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my thoughts
Keri was teaching in chico for a week, so we thought we would make a vacation out of it, and visit lassen, which is about an hour and a half away. the first thing i noticed about the park was how green the park was. the peak itself is still pretty barren blah-gray, but the surrounding slopes on the south side were all very green. and we must have lucked out, cuz when we were there, the slopes were covered with a pleasantly fragrant yellow flower.
The first day we were there, we decided to spend the time driving around the park, since we had keri's dog with us and couldn't hike with him. the drive through the park took about an hour, stopping only for a potty break. we just made it to the visitor center half an hour before it closed. but, i got my stamp and so i was happy. we drove a bit around manzanita lake, and then headed back through the park. the drive back was much more leisurely, and we turned out at several of the turnouts to read about the volcano.
The second day was much more exhilirating. we got to the park a little before three, and decided we only had time for two hikes. we were going to take the kings creek falls trail, and the cinder cone trail, but after talking to the nice park ranger at the information station right inside the south entrance, we found out that there was some sort of accident on the road to the cinder cone trail. apparently, a something had happened with a semi-truck, and it was blocking the whole road. so, we decided on the bumpass hell trail instead.
The bumpass hell trail was very nice for the first mile or so. it remains pretty level, and you get some amazing views of the surrounding mountains. the last half of the trail goes down about 700 feet or so, and leads you to bumpass hell, which are several fumeroles and mudpots. the stench down there is pretty bad. and it reminded us a lot of yellowstone. mudpots and bubbling lakes where a bit larger than the ones we saw at yellowstone, but they were in a more confined area.
The next trail started at the edge of Upper Meadow; a big meadow on the side of the mountain with kings creek running through it. apparently there are fish there, cuz everytime we went passed, some one was fishing. we started off on what we thought was the kings creek falls trail, but the first trail we tried was actually to the kings creek campground. it ran along a kings creek, and the mosquitos were bad. the actual trail was about half a mile down the road. this trail was really nice. it starts out in a small wooded area, and then skirts along a meadow hidden in the forest. then opens out onto a rock face where there a lot of smaller water falls. the trail goes down the side fo the cliff for a while, and then heads back into the forest. and about .2 miles later, you come upon the kings creek falls. the falls are pretty big. bigger than i expected; more than 100 feet or so. it was getting pretty late then, so we headed back. i didn't really want to hike in the woods after dark, especially considering the mosquitos were killing us, it was bear country, and neither of us had a flashlight.
Overall i really enjoyed the park. after the first day i wasn't all that impressed, but the hikes are what did it for me. as we were walking along the kings creek trail, i was admiring the scenery, which was very beautiful, and as an aside, i asked keri "how much of the US do you think was like this before we[europeans] showed up?" "All of it," she replied. "Oh yeah," i said.
Visited with keri(6/18-19/01)
dmr home | NP main If you are aware that any of the information on this, or any of my other pages, is incorrect. or if you would just like to share a story about any of these parks, feel free to email me at monopolycar@yahoo.com
Created ... june 23, 2001