Brokeoff Mountain (Lassen Volcanic National Park, California)

In continuing preparation for Mount Whitney, I'm trying to push myself up more and more difficult mountains, both to stretch my endurance and to get more used to high altitudes. I admit the idea of hiking to 14+k feet on Whitney is a bit daunting. In that vein, I decided to visit Lassen Peak with my friend Brent, but upon arrival at the park we discovered that the 5-mile out and back trail to the summit of the 10.4k peak is currently closed for maintenance. Instead we opted to hike the second highest peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park, Brokeoff Mountain, which rises to 9235 ft. along a 7.4 mile out and back trail with 2600 feet of elevation gain along the way.

 
The trail starts in the very southern entrance to the park, actually before the check point and immediately starts climbing. Through meadows and forest the trail climbs. Approaching the top of the tree line and onto the rocky areas near the top of the mountain, the path continues to climb relentlessly. In truth, I have never hiked a trail that was so consistently uphill. Most mountain trails tend to gain and loose altitude along the way to the top, but of course gaining more than is lost. However, the trail to the top of Brokeoff Mountain never, not once, seems to loose any altitude. It simply goes uphill the whole way to the top.

Upon arriving, we are met with a divine view, much like what the Olympians might have seen from their citadels. From the top, we have a marvelous view of the entire national park, Lassen Peak, and even the mighty Mount Shasta in the distance. This alone was worth the effort to get here. I'm struck by the presence of animal life with so little vegetation. There are some annoying flies a few moths, and even a pair of ravens checked in on us as we rested at the top. Also, we noticed an odd manmade construct near the summit. It was as though someone had mortared together a number of the stones from around the area into a cylindrical well of sorts. I would suggest it was a fire pit, but with no sign of charring on the interior, we ruled that out. Brent was thinking it might be a water catch of some sort, as the interior walls appear to be plastered smooth. Whatever it was, it was left unfinished and we may never discover its intended use.

The path down was just as relentlessly downhill as you might expect. This was rough on the knees and toes, but we finally managed to return to the trailhead a bit tired, but feeling good for our accomplishments.