Our next stop was
the small town of Chester, so we once again took Highway 20 across the mountains
with a quick coffee stop in Willetts before continuing on our way. Our drive took us past Clear Lake, a huge
lake with lots of homes and RV parks along the edges.
In a small town
called Williams we joined I5 heading north, driving through orchards growing,
among other things, almonds, olives and nectarines. When we reached the town of Red Bluff we joined
Highway 36. Highway 36 is the main road
to Susanville. When we were there a
section of the road was in the process of being re-aligned, in places we
travelled in convoy and in at least one place it felt like we were literally driving
over boulders. We were so glad we
weren’t towing the fifth wheel!
Chester was the nearest
accommodation we could find for our visit to Lassen National Park, which is absolutely
beautiful.
Our first stop was
an area called the Sulphur Works. At
one time there used to be a mill and bath house there. Scalding, bubbling, mud pots are everywhere,
and signs tell you to stay on the road and trails as the ground is so thin you
could easily fall through and be scalded to death. In places we could see the ground steaming!
The next day we
decided to hike the Bumpass Hell Trail, the parking area for the trail head was
our first stop. It’s at an altitude of
over 8,000 ft., and there was still snow in places.
The trail isn’t
long only about 3 miles but for some reason we thought it was a fairly flat
trail mostly along boardwalks, it isn’t!
I have no idea why we thought that, unless it was the mention of
boardwalks that made us think that.
Talking to other people we met along the trail it seemed to be a fairly common
misconception.
We climbed up and
over a mountain, with more fabulous views.
As we followed the steep trail down into Bumpass Hell
there were some
beautiful blue wildflowers growing among the trailside rocks. I’ve no idea what they were, but the side of
the mountain was covered in them.
Bumpass Hell is so
called because in 1864 Kendall Van Bumpass and his partner Major Pierson B
Reading discovered the boiling springs and filed a claim with the intention of
mining the minerals and developing it as a tourist attraction.
Those plans disappeared in
a puff of smoke when Bumpass stepped into a boiling mud pool heated to nearly
115c. He survived, but lost his leg in
the accident. I don’t suppose you’d get
many tourists wanting to get into a mud bath quite that hot!
The valley is full
of boiling mud pots and scalding lakes, the crust is so thin that leaving the
boardwalk is to risk your life. All the
Sulphur gives the air a definite ‘rotten egg’ smell.
In one of the
hottest fumaroles the temperature of the steam was measured at over 161c,
that’s hot! I’m not sure why but the
water in some of the pools is a beautiful turquoise blue colour and in others
it’s milky. It’s quite weird to see the
ground all around you steaming in the sunshine.
When we returned cars were
circling the now full parking area looking for spaces, it was lucky we decided
to do the hike first. We continued
following the park road and drove over the top of the mountains past more
trailheads and some beautiful lakes and water meadows, the views were fabulous.
At Manzanita Lake
we stopped at the store which was in the process of closing down for the
winter, but we were still able to get some coffee and snacks. Even though it was only September we were
told snow could close the park at any time.
Afterwards we followed the road along the lake shore before heading
back, again we saw more fabulous mountain scenery.
Driving back we
stopped at a forest clearing that turned out to be part of the Nobles Emigrant
Trail, one of the many trails used during the California Gold Rush. Even though this was an easy trail and
thousands of people used it, it wasn’t the most popular way to get to the
goldfields of California.
As we drove over the
highest point on Lassen NP road, on such a beautiful day it was hard to imagine
that it might soon be closed because of winter snows.
Have fun, we are!
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