Richard's Medicine Lake Journey

August 28 - September 4, 2004

©Richard J. Gorman 2004

Foreword

Like all of the content on my website, I post this for the entertainment of my family and friends. If others find it and enjoy it, that is simply a bonus, that is what the Internet is for, I figure. I hiked Lassen Peak two years previous, and I looked for an excuse to go further on that road. I found Medicine Lake on the map, and with a little exploration discovered that it is a place sacred to all of the first peoples of this region. It is a place of healing, of vision quests, a place where shamans learn their craft. I am a simple man, but what I read of this place speaks to me. I am not setting out on a spiritual quest per se, at least not consciously, but in the pages that follow, you will see that I find one.

Until I have been at Medicine Lake for a while, I do not really understand why I am called here. I pass through some beautiful places along the way, notably Burney Falls and Lassen Volcanic, but Medicine Lake, where I spend three of the six nights, is always the destination. Though called here I am, for reasons I don't fully understand, I do understand that I am called, and I am shown both signs and wonders. Much is revealed to me that challenges my me. I try to tell you about some of it here. To keep the web page simple, it is in chapters, one for each day. The photos are "thumbnailed"... that means you click on the little picture to see the big picture, which will open in a new window. Then you close the picture window to go back to the story.

Day One: Lassen Road, Summit Lake.
Day Two: Lassen Peak, McArthur Burney Falls State Park.
Day Three: Medicine Lake, Shasta, Glass Mountain, Eagle.
Day Four: Petroglyph Bluff, Caves, Burnt Lava Flow, Medicine Lake, Eagles.
Day Five: Lava Beds, Skull Cave, Big Painted Cave, Symbol Bridge, Stronghold, Petroglyph Point.
Day Six: Medicine Lake, Burney Falls
Day Seven: Home again, Afterword

Disclaimers, denials, alibis...

I took these pictures using disposable Kodak cameras, had them developed to CD, edited them using Lview Pro, created the page in Symantec Visual Page, and posted it to my website using a simple FTP program. I'm still on a Win95 machine. You can do this, too. Why not? I would like to read your stories, too.

This page has been visited times since October 2004
All contents © Richard J. Gorman 2004

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