Lassen was one of the places I wanted to see as the reviews reminded me of growing up in New Zealand and going on a trip to Rotorua to see the geysers and boiling mud. There is something about experiencing the action in a geothermal area, especially if you haven’t seen anything like it before! I thought the boys would be interested as we’ve spent the last couple of weeks visiting volcanic sites that were very different from this – you can check out my posts on Lava Beds National Monument and the Lava River Cave if you missed them.
I also knew that Lassen had the potential to be inaccessible for one of my kids who is extremely sensitive to certain aromas. The rotten egg stench of sulfur emitting from vents is unpleasant at best, and completely overwhelming for people with olfactory sensory sensitivities at its worst. Before we embarked on a hike that would have him unable to escape from the smell, we first took the kids to Sulphur Works, a short walk from a parking area with several viewing areas of the mountainside, colorful soils, steam vents and boiling mud. It was an opportunity for our kiddo to see if they could tolerate the sulphuric air and invest interest in the area.
He gave it a good try, but it was really too much. While we allow opportunities for growth and perseverance in some areas, we don’t expect our kids to suffer through sensory sensitivities that cause discomfort leading to trauma. We quickly ushered him back to the car and shifted plans to drive higher up the mountain and go for a walk as a family to an area that was above the geothermal hot spots.
I am so thankful we were able to find and purchase our small Orlando to tow behind the Class C. Many places we’ve wanted to visit are out of the way and would have been very difficult to take an RV. The Visitor’s center was able to advise us of a few walks we could comfortably tackle with the kids but the drive was windy with a sheer cliff on one side and no guard rails at all! In fact, come to think of it, I haven’t seen many guard rails at all on this trip which makes me wonder if highway barricades are even mandated here in the USA?! In any case, I would not have wanted to attempt Mt Lassen with the RV as we climbed up to 8700ft elevation before stopping at 8500ft for our hike to Terrace Lake.
Terrace Lake is the first stop as part of a trio of lakes along a 4-mile trip. It’s just over 1 mile to Lake Terrace but a 300 ft decline, and as we knew we had to climb back up again we thought that was our best turnaround point, plus a 4km round trip going straight down and then straight up again was enough of a challenge.
Lane found it especially difficult as he developed altitude sickness during our hike. He is quite sensitive to changes in the environment and as my kids are used to living at sea level, 8500ft was a shock to his system. We waited a little while at the lakeshore for him to rest and rehydrate and see if he would acclimatize, but soon headed back as he had developed a headache, nausea, was feeling faint, and had trouble walking straight when climbing back up to the car.
Even though it was a hard hike for Lane, and overall the day didn’t go as we had planned with not being able to really visit the geothermal areas, I ended up having a personal accomplishment that was significant to me. A few months ago, on June 1st, I ended up passing out and badly hitting my head, incurring a serious concussion. In the days, weeks, and months following I struggled with nausea, dizziness, fatigue, light and sound sensitivity, vertigo, insomnia, and tinnitus. My words felt sluggish, I had constant head pressure and difficulty with proprioception and balance. I felt quickly frustrated, perpetually down, and really just a shell of myself. Prior to my concussion, I had been training for a “Race Around the Rock” regatta; a rowing race circumnavigating Salt Spring Island. After hitting my head I struggled to get through the day, much less balance on a small boat being tossed by waves. My whole summer was spent focusing on two things – recovery and getting prepared for this trip. I wanted to be present, strong, and able to participate with my kids during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
On the way back up the mountain, heading for the car I knew Julian couldn’t make the climb. He had fallen countless times on the way down and he was already tired. I popped him into my Beco, a soft-shelled Toddler Carrier. Julian is 4.5years and 35lbs and the Beco still has a lovely fit on him with a wide seat and tall back. The carrier is rated up to 60lbs, and I have carried one of the older boys in it once a couple of years ago in a pinch on a hike after they had a horrible fall and had skinned both knees. I haven’t however carried Julian for any real length of time since my concussion, and truth be told, he’s usually a pretty good walker but with one arm immobilized still it it can make challenging trails that much more difficult. Climbing those 2 odd kilometers back up the mountain, holding Lane’s hand and holding Julian on my back, I felt strong for the first time in months. It was significant in that all the work I’ve put into recovery is coming together, allowing me to accomplish things that are important and meaningful to me. While I’m not yet back to 100%, (and I needed to have a low-key day the next day) words cannot express how grateful I am to hit this milestone.
On our second day in Lassen, I decided to stay back with the three younger boys as Lane was feeling better, but not at his best and reluctant to try an increase in altitude, and Asher was also having a rough day in general. While we hung out in camp, Cole and Elias went on the hike to Bumpass Hell, a 5-kilometer (over 3 miles) traverse through the geothermal area. It was named such after a man, Kendall Bumpass, who fell into some boiling mud in the area and severely burned his leg! There are many signs throughout the area cautioning hikers to stay on the path – for good reason too!
Elias has been particularly enjoying learning about Photography and has Cole’s old 3/4 frame Olympus that he has been using. It was fun for him to go out alone with Cole and be able to ask questions and learn from his Dad. I’m hopeful that this is a hobby he can continue and enjoy for a long time to come, I think having some sort of artistic expression is important; whether it’s something like photography or playing an instrument or singing or painting or writing. It doesn’t matter what it is, and you don’t have to be the best at it, but to connect to an art form, to feel creativity well up inside of you and spill out into action, into something you make or create out of your own self – it’s so incredibly therapeutic and life-giving.
This next gallery is Elias’ photographs. I love seeing his developing eye and also what catches his interest! Every time I turn to take a picture of him, he has the camera up to his face, peering at some treasure through the lens. Enjoy.
While Lassen may not have been what we had hoped, it was still a great learning experience and I’m glad we tried it out. There are going to be lots of things on this trip that don’t go to plan, and flexibility and resilience are two foundational concepts that we are working on. In a family with a diverse set of needs and capacities, we tend to gravitate towards routine and predictability. When we have a plan in place and then live out that plan, things feel safe and two of my kids in particular thrive on routine and predictability and experience a lot of anxiety when those are amiss. So how can we mitigate anxiety and still feel safe when our intentions are interrupted? Being able to pivot and change our course of action can be simplified down to one thing – we recognize that everyone’s needs are important and therefore we need to be flexible in re-purposing our plans. Really, it’s all about love. I love my kids, their needs are significant. My child could not be in the same area as the sulfur smell. Lane needed to get down off the mountain. If we can accommodate and respond to those essential demands, then the kids will feel safe even when everything around them (their environment, the plans, our routine, etc) is changing. And when they feel safe, they can be flexible. We are all learning how to do this better, it’s not always this simple! It’s a good thing we will undoubtedly get a lot of practice on this trip!
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