Day 7

Today included an adventure for four of us (Joe, Ali, Dan, and Josh). Mary decided she didn’t want to take a hike and then have to drive. We hiked up to Cinder Cone. The hike was described as “moderate,” but Ali thought it was more like “strenuous.” The first 1.2 miles were mostly flat ground. That portion was only to get to the base of the volcano. Once we began our volcanic climb, things got a lot harder. Cinder Cone is made of volcanic sand so every step up you slide a half a step back. Ali was lagging behind, and the boys were ahead. Joe stayed back with Ali to make sure she made it up. After about 45 minutes of uphill climbing, we had reached the top. The top rim had gorgeous views of the Fantastic Lava Beds (yeah that’s the name), Painted Dunes, and Lassen Mountain. Then we hiked right down into the center of the cone which descended a good 100 feet below the rim and had lunch down there. According to the kids, the best part was running down the huge sandy mountain at the end. There were millions of rocks in our shoes when we reached the bottom. Then it was on the road again where we ended the day Hornbrook, California, right on the edge of California and Oregon. In Hornbrook, we stayed at the Blue Heron RV Park in one of the spots that had fishing.

THE HISTORY OF CINDER CONE

Cinder Cone exploded in the 1600s, causing many changes in the land. The explosions could have happened over couple of months to a few years. Before the series of explosions, there used to be one gigantic lake next to Cinder Cone. All the lava spewing out of the volcano soon cooled and formed the Fantastic Lava Beds. The Fantastic Lava Beds landed on the humungous lake and split it into two. The lava beds stretch for miles! There were also some colorful rocks that were expelled during the eruptions. Over time the forces of erosion created beautiful dunes out of the colorful rocks called the Painted Dunes (the actually look like someone painted them).