On both Saturday and Sunday we woke up to temperatures around 40 degrees. A bit chilly with the heat not on because it was too hot the night before to turn off the AC. Both days got into the upper 80's at the campground (60's in the upper parts of the park) but were very pleasant in the shade.
Saturday we did the drive through the national park (66 miles round trip), stopping at all the overlooks and points of interest. Sunday we went back to hike the Bumpass Hell trail, a 3-mile 3-hour hike. When we got back to the RV I discovered our hotspot was working for the first time since we got here, so I got Friday's post uploaded. Before I could get this post written the hotspot went out again so here it is now.
First, here's a much better picture of Lassen Peak than what I posted earlier. This is the side that blew out the pyroclastic flow, avalanches and mud flows that did so much damage for twelve miles downstream in the 1915 eruptions.
The other side of Lassen Peak where the trail to the summit starts. The trail is 2.5 miles one way with 1,200 feet elevation gain. Not something we can do, but it's great to look at it from the trailhead and use binoculars to see all those hikers marching up it like ants in the sun.
Jim is standing on a patch of snow next to the parking area. Above the 8,500-foot level the mountain gets around 80 feet of snow per year and has 14 permanent snowfields that haven't become glaciers. The top section of the road going across the park sometimes doesn't open until as late as mid-August because of the snow.
Snow-removal equipment has GPS with the edges of the road programmed in so the drivers will know where they are. They have to use bulldozers to push the snow off to the side before they can use blowers to get it out and over the drop-off.
Lake Helen, a beautiful blue glacial lake just below Lassen Peak (on the right).
View to the south from high up on Lassen Peak. Except for the evergreens it looks a lot like home.
Jim at the "Hot Rock," a 300-ton boulder thrown out four miles by the volcano in its big eruption of 1915. It was still sizzling four days after the eruption, thus the name. There are countless boulders of all sizes all over the place.
Brokeoff Mountain, Mt Diller and Pilot Pinnacle mark part of the rim of the massive Mt Tehama volcano which collapsed 10,000 years ago, prior to the formation of Lassen Peak. It originally stretched eleven miles across the area that is now its caldera and through which we hiked to Bumpass Hell. It was 1,000 feet higher than Lassen Peak and then, poof, it was gone. It probably took a bit longer than "poof." Volcanoes usually self-destruct by erupting; this one and Mount Mazama (Crater Lake) went the other way and collapsed.
Glaciers covered this area at one point, dropping huge boulders in their path. These glacial erratics are a different mineral composition from the surrounding boulders. We watched a teenager get stuck on top of this rock. He and his buddy were up there having their picture taken but he got too scared to slide off the rock which is at least twelve feet high. He finally did make it down with help and a lot of coaxing from several friends. Heights are always higher when looking down.
On our hike to Bumpass Hell on Sunday we saw many interesting trees. It's amazing how they manage to grow to such a large size out of rock crevices. This one had to be cut to make way for the trail but it's still growing out to the side.
Other plants are also amazing in their ability to grow under adverse conditions. There are fields of lupines all over the place. This bunch, like many others, was growing out from under the rocks, covered in dust. There's been no moisture here in several months, at least not since the snow melted, but they still manage to stay alive.
Bumpass Hell is named for Kendall Bumpass, the man who, while guiding a group in 1865, fell through the thin crust over boiling minerals and lost his leg because of the burns he suffered. It's an area of fumaroles (steam vents), mud pots and boiling ponds which is being fed by the same system that built Mt Tehama, the Brokeoff volcano.
Bumpass Hell with its walkways. It wouldn't be possible to walk around this area without the walkways built by the park service. There are signs everywhere warning people to stay on the walkways and trails, but every year people are injured because they ignore the warnings. After learning about what happened to Kendall Bumpass, it's amazing people still do it.
Big Boiler, the hottest fumarole - within a non-erupting volcano - in the world. The temperature of the steam is 344 degrees. This isn't much compared to lava at 2,000 degrees, but for steam it's extreme. The heat and constant churning action are constantly increasing Big Boiler's size. A few years ago it engulfed a portion of the boardwalk which extended out from the present one. There's a very strong smell of sulphur throughout the area, of course, with all this sulphur-emitting activity. (It made me glad my sense of smell is nearly gone because I wasn't bothered by it at all.)
Part of the huge forest fire area that was burned in 2012. Four years and the dead trees still have branches on them. It takes a long time for an area like this to recover.
Lassen Volcanic is an interesting place. We enjoyed it and are glad we've seen it. What we didn't enjoy was the very fine, powdery, dirt that covered the park, the campground, and everything in between. It gets into everything. We were covered in grit and dust and, even after a shower, still felt dusty. At our campground we very much enjoyed the quiet and our view of woods instead of RVs a few feet away, but we, and especially our noses and sinuses, are happy to get away from the dust.
Sixty miles into our drive from Old Station to Sparks, Nevada, we passed through Susanville, the county seat and largest town in Lassen County at around 17,000 in population. It is worth mentioning because it was the subject of the 2007 PBS documentary Prison Town. There are three major prisons in the area where 11,000 people are incarcerated. Nearly half the adult population of Susanville works in the prison system.
Prison Town, USA (Susanville, CA)
The drive took us from the high desert pine forests (with the first clouds we've seen in ages) down to real desert.
The very desert-looking landscape near the Nevada-California border.
We're now in Sparks, Nevada, with mid-90's heat. Sparks adjoins Reno and is a high-density, high-traffic area. It's an unpleasant shock to be back in so much congestion. The traffic is really unnerving.
We've also gone from one extreme to another in campgrounds.....the last one in pine forests with lots of shade and no close neighbors (and, of course, all that dust), no wifi or phone and erratic power, to a concrete/asphalt/astro-turf city resort-style place in extreme heat. Dogs aren't allowed to use the astro-turf so Lovie has to walk 18 sites down a hot asphalt road to the pet area. It's very rare to find a campground that doesn't have something undesirable, so as we approach each new place we hope the "something undesirable" isn't too bad. At least we're here for only two nights.
Tomorrow we plan to see the National Automobile Museum. It needs to be a minimal-driving day with two long drives ahead of us to get to Salt Lake City by Thursday.
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