The first 10 days of our trip we will be visiting 3 national parks in Northern California and Oregon.
Day 1-4: Mt. Lassen Volcanic
National Park
We will be in this area
for 4 nights.
June 12: On day one,
after 4 hours and 276 miles we arrived at Mt. Lassen/Shingletown KOA. This KOA
is nestled among cedars, oaks and pine trees at an elevation of 3,900. This is
a small place with only 33 sites. The roads are gravel and the layout of the
sites is sloppy. You don’t know where the road ends and the sites start. There is no TV, not even with an antenna. But
the WiFi is excellent! The signal is strong enough for streaming. I was able to
watch the Jan 6 Committee Hearings.
June 13: Spent the day
driving into and through Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park on the main road in
the western part of the park. It was a clear, sunny day; but crispy cold. At
the highest point the wind was bitter cold and went right through you. Mt.
Lassen started out with clouds resting on it’s top. But eventually the clouds dissipated
and revealed a majestic mountain. We did not hike today, it was just too cold. 
The main attraction of
this state park is, of course, Burney Falls. Named after pioneer settler Samuel
Burney who lived in the area in the 1850’s.
The McArthurs were pioneer settlers who arrived in the late 1800’s. Descendants
of this family were responsible for saving the waterfall and nearby land from
development.
The falls are 129 feet high, 240 feet wide. They are not the highest or the biggest in the country, but they are the most beautiful. They were once declared the “eighth wonder of the world” by President Teddy Roosevelt.
About 3 million years ago, Burney falls stood over a mile downstream from this point. Since then, the slow, erosive power of water has moved the falls upstream to their present position. The water continues to wear away the cliff face. Where will it be in 1 million years from now?
June 15th: Just outside Mt. Lassen NP, in the Mt. Lassen National Forest is Subway Cave. It is not really a cave, but a lava tube. Lava tubes are natural conduits through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow. Subway cave is about third of a mile long and very dark. Do not enter without a lantern or flashlight.
When you exit you take a
trail back to the entrance point. Taking this trail back, you are walking on
top of the lava tube.
Just inside the Highway
44 entrance into Mt. Lassen NP is Manzanita Lake. The level loop hike
around the lake is 1.5 miles. Easy peasy. At several points on this hike there
are fantastic views of Mt. Lassen. This day is another beautiful, crystal clear,
warm day. A great day for a hike.
June 16th: After 2
hours and 126 miles we arrived at Hawk’s Nest RV Park in Tionesta, CA (about 3
miles from Lava Beds NP entrance). This place is a dump. So is another nearby
RV park called Eagle’s Nest. Not too many choices in this area. This park has
no TV, and no WiFi (except at office). Our site is spacious, some shade, no
neighbors and quiet.
After we “set up camp”,
we relaxed, and I was able to watch a bit of MSNBC on my phone. Later we put up
the antenna to see if we could get any stations. We are out in nowhere land, and surprise! We
can get 16 stations. It’s digital so it breaks up now and then, but that’s better
than nothing.
June 17th & 18th: Drove into Lava Beds National Monument and
explored some caves (lava tubes). This
park is full of them, about 900 I am told. 21 of the caves are marked on the
park map. They are listed in levels of “least, moderately, and most challenging”.
They are all self-guided, but you have to get a “cave pass” at the visitor
center before entering any of them.
Hopkins Chocolate: is the first cave we entered. It is 1,405 ft
long. We did not realize it was on the “most challenging” list until
afterwards. We didn’t last long. It was scary dark. We were the only ones there
and we got spooked when had to start duck walking. I think we got about 300 ft
in when we turned around. Later on, I read there was a narrow hole that you needed
to crawl through at one point.
Valentine Cave: 1,635 ft long. This is a fascinating cave, but
we had to turn back. We got further in than the last cave. The floor got
too jagged and sharp. I kept losing my balance. We ran into a family that was way ahead of us. They had also turned around and came back. They said it got real narrow and low up ahead.
Mushpot Cave: 770 ft long. This one was near the visitor
center. It’s an introductory cave with interpretive signs, paved paths and
lighted. There was no exit, so we went to the barrier and came back.
Skull Cave: 580 ft long. The entrance was quite colorful. There was a blue and green hue on the rocks. Zoom in on the picture. It looked like crystals. This cave was very challenging to me, even though it was on the “least challenging” list. But we went all the way in to the barrier and back. The challenging part was the steep stairs. There were 3 of them. I descended them like a ladder. It took us to the deepest level where the floor was iced over. It is called skull cave because bones of pronghorn, bighorn sheep and two human skeletons were discovered inside.
June 19th: After 2.5 hours and 135 miles we arrived at
Diamond Lake RV Park. This is a huge RV park that is on one end of Diamond
Lake. Some sites have a view of the lake. This is like primitive camping in the
forest. But we have full hook-ups. Our site #W11 is nice and backs up to the
forest of pine trees. Our neighbors on both sides or a bit close. All sites
have fire rings and a picnic table. The sites on both sides are loaded up with
fire wood and set up chairs around the fire ring. This is a problem for us as
both of us are real sensitive to smoke. It gets into our trailer and it is hard
to breathe. I worry about the cat. This night was too cold to sit outside so we
were spared. We will see about the next two nights.
We have no WiFi or TV
here and no phone signal. However, the staff that helped us back in the trailer
told us about a boat launching spot on Diamond Lake called Southshore. You get
good phone and data reception for Verizon there. We can at least get our e-mail
and any messages. 
June 20th & 21st: Diamond Lake is about 3 miles north of the north entrance to Crater
Lake NP. It is cold here at Diamond Lake, but Crater Lake is colder. In fact, the grounds of Crater Lake NP is
covered with snow. The East Rim Drive is closed due to the snow, but the West
Rim is open and we drove it to the Lodge enjoying the views of Crater
Lake. Both days were sunny and warm with
some clouds on the first day, but crystal clear on the 2nd. The lake
is as blue as the skies.
Tomorrow, we leave for
an overnight stay in Burns, Oregon. And then into Idaho for 3 nights.
Day 11: Burns, OR
June 22nd: We left
Diamond Lake and headed East to Bend. Then drove a very long and lonely stretch
of Highway 20 to Burns. We were running low on gas, but there were a few small
towns on 20 where we could gas up. Well, these small towns were only one building
that advertised café and gas, but all were dark and boarded up. We began to
worry. But finally, the one building town of Riley on the corner of 20 and 395
had gas, café, grocery, etc. Whew.
After 217 miles and 4
hours, we arrived at Burns RV Park. This is a small park right by the
highway. Not a nice place, but we had shady trees on our pull-thru site, TV
with about 22 channels and weak WiFi. I was able to work on my blog, but had to
sit outside. And it was hot, hot, hot. In the high 80's. We did not unhitch because this is only an overnight stay to break
up the distance to Boise, ID.
Stay tuned for our
adventures in Idaho and Montana.