[Note: 这几段文字摘自1999年写的游记，题为“火山都是男性(Volcanoes Must Be Male)”。那次先去的珊思达峰 (Mt. Shasta)，山高雪厚，没能登顶；第二天来到稍矮的蓝森峰 (Lassen Peak)，上去了。2006年8月又上了一次山，时有阵雨，时而烈日当空，拍得这组照片，作个记录。]
The volcanoes in the Lassen Peak area had a massive eruption as recently as 1915 and they act up rather frequently in the past few centuries. Some of the lava is still being worked on by sulfur as gases of strong odor keep shooting up into the air. Man-made forest is still patching up with the original. There are lakes, many small lakes scattered around huge peaks in high elevations, like jewelry. Some lakes will be buried to create meadows so that trees can reclaim their original prosperity. It's like our Earth is re-creating itself once again right under our nose. It was a great drive up and down as the scenery was just breath-taking, with valleys, creeks and snow tops at every turn.
When we parked the car by the main peak, Lassen Peak of course, I immediately grabbed a bottle of water and started my determined rush up. It was 2.2 miles of mildly steep climb as the trail zigzags, zigzags and zigzags again. Unlike Mount Shasta where supervision by mountain rangers was almost non-existent, troops of mountain rangers actively repair the trail every step of the way around this park. So many mountaineers come to enjoy the view and the challenge that trails are being damaged and mountains are being scarred. But because there were so many people here or because I had just been to a much lonelier place, this place was bustling with life and its undisciplined ways. Walking up and down for three plus hours was just a form of exercise.
It was so strange that one could sweat and freeze to death in the matter of few yards. As the trail turns, one minute I was on the southern slope of the mountain where it was sunny and warm and the tightly winded body started to perspire. Yet, only a few steps away, the northern slope greeted the body with fierce wind. Because I had only a pair of shorts on, the snow or the glacier sent huge cold greetings with the gusty wind. At one point, we had to walk through a path in the glacier which was deeper than 6 feet. But it was nice to be on top of the peak to see the ocean of forest, true forest. And even Mount Shasta was quite visible.
Looking down, there is Lake Helen, a small pond now. There used to be a great mountain, Mount Tehama, which towered more than 1,000 feet over Lassen Peak of today. That was the real Volcano. But it erupted and collapsed, giving birth to all the little peaks around and made itself into a tiny pond. Nature has its own sex transformation operation. Only it takes a few millennia. Mount Tehama collapsed about 600,000 years ago.
(Exerpts from "Volcanoes Must Be Male" at home.pacbell.net/nxliu)
I went to hide in the mountains in anticipation of eruption by women. Savvy? Muchas gracias for the warning. Next time I will keep my eyes open, I will ... but wait, we aren't talking about temper tantrum here, are we?
_____________________________
"Why must a mountain erupt? Why couldn't he control his own virility? Maybe he couldn't because he is male and male must let himself go. Life is thus made and solitude is thus created and cemented. I was walking on sheets of brownish rocks. Smooth and attractive. The crunchy noise created by my boots reminded me of the ancient fire balls and the crystallization of the hot lava that purified some mineral and evaporated all the moisture and whatever was soft and tender. It'd produced so much hard-edged solitude that still reaches across centuries to affect a stranger."
哈哈哈哈 O(∩_∩)O哈哈~ 好久不来了，不小心看了一眼自己主页，发现自动关联了自己以往发过的帖，点进这个看了一眼，笑个半死。。。敢情我当初还发过这么搞笑的东西啊，我自己完全不记得了 
雷达卡
发表于 2008-8-4 22:00:30
---
收藏
分享
支持
反对
置顶卡
千斤顶
发表于 2008-8-4 22:57:00
楼主
Muchas gracias for the warning. Next time I will keep my eyes open, I will ... but wait, we aren't talking about temper tantrum here, are we?
顶顶大腕卧底
must be the hard liquor, I reckon.
