Life is good... what else can I say? Today I took a short drive up to Lassen Park, or the back door to Lassen Park anyway, Butte Lake Road. Butte Lake is a pretty place. There is a parking area, a rather small primitive boat ramp, a campground and a "Ranger Station." I rode my bike up there after parking down below the first campground. As I found out, you can't ride a bike on any of the trails up there so I had to hide my bike so I could hike out to Cinder Cone. 
The hike to the top was not bad at all, a little soft but the cone is not that high. The views were really nice and after seeing some of the weird patterns on Google Earth it was cool to see them in real time. There is a well defined crater at the top and a trail to the very bottom. I thought about walking down there but couldn't see the sense in it.
I ran into quite a few people both on the trail and at the top. This is a really easy hike as long as a person is in reasonably good condition and you go slow and enjoy the views along the way. I chugged to the top without stopping so all my bike riding paid off well, I was never out of breath.
