Brokeoff Mountain

Hiked: 8/31/2025
Distance: 7.8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 9238'
Elevation Gain: 2690'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.1
Round trip time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 80 oz.
Parking/Fees: $30 National Parks Fee or National Parks Pass (*)
Difficulty: Moderate

note: The trailhead for Brokeoff is inside the park, but outside the entrance gate. There are signs stating that you need to pay the entrance fee to hike, but it's unclear how it is enforced.

On our last day at Lassen, Leisa and I hiked the Bumpass Hell trail to smoldering geothermic pools. It was a nice three mile warm up, but somewhat disappointing for the effort. The first couple of photos were from Bumpass Hell. Then, we drove outside the entrance gate to a paved parking lot with room for about a dozen cars. The trail started across the road with tall grass encroaching on the footpath. Soon, the trail opened up and we crossed a swampy creek over logs. We were more than a mile into the hike before we were able to see Brokeoff above the trees. This was our only other planned destination for the day, so we kept it in low gear. The trail went directly at the cliff face before veering toward the base of the ridge. Views started to open up as we gained elevation and the forest thinned into tall cedars and varieties of ground cover. A long segment of trail cut an angle up the slope to the ridge, then made a sharp turn east for the final approach.

Brokeoff Mountain from the Bumpass Hell trail

We walked below the NW summit, about 40' lower than the true summit. As on Lassen, the upper part of the mountain was buffeted by strong and steady wind. We continued on to the main summit with beautiful 360 views and only had to share it with one other couple. The cliffs below the summit were crumbly and vertical. We had a great look at Lassen and could make out Shasta better than from Lassen, but the top was still lost in haze and it didn't show up in the photos. We didn't find any benchmarks or a register. For lunch, we dropped 50' off the summit to the shelter of a small pine tree that blocked the wind. Since we had a few bars of cell service on top, we wasted some time goofing off before starting down. The trail was busier on the way down, but not nearly as busy as Lassen. Brokeoff Mountain was the highest remnant of Mount Tehama, an extinct volcano that was higher than Lassen half a million years ago. It was well worth the effort and recommended when visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Leisa and I on the summit

Looking over at the lower NW summit

Lassen Peak

Hiked: 8/30/2025
Distance: 5.3 miles round trip on trail and use trail
Summit Elevation: 10462'
Prominence: 5246'
Elevation Gain: 2100'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.6
Round trip time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 54 oz.
Parking/Fees: $30 National Parks Fee or National Parks Pass
Difficulty: Moderate

Leisa and I finally made it to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We made the trip in 2021, only to find the park closed due to the Dixie Fire. That fire burned 73,240 acres in the park and we couldn't see anything from the visitor center. We diverted to Reno for Rose Peak. In 2022, a harsh winter prevented snow plows from clearing the road to the trailhead. In 2024, the Park Fire closed the park again. 2025 turned out to be our year. No nearby fires and most of the snow had melted. Since we were visiting on a busy Labor Day weekend, we started at sunrise. The parking lot when we started had less than 10 cars.

We started at sunrise up the groomed, sandy trail, admiring the frequent switchback trail work. We had great views of Helen Lake and Lake Almanor in the distance. It's a relatively short hike, only 2.5 miles to the summit and we did it in one push. The only curve ball was a strong, steady 25mph wind that hit us with a half mile to go. It wasn't in the weather forecast, so I left my windbreaker behind. Leisa had a hoody, so at least she had some protection. We had to guard against our hats getting blown off the mountain. We reached a flat area short of the summit where there were several informative signs, then proceeded on a use trail toward the summit. We had to cross a permanent snow field that had a deep boot track worn into it. No special precautions required. Then, an easy scramble up to the high point. A benchmark was set in a boulder at the high point and someone left a hand bell for celebratory rings. As is the case with most popular peaks, there was no register. After photos, we dropped down into the crater where we found more snow and jagged deformed rocks. There were no signs of fumaroles or other dangers. The descent was uneventful, but we passed over 100 eager hikers on their way up. The parking lot was full when we got back. Climbing this P5K Ultra was a satisfying start to our visit in the park.

Boiling mud pot at the Sulfur Works

Lassen from Emerald Lake

Helen Lake below

Across the snow field

Benchmark with no name

The crater

Inside the crater

Lassen from the devastated area in the north

Lassen from Manzanita Lake

DeCaLiBron

Hiked: 8/20/2025
Distance: 7.7 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 14154' (Democrat), 14248' (Cameron), 14292' (Lincoln), 14178' (Bross)
Prominence: 3868' (Lincoln)
Elevation Gain: 3500'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.8
Round trip time: 6 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 92 oz.
Parking/Fees: $8 Day Use Fee for Parking, Self-Pay
Difficulty: Strenuous

The day after Sneffels, I left Montrose at 3:30 AM for the 3.5 hour drive to the DeCaLiBron trailhead at Kite Lake, CO. It was roughly six miles up a dirt road from the town of Alma, CO. The road was heavily wash-boarded and grew worse past the gate where I paid the $8 for parking. It's self pay at the gate or trailhead. High clearance recommended, though I saw several sedans that made it. The upper lot was at 12000' and almost full. A lot of people were on the mountains.

The acronym DeCaLiBron is based on the four 14ers you can hit in one loop:

• Mount Democrat
• Mount Cameron
• Mount Lincoln
• Mount Bross

Getting four 14ers in one hike was very appealing and not something an average hiker could accomplish anywhere else in the US. It was 36F when I started on a nice trail going clockwise toward Mt. Democrat. My quads were already sore from Sneffels, and they were in for a second beating. The first section of trail gained 1300' to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. The wind started to pick up so I stopped to add a layer and gloves. From the saddle up, everything was a giant talus field. The climb to Democrat was about 700' and there was a false summit at the top of the slope. The summit was another quarter mile away. Several groups were coming down, several going up, and several were on the summit when I arrived. There were no marks and no register on this wildly popular mountain. Views were nice in all directions. I took a short break, then followed the crowd down Democrat and up Cameron. It was another 800' up Cameron to a wide, flat summit with no clear high point. This climb felt harder than the one to Democrat due to the altitude and accumulated gain. I took a lot of 20 second breaks to keep my heart rate under control. Cameron had no register and no marks. A lot of people congregated on the summit of Cameron, so I continued on toward Lincoln, which looked farther away than it was.

Mount Democrat near the start

Mt. Democrat from the saddle

Mt. Democrat summit ahead

Climbing Mt. Cameron

Looking back at Mt. Democrat from Cameron
The drop off from Cameron was only 100', then up 150' over a half mile to Lincoln. Lincoln looked like it might involve a some class 2, but it didn't. Class 1 all the way. Lincoln had a benchmark and reference mark, but no register. It was the highest of the four and had some cool chutes falling away from the summit. I savored a brief bit of solitude on Lincoln and had lunch there before another group arrived. The last section followed a trail that cut across the shoulder of Cameron to Mt. Bross. Like Cameron, Bross was a giant mound with an indistinct high point. The summit was a wind shelter where a group of fifteen was resting and taking photos. I marked a waypoint, then walked about 500' to a wind shelter on the other side of the summit plateau that looked a smidgen higher. However, When I got there, it was obviously lower than the first shelter. The trail off Bross was steep and loose. The main trail dropped off the ridge and was the only part that might have been class 2. I followed advice from 14ers.com and took a use trail further down the ridge, letting me pass about 20 other hikers in a traffic jam on the main trail. When I got back to the parking lot, I packed up and drove north to Dillon, where I had accommodations for the night. I had climbed five 14ers in two days. Looking back, I slightly overestimated the difficulty of Sneffels, and underestimated the DeCaLiBron. 3500' gain at elevation was vigorous work, though Sneffels was still harder due to terrain. With destroyed quads, my strike mission to CO had come to an end. I flew back to the OC the following morning.

Mt. Lincoln from Cameron

Mt. Bross from Lincoln

Approaching Bross

Mt. Democrat from Bross

The mountains were teeming with pika

King’s Crown (Rhodiola integrifolia)