California 2013 - Round 2 - Day 6

September 16, 2013 (Monday)

Lassen Volcanic NP

We headed out of Tahoe early to get a head start on traffic and to get to the next destination early. It was about a 3.5 hour drive to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen Volcanic was the 17th National Park created. The site exhibits all four types of volcanos: cinder cones, composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes and lava domes. The last eruption in the park was in 1915.

Our first stop, once we arrived was the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center (southwest entrance), which is open 9-5 year round. There is a café and restrooms at the visitor center. There is a $10 fee per vehicle which is valid for 7 days.  We watched the 20 minute film about the park – it was informative. Also, we looked around at the exhibits at the visitor center, allowing 20 minutes would be adequate. Prior to visiting, the park it was recommended to allow about 3 hours for drive through the 30 mile long park highway. There is a road guide available at the visitor centers.

Lassen Volcanic NP - Bumpass Hell trail

We stopped to check out a bunch of places including Sulphur Works (steam vents and boiling mudpots), Bumpass Hell trail (3 mile hike to the park’s largest hydrothermal area), as well as many of the scenic pull-offs.

Prior to leaving, the park we also visited the Loomis Museum at the northwest entrance of the park. The museum includes photos taken by Loomis, who documented Lassen’s Peak most recent eruption cycle and promoted the park’s establishment. The video is the same at both visitor centers. 

Whiskeytown Lake NRA

Heading west from Lassen, we reached Whiskeytown Lake’s National Recreation Area after about an hour and a half drive. Our first stop was again the visitor center. There is a $5 day use pass required to be placed on your dashboard, there are $10 weekly passes available also.  The visitor center was not very good. There were some exhibits to look at, but other than the pretty view there was not much to see. Whiskeytown has four major waterfalls available to hike. We forgot to ask about the flow conditions of the waterfalls so we did not hike to any of them, but we did hike the trail at the visitor center, it was okay. The trail was rather steep and took to the water’s edge.

Whiskeytown Lake NRA

Sundial Bridge - Redding, CA

We checked out the Sundial Bridge which spans the Sacramento River in Redding before our venture south towards San Francisco.

Consulting tripadvisor, we found a place called Farwood Bar & Grill for dinner in Orland. It was very good – Mike and a steak and I had chicken. I wish we had gotten a salad – a few people arrived after us and all of them ordered the same salad – that has to been that it is good – right?

Venturing a little further south we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Willow.