[This was a hike, not a ride. It was definitely still a workout. My watch auto-uploaded the activity to RwGPS.] With snowfall in the forecast this weekend, the hiking season on Mt Lassen is coming to a close until next Summer. I had to get a hike in. It had been 4 years since I last hiked Lassen. Since then trips kept getting cancelled for wildfire smoke until they were cancelled for snow. I have hiked Mt Lassen many times. The first time I hiked it, I was 5. (I remember trundling along slowly and seeing the same sights that would later become familiar as an adult. Among my vague recollections from that trip, I remember Dad telling family and friends, "he made it.") I went there several times when I was in college in Chico. And I have returned meny more times. Last year I wanted to hike it to mark 50 years since my first time up Lassen. But the Dixie Fire closed the area until winter snows closed the hiking season. So this time was marking 50 years since my first ascent of Lassen. An interesting thing this time... When I had already reached the summit crater (with the 1915 lava flow), I went up the summit spire to the very tippy-top. I saw a couple ahead of me where he was making the final few steps but she seemed to be giving up with those last steep high-altitude steps. With a few words of encouragement she tried again and made it to the top. Then as we pointed at Mt Shasta 80 miles to the north, I mentioned I went to high school there. The others asked "Do you know [name]?" Yup. It turns out she works for an old high school classmate of mine. Small world. In a completely different view of the same place, in 2014 I flew a Cessna 172 up to 12,000' to get views looking down at Mt Lassen on the centennial of its 1914-1917 eruption. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahIZR4pe2gc . BTW, it is not easy to get a C172 up to 12,000'. To get the video while orbiting around the mountain, I was flying the plane with my left hand on the yoke, feet on the rudder pedals and right hand holding the video camera. For the enroute segments of the flight, a GoPro camera was strapped to the wing strut looking forward.