Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen was designated a National Park in 1916 to preserve and study this active, though dormant, volcano and the resulting landscape following its eruption in 1914.  There are four different types of volcanos within the park--shield, plug dome, cinder cone, and composite volcanoes.  There are also hydrothermal areas of steaming vents, boiling water, and bubbling mud pots like those seen in Yellowstone.

Lassen Peak, world's largest plug dome volcano

The snow only recently melted enough to allow the main park road to be opened to the public.  Still, the high elevation trails are covered in snow.  Today we drove the park road and stopped along the way at pullouts and trailheads to get a closer view of the landscape.

Chaos Crag

Small rocks cover the ground

Larger rocks near the top of the trail

Our first stop was near the north entrance station at the trailhead for Crags Lake.  The ranger we spoke with yesterday recommended this 3.6 mile round trip moderate hike up to the small lake formed when Chaos Crags blew it’s top.  The hike was nice through pine forest, but with a pretty steep uphill climb of just over 800 feet.  They put all the steep part together and there was more gentle, almost level, trail at the beginning and near the lake.  When we got to the point where the lake finally came into view, we were somewhat disappointed in the tiny pond that awaited at the bottom of a steep downhill.  We didn’t go down there.

After this hike, we drove over to the picnic area on the south end of Manzanita Lake for our lunch.  With a vigorous workout under out belts, it was easy to devour everything in the little cooler.

View of Manzanita Lake from our lunch spot

Back in the truck, we drove the main park road almost to the southern entrance to the Bumpass Hell parking lot.  This is the hydrothermal area and one of the most popular features of the park.  We told the ranger we were interested in seeing this area and she told us there was still some snow up there, but that the trail crew had been out and it was passable. She might not have actually recommended this hike, but we felt it was doable based on her description.  Well, I’ll have you to know there was some snow up there--about 4 feet of the white stuff stretching almost the entire 1.5 miles to the thermal basin.

Diamond Peak

Ice is breaking up on Lake Helen

There were a lot of cars in the parking lot and we could see several folks making their way coming or going to Bumpass Hell.  Despite the large orange sign that pronounced the trail hazardous, we stepped out onto the snow with all the rest.  When we got to the point where the basin finally came into view, we were exhausted and somewhat disappointed to find the boardwalk through the mud pots and steaming vents awaited us at the bottom of a steep downhill.  We didn’t go down there.  I was content once again to make my photos from my perch high above.

Bumpass Hell

On our return trip over the main park road we stopped at a couple overlooks and points of interest.  By this time we were pretty tired puppies and just wanted to be home.

Tomorrow we have a hike planned up the Cinder Cone Volcano.

Lily Pond

Our drive from Carson City to Old Station, California was, thankfully, uneventful.  We traveled north on US 395 until we picked up CA 44 westbound.  The road surface was in good condition (even in California).  There were three or four areas of construction, but none hampered our progress for very long.  In fact, we were usually able to maintain our speed limit of 55.  The only real holdup we had was at the California inspection station.  The little lady there wanted to come inside to inspect my fresh produce.  That didn’t take long and we were shortly on our way again.  Light traffic and a lower speed limit made for a very pleasant drive.

One of the drawbacks of traveling on secondary roads as opposed to interstates is the lack of rest areas or convenient places to pull a big rig off the road for a rest break.  Today, however, we lucked out.  There were 2 very nice rest areas along the way--one on 395 and the other on 44.  They would rival any interstate rest area for convenience, parking space, facilities, cleanliness, and even landscaping.

Our site at Hat Creek

We arrived at our campground, Hat Creek Resort, shortly after noon.  We had requested a pull-thru site, but the site we were assigned had an overhanging electrical wire which was too low for us to pass under.  The workamper who led us to our site found another, more secluded and larger, site which we actually like better.  However, it was a back-in with a tree stump right in the way.  With his help, Gene got this monster in the site.

This is a very old campground--established in 1937.  It has changed ownership a couple times over the past couple years and is being renovated.  They have a long way to go, baby.  More on the campground later because I really do have the sense that it is something special.

After we got set up and had a sandwich to fill the empty spots in our tummies, we drove the 14 miles down to Lassen Volcanic National Park to get a map and talk to a ranger about what is open.  This area still has a lot of snow and  only opened the main park road last week.  While at the Visitor Center, we watched the movie about the park then went for a short 1-mile walk around Lily Pond.  This nature walk was good after a day in the truck and the interpretive brochure identified several native pines.  We have been trying to learn to recognize the various pines and this was very helpful.  Plus, Lily pond was beautiful and, as you will see in the photo, appropriately named.

I am having a great deal of difficulty accessing the internet.  There is free WiFi here, but only a limited amount of time.  There is no cell signal for the air card.  I seem to be at the mercy of some unknown force.  I’ll do my best.

This evening we will sit down with the park map and plan our strategy for attack.  We will only be here two days, so we have to make the most of our time.  Maybe it’s a good thing that much of the park is covered in snow.

Ready to Roll

We have had 2 very productive days and I think, except for actually unhooking our life support and hitching the Everest to the truck, we are ready to hit the road in the morning.  The office even came and read the electric meter so we could pay up today instead of having to wait until they opened at 9 am.

Alpine Shooting Star

With the sun shining this morning, we just had to make one last trip up to Spooner Summit.  We really didn’t have time for a long hike, so we just did a quick trip around the lake.  It was a great morning leg stretcher and we were back at home and busy with chores within a couple hours.

Tomorrow we have a couple hundred miles to drive to our destination near Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California where we will stay for two or three days.

We have really enjoyed our stay here, but are anxious now to get to Oregon and Washington.  Those states have been on our list of places to see for so long it hardly seems possible that we will actually be in Oregon by the end of the week.

Lake Tahoe Area--Something for Everyone

We came to Carson City with the intention of staying 3 days.  We had a couple things on our list to do while in the area.  We wanted to see Lake Tahoe, we wanted to tour Virginia City, and we want to visit the state capitol.  That first day we went for a short hike and fell in love with the place.  We returned to the campground and extended for a month.

Our love is hiking, so naturally, we have spent most of our days on one trail or another.  The hiking is superb with two National Forest units maintaining hundreds of miles of trail.  Additionally, there are three long distance trails in the area--Tahoe Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the American Discovery Trail.  

You may be surprised to know that hiking is not the only thing there is to do here.  There is, after all, the lake.  Summer brings out the boating and water sport enthusiasts.  The sand beaches around the lake are covered with sun bathers.  And this is a fisherman’s paradise.  There are literally scores of small alpine lakes scattered throughout this mountainous region.  There have been very few hikes we’ve been on where we didn’t see someone with fishing gear.

This is a popular place for bicycling, as well--both mountain bikes and road bikes.  Most of the trails we have hiked have been multi-use trails.  Kingsbury Grade is a popular route over the mountain from Carson City to South Lake Tahoe for road and racing bikes.  If you’re into more casual riding, there is a terrific paved greenway system along both the north shore and the south shore of the lake.   There are a couple bike rental shops if you don’t have your own bike with you.  The greenway is also wonderful for walkers.

We haven’t seen so many horses on the trails, but there are a few.  We saw 3 horsemen yesterday.  There are a couple liveries with horses for hire and many of the trails allow horses.

Weaving in and out and up and down these mountain slopes are hundreds of miles of dirt roads for ATVs.  We rarely see them as we are hiking, but we often hear them.

Summer is not the only season in this area.  Winter may actually be the most popular time of year.  There are several ski resorts and all these trails around here are home to the snowshoers and cross-country skiers.

If your thing is shopping, not to worry.  Carson City is a little lean on shopping, but Reno has a large mall with all the national chain department stores and speciality shops.  South Lake Tahoe also has a pretty good shopping area.

Let’s not forget the casinos in Nevada.  Carson City and has 3 or 4 large casinos as does Stateline (the official name of the community on the Nevada side of the boundary with California in what I always collectively call South Lake Tahoe).  Then, of course, there is Reno just up the road.

So whatever you like to do, the Lake Tahoe area has what you need to have some serious fun.  We will definitely be back.

Last Tahoe Rim Trail HIke

Last evening we took a look at the weather forecast for the next couple days and discovered that today was the only “rain free” day of the remaining days we have here.  Unable to resist, we wanted one last wonderful hiking day before we left.

The easiest access to the Tahoe Rim Trail from our campground is at Spooner Summit.  It is just 10 miles and we can be there in 15 or 20 minutes.  What is good for us is also good for everybody else.  Since this is a popular section of the trail, there are 2 small parking lots and 1 large parking lot.  They all easily fill up.  To make parking a little more difficult, the forest service is working on one of the smaller lots and it is closed.  The result is “the early bird gets the spot”.  We were at the trailhead at 7:30 this morning and  got the last available spot in the smaller lot.  We wanted that lot because it was on the north side of the road--the side we wanted to hike today.

We have hiked along this section of trail twice before, but we still enjoy every step.  Today we went farther than on our past trips--going 4 miles to the junction with the trail that connects the Tahoe Rim Trail with with Marlette campground on the North Canyon Trail (a couple weeks ago we hiked the North Canyon road up to this campground).  The junction was our destination today; at the junction we were 400 feet above the campground.  From our vantage point, we had a view over the canyon walls to the lake beyond.

The 4 miles out was very quiet.  Even though the parking lot was full, we saw only 1 other hiker and his dog.  We hadn’t been back on the trail many minutes after our break at the junction, than the crowds descended.  It was a beautiful day and everybody wanted to be out.

Rain has brought out moss on the trees.

We had a special opportunity on the trail today.  Yesterday on our hike we ran into a backpacker.  Once you’ve seen a long-distance hiker, you usually recognize them for what they are.  This guy had “the look” so we stopped to chat with him a couple minutes.  Sure enough, he was planning to hike the 160 miles of Tahoe Rim Trail and had started about 25 miles south of where we met him at Big Meadows.  Today, we ran into him again.  He said he had a good night (cold, I’ll bet) even though being in bear country seemed to make him a little nervous.  We offered him any of our food and water.  He declined the food (not been on the trail enough days, I guess), but he did take a quart of water.  The high mountain ridge trails of the west are famous for their lack of water.  We were happy to be able to fill his water bottle.  He thanked us,  pronounced us “trail angels” and we went our separate ways.

Trail angels are good hearted folks who do little things to make the journey of the long-distance hiker just a little easier.  Having spent some time on the Appalachian Trail, we have benefited from several trail angels.  We have come across a stash of fresh fruit, a cooler of cold drinks, gallons jugs of water on a particularly dry stretch of trail, and even a beer at a creek crossing.  Perhaps the best trail angel we’ve run into was the guy who picked us up and gave us a ride into Hiawassee, GA saving us a very long road walk.  We have often been on the receiving end from trail angels.  Today we got the opportunity to pass along that good fortune to someone else.

We may take the quick 2 mile walk around Spooner Lake again before we leave on Wednesday.  It depends on the weather.  But instead of hiking, we now need to turn our attention to getting our rig ready to roll again.  Tomorrow will be household chores--laundry, grocery, vacuuming, etc, etc, etc.  Tuesday, we’ll be more specific in getting things stowed for travel.  California, here we come.

Rest for Tired Muscles

Yesterday turned into a much needed rest day for us.  We both pretty much just lazed around letting our poor leg muscles recover from the beating we gave them on Thursday.

Even though the tops of my legs are still a little sore, I was ready to hit the trail again this morning.  We drove up Kingsbury Grade and hiked for a couple miles along the Tahoe Rim trail, sat on a log for a break, then headed back to the truck.  It was cold this morning--cold enough for gloves and ear muffs.  And we had thick cloud cover all morning.  Despite the gloomy weather, there were several souls on the trail, either on foot or on bicycles.  The direction we were hiking led to “the bench” after 7 miles, and, like we have already discovered, that is a popular destination.  It is farther from this trailhead, but an easier hike because there is not so much elevation gain.  The trailhead is at 7600 feet instead of the 7200 at Spooner Lake.  No wonder it was cold.  We got back to the car just as the sprinkles started.

This short hike was just what we needed for today.  Just enough to stretch our legs a bit and hopefully work out most of the residual soreness.

We plan to relax this afternoon.  I need to think about what we are going to eat next week and work on a grocery list.  After Gene gets his shower, he will have the opportunity to spend some time with the sewer system.

As I have been sitting here writing this entry, I have watched as one right after another RV has come into the campground.  When we first got here the park was nearly full.  Over the past couple weeks, however, occupancy seems to be very low.  The owner said it is the worst year in 7 or 8 years.  A sign of the times, I guess.  Hopefully, business will pick up for him.

Eagle Lake

Oh my goodness, did we find us a hike for today.  This 6.5 mile loop was listed on Backpacker.com and was spectacular as far as views go.  The hike was a little difficult with a 1500 foot elevation gain.  Backpacker gave it a rating of 5 out of 10.  I guess that is a fair rating.  Trail builders had installed rock steps for much of the first couple miles because it was so steep.  The steps certainly made it an easier climb.

Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay

The first mile was along Eagle Creek which fell as a rushing torrent due to the recent rains and snow melt.  Our trail started above the lower falls so we didn’t get a view of that, but the upper falls was pretty special all by itself.  At the end of the first mile, we were rewarded with the tranquility of Eagle Lake.  It was the perfect spot for a short break.

Eagle Lake

Water rushing out of the lake destined for the Falls

Back on the trail and the relentless uphill climb for the next hour and a half.  Before reaching the top we got into snow.  However, the trail was mostly clear.  After about 4 miles we came to our trail junction.  We stopped for lunch here before turning onto Bayview Trail and heading down the mountain.

The area around the top was relatively flat, a welcome relief from the steady climb.  It didn’t last nearly long enough; we soon came to the very steep downhill run.  But first came the snow field--one that I was too afraid to cross.  Gene is braver than I and forged on across.  I picked my way first up hill from the snow, holding onto rocks and trees then down hill from the snow.  There was only one time when I almost cried.  In the meantime, it started to sleet.  After about 30 minutes to cover maybe 100 feet, we were  clear of the snow and on dry ground again.

Upper falls of Eagle Creek

The downhill was very steep, but it offered fabulous views of Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay.

Our lunch spot

Though more difficult than the others, we are calling this one of our favorite hikes in the area.