Lassen Volcanic National Park (10/10/24)

 Lassen Volcanic National Park, located in California, is the 50th national park I have visited (there are 63 total)!

Of the ones I have not been to, 5 are in Alaska, and I will likely never get to them. We did go to three in Alaska, but the other 5 are much more difficult to get to.  Most of the other ones on the list are places I might get to- two are in Hawaii- and since it’s the only state I haven’t been to, I see a visit there in my future.

Isle Royale National park in Michigan is not high on my list of “must see” places, but who knows.

Lassen Volcanic National Park actually contains all 4 types of volcanos- shield, cinder cone, composite, and plug dome. The last time a substantial eruption took place here was over 100 years ago, but its a very active volcanic area nonetheless. 

There are many active and colorful boiling springs, steam vents, and mud pots. We stopped by one of them on the side of the road at one point and met a lady who said that 40 years ago the mud pot was 30 yards away from its current location.

When we looked online, the campground had tons of availability for the 4 nights we wanted, so we didn’t worry about booking it. When we got to the entrance, we found out that reservations are actually required- and the only way to make them is online. Ugh, and of course, we had no cell service here.  We stopped at the park store and  were told if we drove 1 mile up the road, there is a pull off where most people get signal, and sure enough, we had just enough to log on and make our reservations. That spot was pretty much the only place we had cell signal the whole time we were in Lassen.  Each day we stopped once or twice to make sure nothing catastrophic was happening.  It was a busy pull off and usually had a couple of cars and people walking around holding up a cell phone like a divining rod looking for water.

We had enough time the day we got there to make the two mile loop around Manzanita Lake, where the campground is. The views of Mt Lassen were awesome.

Our first full day we packed a lunch and drove the scenic drive through the park. We stopped to hike the 3 mile Bumpass Hell Trail.  The trail leads to and through a geothermal area with mud pots.

 We continued down the road to the visitor center, and on the way back we stopped at “hot rock”. Hot rock isn’t hot anymore, but it was, back in 1915. Two days after Lassen erupted on May 19, 1915, this rock, which is a piece of dacite lava, was still hot and steaming.

 

An avalanche carried this 300 ton rock 5 miles down the side of Lassen Peak.

Speaking of Lassen Peak, one of the hikes is a 5 mile hike to the peak, with 2000 ft of gain.  We really wanted to do this hike but we have done so much hiking the last few days, we felt we needed to take a full day off ahead of it. So, our second day in the park we did some house keeping, read books, and played cards.

It was worth doing nothing because the following day we packed a lunch and headed up the peak.

It was so warm when we got to the trailhead that I almost left my jacket behind, but I remembered a sign that says its always windy at the top, so I (thankfully) threw it in my pack.

The views started out pretty good, but of course they got even better the further up we went.

About halfway up, the trail became tight switchbacks.  One side was out of the wind, but the other end was unbelievably cold, and blowing so hard, you couldn’t keep a hat on.

At the top there was a pile of lava to explore, which we did, for a bit. We took advantage of the wind protection to eat our lunch.

Our stay at Lassen was pretty short, and we moved on the following day.

Lava Beds National Monument (10/8/24)

 I didn’t really think when we decided to check out Lava Beds NM that we were continuing with our volcano exploration, but we were. Lava Beds NM is home to Medicine Lake Volcano, which is actually the largest volcano, by volume ( there is always a caveat) in the cascade range. 

The difference is, its a shield volcano. It doesn’t have a tall cone shaped peak like a composite volcano (think Rainier, etc) it is actually shaped like a shield, and has numerous small cones. The island of Hawaii has shield volcanos.

We stopped at the visitor center first, to get our cave pass. Everyone is required to have a pass that shows they attended the orientation that talks about the bats and their safety.

Nearby is Mushpot Cave, the only cave that it permanently lit- all the others require you to bring your own flashlights (you can also borrow them from the visitor center)

Our plan to hike to the top of Schonchin Butte, a cinder cone, early in the day to beat the heat, was thwarted by 12 year olds. A bus load of kids is camping in the park and they arrived at the trail head at the same time as us. I love the fact that they are outdoors, learning, and the bus driver said they are on a 4 day trip- with no cell phones.

That doesn’t mean I want to hike with them, so we moved on to our next item, Black Crater. This area has a lot of dark lava, which makes it stand out.

From here we got our first good look at Mount Shasta in the distance. 

The monument itself has over 240 known lava tubes, or caves. Not all of them are accessible, and not all of the accessible ones are open all the time. It depends where the bats are- in fact, if you happen upon a bat in a cave, you are required to leave the cave.

Our first cave of the day was Boulevard Cave.  The accessible caves are categorized by their difficulty. From walking upright, to having to crawl in some areas, on to being on all fours for much of the journey. We mostly stuck with the easy ones, although Boulevard is listed as moderate. It was a short walk till we got to the moderate area and turned around.

The second cave, Valentine, is much bigger and looks totally different. It had several columns throughout, requiring us to make constant choices as to which way to go.

After a few turns, my paranoia reared its ugly head and I wanted to turn around. I get sort of claustrophobic when I go too far underground, in the dark. Picturing us getting lost in a massive cave soured me a little on caving, so Paul explored several other caves on his own.

The following day we were able to hike Schonchin Butte Trail. The trail, built by the CCC in the 1930s, leads to a fire tower, also built by the CCC.

The view of the surrounding area from the fire tower was worth the trip up the hill.

In the afternoon we did the short scenic drive which took us past several more caves we could explore.

We did check out a few of them (Paul more than me) and then decided we had seen enough and were ready to move on to our next destination.

In keeping with our Volcano “theme” we headed to Mt Shasta for a couple of days of exploring, staying in the small town of McCloud.

Mt. Shasta is a little more challenging to to explore, with no visitor center that we could find, and not too many hiking trails.

We did do a  couple of short hikes, and a drive up the mountain as far as we could- until we were told we were on private property(ski resort) and needed to leave.

The other hikes we found in the area were good, even if they weren’t on the mountain. The McCloud River Falls trail follows the McCloud river to several waterfalls.

 

We started at the lower falls, hiked past the middle falls, and turned around after we saw the upper falls.

All in all about 4 miles.

Our final hike in the area was a little bit out of town but gets great reviews. It is the Castle Dome trail in Castle Craig State Park.

The trail starts as a meander through the woods, with some steep sections. We were warned that the easy part ends once you leave the woods and start hiking on rock.

 

It definitely took some eye hand coordination in some areas, and some scrambling, but it was fun.

The further up the trail we got, the better the views were, of course. Unfortunately, after 3 miles and 1800 ft of gain, I started to not feel great.

I was lightheaded and nauseous, signs of dehydration/altitude sickness. As much as I hated to give up on the peak, I sent Paul on without me.

Although it was less than a half mile to the peak, it was another 250 feet of gain. We had cell signal, which made him more comfortable  ( I think he texted me 6 times.) leaving me behind.

Moving on from Shasta, our next stop was….you guessed it, another volcano.

Coastal Oregon (10/5/24)

 We FINALLY made it to the coastline, and the first thing I thought is that man, I miss the smell of the ocean. Being from Massachusetts, I grew up going to the beach, and also owned an ocean going boat for much of my adulthood.

When Paul and I got married, we both sold our boats and bought one comfortable enough for us and my two kids to spend weekends on, so they grew up boating as well.

The second thing I thought is that, man, the water out here is rough.

We never did see many boats, and of course the water is so cold, its not very inviting.

But I loved being back on the beach and hearing the waves.

The Oregon coast has a lot of "waysides" which are pulloffs along the ocean- some have picnic tables, and they all pretty much have a great view:

One of the first things we wanted to check out was something called Thor’s Well….its some kind of water phenomenon. We thought we were looking at it when we saw this spout, and watched it for a while. When a big wave came in, the water would spew high into the air.

Its a good thing we read the signs because just as we were leaving, we discovered the real “Thor’s Well”

You can see the well in the following pictures. The well is full in the first photo and empties over the next few photos:

                            

                           

I didn’t expect there to be much in the way of hiking trails along the coast but there actually are quite a few.

We started with a trail that began at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and ended at the scenic lookout. It was about 3.5 miles up 850 feet.  We saw this weird tree along the way.

You can actually drive up to the scenic lookout but that would be no fun. The structure at the top was built by the CCC in the 1930s.

We found out we have friends in the area and went about making plans to get together. Many years ago Paul did a jet boat tour up the Rogue River, and he wanted to do it again.

Our friends Liz and Randy were nearby and joined us. It was funny because at the last minute we found out our friends Steve and Susan are around as well. They tried to join us but they were moving to another RV park that day so they couldn’t. However, coincidently they were driving by the jet boat place just as we were getting ready to board, so we chatted for a bit and made plans for the next day.

The jet boat ride was a blast.

There were no rapids but we went about 45 minutes up the river, stopped at a restaurant where we had lunch and then headed back.

It was hot out so we were kinda glad we got soaked.

Our driver was very good at spinning the boat 360 degrees, and finding plenty of ways to throw spray up into the boat.

The following day we packed a lunch and met up with Randy and Liz and Susan and Steve. None of us had ever been to Trees of Mystery which is a kind of hokey tourist attraction but was fun nonetheless.

                                        

                                                    

There are old growth trees throughout the property and a tram that takes you up the side of the hill. There were actually all kinds of things to see and do here. It has displays about about lumberjacks- Paul Bunyon in particular.

My favorite part was the canopy trail.

                      

The Trail of Tall Tales had some huge wood carvings….

Once we had had enough, we found a gorgeous spot on the beach to have our picnic lunch before saying goodbye.

                                          

Our final hike in the area was a short two mile hike in Redwoods State Park called the Grove of Titans, which is a walk through an old growth redwood forest. Even the road to get there is through a dense forest.

                                            

Once again we got the maps out and changed our game plan. We were going to stay along the coast and head to see more redwood forests, but we decided we wanted to see Lava Beds National Monument, and that is inland. So, off we went. We had forgotten that we wanted to see the small botanical garden across the street from out rv park, so we stopped there with the camper on our way out of town.

This small park protects one plant- the Darlingtonia Californica. It resembles a cobra, and eats insects.

They are lured inside the bulb by the nectar and become confused because there are a lot of transparent areas on the bulb that look like exits. Eventually the insect tires, and falls into a small pool of liquid at the bottom, where it gets digested. Eew.