Just got back from my first backpacking trip with my younger brother. We did a 3-day/2-night hike in Lassen Volcanic NP. Day 1 Starting at Butte Lake, we headed along the east shore and down along the east end of Snag Lake to our camp spot for the night, just south of the lake and a little over 7 miles in. Not much as far as elevation gain after the first mile, but there were good views of Cinder Cone from Butte Lake. The trail was super easy to follow and clear of snow. Our only test was a little creek crossing right before we stopped that required us to wade through knee-high water. After the first 2 miles, we only saw one other group the entire time. Temps must have dropped near freezing overnight. My midnight piss was very uncomfortable, but the sky looked incredible. Day 2 Shit got interesting on our only full day in the wilderness. We hiked down to Horsheshoe Lake, encountering some snow but nothing that made the trail difficult to follow. After heading west towards the PCT and leaving creek and lake landmarks, the going got much tougher. Snow was about 2-4 feet, but at least firm so we could walk on it without sinking. At this point, we were pretty much entirely reliable on tree markers. After 1-2 miles of this, we pretty much lost the trail entirely and were considering tracing our steps back when we fortunately ran into the first people we had seen all day, heading the opposite direction. They got us back on trail and we were able to follow their tracks the next couple miles to the 1-mile stretch of PCT we walked, which had a handful of people on it and was thankfully easy to follow. We arrived at rainbow lake a but later, about 8 miles from where we started the day, and set up our tent. Absolutely exhausted at this point, we grabbed our hammocks to take a nap down by the lake. While walking backwards and peering up at a bird in the top of a tree, I looked behind me to make sure I didn't fall (again), and saw a cinnamon black bear probably no more than 30 feet away, staring at me with disinterest. I let go some choice expletives and backed up to where my brother was at, putting some distance between us and the bear. My bro spotted a cub nearby so we backed further down the trail but kept an eye on mama bear, as we were only about 100 yards from our camp. The bear then wandered directly towards our bear canister, pawed at it for a second, then headed towards our tent and bags. The bear gave 0 fucks about our shouts to try and scare it off and started clawing at one of our bags for a couple of minutes. She ended up staying within 50 yards of our tent for almost half an hour before finally wandering off. Fortunately, the only casualty from her camp raid was a deck of playing cards in my brother's bag. At this point, we wanted to get the hell out of there, so we packed up and headed about a mile up the trail towards cinder come before setting camp again. With no wind or clouds in sight, we left the tain cover off the tent. The stars were again incredible and it was the single quietest night of my life. If we didn't move in our bags, there was not a single sound to be heard. Awesome. Day 3 Our extra hiking the day before put us only about a half hour from Cinder Cone. We left our packs at the base, which I highly recommend to anyone doing this hike. It was pretty brutal, 700 feet of elevation gain under a mile through sand and loose rock. The view of Lassen Peak, the lava beds and the route we followed the previous 48 hours was the perfect end to the trip. After an easy hike down, it was only 2 more miles to the car, a total of about 20 miles over the three days. Lassen doesn't necessarily have the scenic splendor of some of the other national parks, but the solitude on the eastern side of the park was great. Outside of the mile of PCT we hiked, and within 2 miles of the parking lot, we saw maybe 3 other small groups of people the entire time. We also went at the perfect time, as the park highway only opened completely the 2nd day we were there, so the crowds had not yet arrived and most people seem to hang out along the highway. I'll post some pictures later.