Lassen Volcanic Park July, 2004

We were hoping we could find a good camping spot the 4th of July weekend without reservations in Lassen Volcanic Park.  I left work at 12:30 Friday, and we were rewarded with a great site in Crags campground around 5:30 that evening.  There was room for our truck, trailer and a spot for us to put out our indoor/outdoor carpeting.  We got set up quickly and Nancy set up a great dinner of spaghetti, which was fantastic.

We had a family camped next to us with a little girl Sami-Jo who Rose and Anna Joy took a liking to right away.  They stayed up WAY past their bed times playing games in the trailer while the moms and dads visited outside.  The next morning was a Park Ranger led program where the kids learned about volcanoes.  Here's a picture of the kids on the way to the program.

Nancy and I took the opportunity to browse in the local campground store and cruise around one of the bigger campsites in the park.  We found the most amusing RV we've come across to date.  The back of the trailer tells it better than we could ever hope to...

The girls went on a pretty long hike, which tired them out, so when we got back to the campsite we did a lot of R&R.  We discovered that there were a lot of beetles flying around, often landing in spots where they were least expected.  Despite Rose being the child who loves bugs, Anna Joy seems to get all the good ones.  Maybe it's her choice of hats?

That evening we went to another Ranger led talk on bats.  Our neighbor on the other side was going as well, so we drove down together.  It was a slide show and I suspect we know more about bats than 80% of the general population.  The girls stayed up past their bed times again... what are vacations for?

The next morning was a Ranger talk on native aquatic bugs.  The girls were very excited about this one.  It was a smaller group of kids, and the girls had a great time.  While they were doing their activities, Nancy and I took a walk around Manzanita Lake.

We enjoyed spectacular vistas on this walk, and were lucky enough to see a beaver swimming along in the lake.

After a yummy lunch in the trailer we headed up to the summit so the girls could play in the snow.  This is on the 4th of July.

The girls got completely soaked.  If you can imagine them in a bath tub fully clothed, you have a pretty good idea of how wet they were.  Back to the trailer for fresh clothes.  The girls were having a great time playing at the campsite, and we were having a great time relaxing so we didn't rock the boat.

Pretty soon a guy came riding into the campground on a Honda Goldwing with a dog in the passenger seat, towing a tent trailer behind him.  Now I don't think this sort of thing happens every day, so we went and introduced ourselves and invited him to have dinner with us.  Nice man from Arizona touring the West with his dog.

Here's his rig set up...

and ready to go, Foxy in her ... umm ... seat?

On our final day we walked an interpretive trail, took in a Ranger talk on rocks native to the region and the girls finished up their requirements to become official Junior Rangers of Lassen Volcanic Park.

On our way out, we went up over the summit again.  The beauty of this park is impossible to convey with pictures.  You can see the partly frozen lake in the background.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch near the summit at a great overlook.

We had the girls move this rock out of the way so we could see the mountain better.

It was important for us to see the sulfur works.  Or to smell it.

Lassen Volcanic Park is a wonderful place.  It would be easy to spend a week there if only we had the time.  We're anxious to go back.  When the girls are a bit older we would love to take them on a hike to the summit (2,000 vertical feet in 2.5 miles) as well as explore some of the lesser traveled portions of the park.