Wed Sept 17 - Lassen Volcanic National Park
Today's destination was something of a lark. We'd never been to this NP before, we were going to be in the neighborhood, so why not?
Leaving Crater Lake we entered the hot, dry, dusty and combustible southern Oregon and northern California. We passed several airports that looked like they were ready to fly missions into a fire. One was labeled "Air Assault Airport" where the weapon of choice was water.
Moving east-west in this area is difficult due to the mountains. North-south has the same mountains, but at least there's I5. We compounded the problem by making a poor choice to go from Crater Lake to I5. But then, our original choice was closed due to a vegetation fire in Weed CA (insert your own joke here). Lots of twisty turns and hairpins makes advancement across the map a slow proposition.
Mount Shasta dominated the skyline during our drive. We saw it from 100 miles away and it was with us most of the journey. Here's what it looked like during our lunch break from about 50 miles away.
Lassen Volcanic is centered on Mt Lassen, which last erupted in 1920. Pullouts and walks are dominated by rubble thrown about by the volcano. Here's a bus sized rock several miles from the eruption. Also intriguing are these cracked rocks, formed when the outside of the rock cooled before the inside. They crack into 3-D jigsaw puzzles.
Fire is a recent and recurring visitor to the park, although without paying the entrance fee. When we asked the entrance station ranger about fire, she replied "There's no fire in the park, today." A decade long drought has made this area a tinder box.
It's a pretty place in spots, with a touch of Yellowstone fire and brimstone available at the Sulfur Works. We just spent a couple of hours in the park, not taking time to hike since it was getting late in the day and it was very dry. It was also cold and windy at 8000' on the side of Mt Lassen, while it was 80 and calm down at the entrance station. The weather report we had checked yesterday was bound to be correct somewhere in the park.
Chester CA is a lovely little town outside the park, with a very nice Best Western. Population a little over 2K, and the first two people we saw were Mormon missionaries outside the motel. I was tempted to tell them not to bother, I had seen the play.
Today's destination was something of a lark. We'd never been to this NP before, we were going to be in the neighborhood, so why not?
Leaving Crater Lake we entered the hot, dry, dusty and combustible southern Oregon and northern California. We passed several airports that looked like they were ready to fly missions into a fire. One was labeled "Air Assault Airport" where the weapon of choice was water.
Moving east-west in this area is difficult due to the mountains. North-south has the same mountains, but at least there's I5. We compounded the problem by making a poor choice to go from Crater Lake to I5. But then, our original choice was closed due to a vegetation fire in Weed CA (insert your own joke here). Lots of twisty turns and hairpins makes advancement across the map a slow proposition.
Mount Shasta dominated the skyline during our drive. We saw it from 100 miles away and it was with us most of the journey. Here's what it looked like during our lunch break from about 50 miles away.
Lassen Volcanic is centered on Mt Lassen, which last erupted in 1920. Pullouts and walks are dominated by rubble thrown about by the volcano. Here's a bus sized rock several miles from the eruption. Also intriguing are these cracked rocks, formed when the outside of the rock cooled before the inside. They crack into 3-D jigsaw puzzles.
Fire is a recent and recurring visitor to the park, although without paying the entrance fee. When we asked the entrance station ranger about fire, she replied "There's no fire in the park, today." A decade long drought has made this area a tinder box.
It's a pretty place in spots, with a touch of Yellowstone fire and brimstone available at the Sulfur Works. We just spent a couple of hours in the park, not taking time to hike since it was getting late in the day and it was very dry. It was also cold and windy at 8000' on the side of Mt Lassen, while it was 80 and calm down at the entrance station. The weather report we had checked yesterday was bound to be correct somewhere in the park.
Chester CA is a lovely little town outside the park, with a very nice Best Western. Population a little over 2K, and the first two people we saw were Mormon missionaries outside the motel. I was tempted to tell them not to bother, I had seen the play.
1 comment:
Gotta love those donuts!
Post a Comment