcanic National Park
Locate the trailhead.
This was a quick hike late in the day before driving back home. Warner Valley is along a road that goes into the park and stops a bit east of the main road. A sign in Chester pointed the way to the park road. Keeping left, then right brought me to a small parking lot for the Pacific Crest Trail well after the road had turned to gravel. The trail had many junctions but was well signed. Someone had written in "Boiling Lake" on the one sign post that forgot to mention it. The lake itself was a very easy 1.5 mile up the trail which has a loop around it. It's so easy, or maybe the land so cold this time of year, that I was quite comfortable in my thermals the whole way up to the thermal feature.
The road actually goes up to a ranch just past the trailhead. I followed the PCT along through some sloshy grasses and over a small but fast stream to a footbridge across a small but fast river. Above the river, looking down the trail, steam could be seen rising from the grasses. The trail passes along what appears the be the head of a hot spring that is flowing down to where the ranch is though on the other side of the river.
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Steam rising from a tiny stream bed sourced by a hot spring near my feet and headed on down in the direction of a local ranch. |
I came to a sign marking the trail for the loop around the lake and took it even though no lake was yet visible. It turned out there were two places on that side of the lake to turn off for the loop, the second much closer to the lake. I quickly came upon it anyway.
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Some bits of the land around the lake take of a funny shape and color. The trail I took avoided walking too near to this, which may or may not be particularly stable. |