Well…after a few hours of driving we find ourselves at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Yes, there are indeed volcanoes here…lots of them!
One finds all four types of volcanoes here, one of the few places in the world where this occurs. Think about it. In Hawaii, you have shield cones, ash cones and composite cones, but not usually all in one place (usually the first two). In Italy you find just composite and ash cones. In New Zealand you have plug cones, composite and ash cones. You get the point…here they have provided all four types for viewing enjoyment. So really one could travel less and just come here if all they wanted to see were the four volcanic types! Actually this one is still active and right under our campsite…no wonder there are so few people here (we have wondered about this). Of course it could be the cold nights. We have been enjoying this cool little radio that Kathy and Bob gave us to take on our trip…it has a temperature gage which keeps us happily entertained as we huddle around the fire…watching the temperature drop…60…55…49…45…then its time to go to bed! Thankfully I figured that as we are camping in the south Cascade Range at about 5,000’ it was going to be cold at night! So put in the down bags. The cool air flows down off the 8,500’ volcano that sits just behind us…the snow is only a few hundred feet above us…so of course that cold dense air has no choice…gravity takes over and it flows downhill at night…in a rush I might add!! I brought a touque…Annemarie didn’t and by her own admission, she’s under prepared. She thought we were going to the California that was much warmer! The good news is that the wine stays cold without the cooler! The better news is that the temp gets up to 24C during the day…it was 100F in Redding today…1 hour away, just down the hill. The news gets better. We go from here to the high Sierras to camp in Yosemite. I’m sure it will be warmer there, but that camp-site is at 7,500' (I haven't told Annemarie yet). It is further south...
We drove across the park and went on a couple of brilliant hikes today. The first was a very volcanic, scenic hike with an amusing name, ‘Bumpass Hell’! It was a pretty cool place (in a manner of speaking)with steam vents, bubbling mud holes and a lovely sulfur aroma wafting across the valley. Actually pretty amazing site as it’s home to the largest steam vents in the world…I found this hard to believe, I guess its true cause they tell you it is. Named after a poor Dane who was walking across the site and fell through the thin crust. One leg was cooked off before he could be pulled to safety by his mates. The 165C water and lava are just below the surface so they have built a walk way across the most dangerous parts and advertize that people get injured each year…they also advertize bears and provide food lockers, but I’ve seen no bear sign yet.
Time for dinner…tuna steaks and salad with cheap California wine. After a cold night, we plan to take a couple of hikes tomorrow then find the showers!! Oh, one last item…they actually encourage you to take wind fall wood from anywhere in the park as Lassen is so high and the warm season so short (park didn’t open this year until the end of June) the wood doesn’t rot very quickly.
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