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| Bonfire night by the tent |
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| Crater Lake again |
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| Bit of snow about |
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| Crater Lake |
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| Guard and passenger |
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| Our first bald eagle |
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| Meal with a view |
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| Rocky Point |
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| Splendid Oarsman |
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| Moving the rock - it's spoiling the view!! |
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| Mount Shasta |
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| Lassen Peak |
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| Bumpass Hell Trail - Closed |
The epic Budget saga was to it’s usual drama, this time the office I called at could not access our files because the system was down AAAAHHHHHHH!!! She nicely told me I would have to call them in Seattle. I explained the auto voice not understanding my accent which raised a smile so she give me a direct line number to a real talking person in Seattle. To finish the saga, I managed to get through to Seattle and yes all wa confirmed and in order – hooray!!
On with the journey to Mount Lassen via Safeway to stock up on goods, ale and food as shops are in short supply at this high altitude destination. By the way, Mrs D is now an official club card member of Safeway USA and now we get all the savings and discounts, what fun. All stocked up we were on our way and it was one long big climb. A 50 mile climb actually. Reading is at sea level almost and Mount Lassen is at 12000ft. The campsite is at 8000ft so could be cool nights, no more 90 degree Californian nights.
The snow covered peak of Lassen got nearer and nearer. In actual fact because the Sacramento valley is so low you can see Lassen Peak from almost 100 miles away on the west side. We arrived at the camp site late afternoon. Nice big pitch again, surrounded by more damn trees.
Every site we have had has had a fire ring for a camp fire. Something the Americans love and light every night even when it is 90dgs. Anyway, Mrs D is now the champion, chumper or rigger (whatever your term) at foraging for firewood. Never mind the hunter gatherer males, we can be driving along and she will spot good firewood at 50 yards. We had to make extra space in the back of the car for all the excess wood we collected along the way.
Camp all set up, dinner done it was firewood time. Fire cracking and Dan Deer wandered through the site and yes we are in Bob Bear country again. Back to bear proof food and cosmetic storage along with Bob proof trash and recycling bins. The elusive ‘Bob’ is a bit of a nuisance on the quiet. Enough said for one day.
Tuesday 26th June – Up early due to the fact it WAS a very cold night and the toilet rush was on!! The bad news was that due to the cold over night, our old faithful water bag froze and both sides split – what a bummer!! Once the sun was up it warmed up quickly but the nights here were going to be nippy, good job I packed my old Damarts!!
After breakfast we headed on up around the park stopping off at a couple of viewpoints along the way. The first was Hot Rock which was a huge 3 ton boulder thrown 5 miles from the summit explosion and was found still hell hot some weeks after. A quick lesson here so you know what I’m droning on about. In 1915 Mount Lassen erupted and rumbled right through the year on and off until into 1916 when it mega erupted. This blew large parts of the mountain and the resulting rock/lava field down valleys up 20 miles away. It just so happened that some photographer just happened to be up there when it blew and managed to catch it all on film and survive the destruction.
The second point we stopped was ‘devastation point’ an obvious name I think with views up to the summit via the destroyed valley which has recovered in some areas but bears no resemblance to it’s former beauty. As we got higher and near the ‘trail head’ for Lassen Peak the snow on the roadside was 2ft deep in places. The trail to the top is steep, windy, crosses snow fields and closed at .9 of a mile from the top so we went up. It was super and so were the views along the way.
After this we had lunch then drove on some more to see Bumpass Hell a geothermal area with hot pools and bubbling mud stuff. Sadly this trail was closed as it was under 4 feet of snow.
We then headed back down to camp but stopped on the way back to get some more firewood kindly spotted by eagles eyes herself!!
Big fire and grub was enjoyed at the end of an excellent day.
Wednesday 27th June – Not quite as cold last night and a walk from the site today. It was a lovely walk up through fire damaged forest then volcano damaged land to a lake called Craggy Lake. It was a steady climb up and steep going back but nice to walk from the tent. On the way back Mrs D got into chumping mode and I went to get the car to fill it with her findings. Back mid afternoon for a couple of hours sun before showers and a huge fire whilst listening to neighbours playing Johnny Cash music in huge RV (recreational vehicle, a campervan to us folks.) Cracking day out Gromit!!
Thursday 28th June – Moving on again today and sadly leaving California which has been a super experience. Today we are back into Oregon at Klamath Falls (where there are no falls) but a huge lake. This area of wetland is the home to many migrating and nesting birds including the famous American icon the bald eagle.
The journey was excellent passing mount Shasta another 14000ft snow capped volcano and other smaller ones along the way. The whole area we are driving back up through is known as the cascade mountain range and it has both active and dormant volcanoes all the way from British Columbia in Canada down into California. It has been quite a spectacular drive so far.
We arrived at Rocky Point Resort late afternoon. Quite a small site by comparison to some but nevertheless very nice and we had a prime lakeside spot. Facilities were excellent and the owner very friendly and helpful. After a brisk walk up the road we got back to tent armed with half a forest as and had the usual campfire dinner.
Friday 29th June – Away from Bob bear territory we are now in mozzi country – well what do you expect if you camp next to a lake in wetlands!! Persistent little blighters too. Today we hired a canoe and took to the waters of the lake. Now, it wasn’t a vast open lake as you imagine more like a lake covered in reed beds with water ways running through them. Our host told us there was a steady little 4 mile circuit down the shore and back up through the reeds and that we may see bald eagle nests, beaver lodges and an abundance of birds.
We set off and very pleasant it was too, that was until we realised we had missed the right turn and had gone 4 miles down the shore following the wrong trail. This realisation did not occur until after lunch when we seemed to be heading further away from the shore. Now imagine your on a reed bed six feet tall, in a canoe which you can’t stand up in to see where you are and the signs for the route are seven inches square if you are lucky and they are not hanging upside down. Before I go on we had a lovely quiet lunch sat in our canoe somewhere on Klamath lake. Also, we did see bald eagles nesting, beaver lodges but no beavers and plenty of birds.
After lunch we followed the trail and all did not seem well, especially when I announced to Mrs D we were turning round as I felt we were heading the wrong way. I was not popular but we persevered and did find the right turn and paddled our way back to the site. So what was supposed to be a three and a half hour trip was nearer five and we had done nearer ten miles than four and were both wrecked with arms like some body builder.
The day was saved with a meal out in the evening overlooking the lake. The food, drink and setting was superb and we soon saw the funny side of the days antics, however we were not hiring another canoe tomorrow.
Saturday 30th June – Early start for our big day out at Crater Lake. It was a super sunny day and a lovely run up there, sadly the gas was running a bit low and and the towns we went through (on the only time you need any) did not have any gas. After driving up through the Annie Creek Gorge we arrived at the state park village of Mazama where they had gas, good news.
Education time again folks so pay attention please. The crater which is now Crater Lake was formed from what used to be Mount Mazama. 7700 years ago a massive volcanic eruption left a deep hole where the mountain peak once stood. What is now Crater Lake was once the belly of an active Volcano. Crater Lake is 6 miles wide one way and 4.5 miles across the other, not quite round. It is 1943 feet deep at deepest point and holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water. The tallest point on the rim is 1978 feet above the lake, end of education wake up please.
Once at the lake rim we stopped off at the visitor centre and got our first view of the lake. It was stunning. No doubt the pictures I took will not do it its full justice. We then set off to do the tour round the rim to find that we could only get half way round due to the winter snow on the road. Apparently there was 6 feet of snow on the east rim road. This soon became believable as we drove through snow cleared roads where the snow walls were higher than the car!! We had a bit of a stroll at the end of the drive before heading back down to rocky point. What a superb place and a lovely drive back too. In the evening we got chatting to our camping neighbours who were from San Fran and kindly gave us some logs as head chumper was off duty today and firewood was dwindling. Lovely people, they actually offered us their boat to stay on in Whistler, Canada after only an hour of conversation!! Anyway a splendid evening was had after an excellent day.
Sunday 1st July – Time to move on from Klamath and head further north nearer Portland and Washington State. It was a good run without incident and we arrived at Champoeg State Park mid afternoon. Now, how to describe this site……primarily an RV site with an afterthought camp ground. Very small pitches and on top of your neighbours. Hey, we are entitled to complain after all the spacious pitches we’ve had. Anyway, camp was set up, the camp fire was rubbish and we managed to have a reasonable evening.
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