It turned out that I was camped pretty far away and didn't make it to the lava tube. I wish I did.

The main purpose of the trip was to photograph ferns for a book I'm writing on the ferns of California. On that the trip was a resounding success.

With some searching, I found the rare Asplenium septentrionale on a cliff where it was on record as being previously collected. My search of the area found only one lone individual. It was hanging from the horizontal rock surface. I think that these natural photographs will look much better in my book than the photos I could have gotten if I had grown the plant from some spores that were offered to me. For my photos, I am sticking as much as possible to natural settings and California genotypes.

In addition, I found two plants previously unknown from Lassen Volcanoes National Park. This was a little surprising since the park has been well surveyed. The two species were Polystichum kruckebergii and Sedum obtusatum ssp. boreale. This Sedum subspecies is designated as "uncommon" in Jepson. Perhaps I should write up something for Fremontia, it would make a nice article with the photos.

I was also able to get some great photographs of interesting animals. Under a log, near a vernal pool, I found a Long-toed Salamander with the color pattern of a Western Long-toed Salamander, a subspecies not previously known from California. I also got shots of the "endangered in California" Sewellel, apparently the most primitive living rodent with fossils going back to the time of T. rex. In addition, it was fun to get photographs of a Black Bear foraging under logs.

In total, for my California fern book, I was able to photograph five fern species and two Isoetes species that I needed.

**********UCSC tried cementing over entrances, but thankfully people interested in the health of these delicate ecosystems blew up the cement with dynamite. ************

That is the sort of irresponsible conduct that destroys beautiful things. If they wanted to do it right they'd have cut the concrete out in pieces not used explosives. Concrete isn't hard to cut. Especially if you get at it in it's early cure stages.