Two Lakes, One Hike ↔ Terrace Lake & Shadow Lake ↔ Lassen Volcanic National Park ↔ Autumn Hiking Series

We're back at Lassen Volcanic National Park, and today we're hiking to Terrace Lake and Shadow Lake at sunrise. There's also a Cliff Lake on this hike, but it's quite a bit further and we're still working up to the longer hikes.

Hey, at least it's not a full moon like last time!

First up is Terrace Lake. Just look at all that reflective goodness in the early morning light!

The hike to Shadow Lake is all downhill and relatively easy (compared to the beast that is Mill Creek Falls Trail!) You can tell why they call it Shadow Lake...

But, just like it always does, the sun rose up higher in the sky and quickly chased the shadows away...

 There's this great trail that goes around to the other side of the lake...

 I could have sat on that log all day!

This lake was so beautiful and peaceful that we spent a couple of hours simply looking around in awe.

But eventually what goes down, must return back up!

The trail was all uphill on the way back, but I dealt with it pretty well because I knew that going in. I'm proud to say that I made it without any problem! I think these weekly hikes are really strengthening my legs (and my willpower!)

The greatest views always seem to come from up high, don't they?

Back at Terrace Lake, the reflections are gone and it looks like a totally different lake...

 Phew! Better put some muscle into that hike back!

Despite the steepness in some places, this was a really great trail. How often can you walk to two lakes in one afternoon--three if you go the extra mile?

We will definitely be hiking this one again, hopefully making it all the way to Cliff Lake next time. We heard it dries up in the summer anyway, so we'll tackle it in the springtime. By then, I'll be a seasoned hiker (fingers crossed!) and we'll be making plans to hike Lassen Peak, too! #goals

We saw lots of cute little chipmunks and quite a few different bird species. (Here's a short video of the birds we saw that I made for my birding blog.)

Now, it's time to rate this trail with our complicated rating system. All in all, I'm giving this hike 5 Raylan "Now that went well"'s out of 5.

Hubby agrees and gives it 5 Dewey Crowes out of 5.

Here's the video of highlights from our hike...

Another great adventure for the books! Time to plan the next one...

Happy Hiking!

Rachelle Vaughn

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