As a warm up, we hiked the Bumpass Hell trail to smoldering geothermic pools. It was a nice three mile warm up, but somewhat disappointing for the effort. It's no Yellowstone.
We drove outside the south entrance gate to a paved parking lot with room for about a dozen cars. The trail started across the road with tall grass encroaching on the footpath. Soon, the trail opened up and we crossed a swampy creek over logs. We were more than a mile into the hike before we were able to see Brokeoff above the trees. This was our only other planned destination for the day, so we kept it in low gear. The trail went directly at the cliff face before veering toward the base of the ridge. Views started to open up as we gained elevation and the forest thinned into tall cedars and varieties of ground cover. A long segment of trail cut an angle up the slope to the ridge, then made a sharp turn east for the final approach.
Brokeoff from the Bumpass trail
We walked below the NW summit, about 40' lower than the true summit. As on Lassen, the upper part of the mountain was buffeted by strong and steady wind. We continued on to the main summit with beautiful 360 views and only had to share it with one other couple. The cliffs below the summit were crumbly and vertical. Brokeoff was far less busy than Lassen. Recommended if you have the time. 7.8 miles, 2690' gain.
