Park #5 of 5 on this crazy California adventure. To be honest looking back now I have no idea how I even ended up this far north in the state of CA! I saw some pictures of the park and was intrigued! If you’ve read the other posts, you know this week started out all the way down in Joshua Tree where it was in the mid 90s, so when I arrived at this park and found out the passes and half the park was inaccessible due to snow I was VERY surprised!! All the hikes I had planned were no longer an option – so upon ranger recommendation I decided to hike Cinder Cone! This was my first hike in volcanic ash, and I must admit it was HARD!! The trail was 4 miles round trip with about 850 ft of elevation gain. I swear it was all on that dang cone! Here is my view as I approached. The trees and people on the trail as so small they are barely visible!
For those who are reading this that haven’t hiked in ash, it is pretty much the same as sand. One step forward, and you slide about half way back down. I had another couple who hiked with me almost the whole way and we actually took breaks every 100 steps. It was exhausting but the views were so rewarding! Here was the view of Lassen Peak as you wind around the cone.
Here is the inside of the cone once you reach the top. You can see how big it is by the people over on the right hand side. The wind was wicked up on top so it was a bit cold. It was even flurrying for a bit!
Here are my first views of the painted sand dunes. 
Once I climbed back down I went back to set up my campsite. As I mentioned, I was still new to the whole camping at elevation thing – so I had almost NO cold weather gear. I slept maybe 2 hours that whole night because I froze to death! I ended up waking up, breaking down camp, and getting on the road at like 3 am because I was so cold!! 
On my 14 hour drive back down to San Diego for the conference, I drove through Big Sur. Here are some bonus pictures! Some of the most vibrant pictures I’ve ever taken.
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 