Mount Lassen by moonlight is something not to be missed

I have been a lot of places, I’ve been around the world, but I was not prepared for the awesomeness of my last adventure.

During the most recent full moon, I climbed an active volcano in Lassen National Park in California, Mount Lassen. The National Park website had advertised doing the five mile roundtrip hike under moonlight, so I timed my most recent sojourn to Santa Barbara County, in order to complete this hike under the recommended conditions.

I left Cheney at 11:30 a.m. drove straight through to Northern California arriving at 2 a.m. the next morning as the rising “Full Buck Moon” was at its zenith. It was bright with snow and more than a little chilly at the trail head of 10,000 feet.

I dressed in a loose fitting shirt, hooded sweatshirt, gloves, shorts and sneakers. The snow and volcanic rock were reflecting a tremendous amount of light allowing me to forgo a flashlight in favor of a green glow stick. With that and water in hand, I started off on the 1,000-foot-per-mile gain in elevation hike.

The website had warned of numerous cougar sightings in the recent weeks. Another name for cougar is mountain lion, the root noun being lion!

As I left the parking lot behind, these thoughts, the shadows of junipers and pine trees caused me to quicken my pace. All the swimming, biking and running I had been doing was little match for the extreme elevation. After the first half-mile I was wheezing and holding my sides. However it seemed there was a lion in every shadow.

Fear created adrenalin, and I rode that white lighting drug for all it was worth, even with my permanent right leg limp, which was making me more attractive to predators. “Look that human is injured” I seemed to hear them meow.

To combat the fear I was honestly feeling, I began to sing, and scream at the mountain, calling out to Prometheus for an eruption, asking the Lord for the rapture, all the while gasping for air, knowing that at this height I was getting 40 percent less air molecules per breath than at the beach. If there were any animals or people around surely they would conclude there was a crazy person hiking up the volcano.

The largest benefit of not carrying a flashlight is that your night vision is at its strongest with your eyes fully dilated. This, I felt, would allow me to see the lions I was sure were stalking me – which is why I stopped and threw rocks at the shadows. Incidentally, National Park literature says if attacked to protect your neck area, punch the lion in the face while screaming “Bad kitty!” Your tax dollars at work.

The hike was semi-technical with loose stones and intermittent snow fields covering the trail. I honestly had never been this afraid, or alone in North America. I made it to the top and admired the view, as stars are much brighter at 12,500 feet.

I ran back down the mountain with more confidence and the experienced feet of a mountain goat. Smashing the park average time of five hours with my two hour, 20 minute journey.

I have done many of the recommended drives and hikes in America. Lassen under moonlight is not to be missed.

Phil Kiver is a Cheney High School and Eastern Washington University graduate, author and Iraq/Afghanistan Army veteran.