Lassen Volcanic and Crater Lake National Parks

 

Hello from California and Lassen Volcanic Park.  Crazy to think just last month we were in Florida! We were disappointed that our stay at Manzanita  Lake campground in the park was cancelled on us (they had tree clean up to do) as it would have been amazing to stay right there in the park next to the lake.

We did find another campground just outside of the park at Hat Creek RV resort, which was nice but for future Lassen visitors, try to stay at Manzanita!

Dave was back to his old tricks of measuring how many board feet he could get out of a tree. There are some really big trees here, even the pine cones are huge!

Lots of trees but not as many wildflowers out here. It was a little colder so maybe they are coming still. We did find this one bush that was blooming and some cool moss from the trees on the ground. The views around the lake were just spectacular!

I'm not sure how much cardio we got from our hike because we were constantly stopping to take pictures! It was hard not to, it was just so pretty.

After the hike, we ventured up the scenic drive as far as we could go. Hard to believe there is still so much snow here.

From Lassen, north we went to Oregon and our Crater Lake stop. Our campground was only supposed to be about 25 minutes from the park but the north entrance was closed. We had an eventful stay at Diamond Lake RV park though, we saw a bear! 

It also was eventful (not in as good of a way) in that we had to take Noodle to the Emergency Hospital in Bend (which was almost 2 hours away!). He jumped through the door window again and got himself filthy in the dirt. I shampooed him clean but something either in the dirt or shampoo did not sit well with him and he couldn't stop vomiting. Poor buddy! With our wallet quite a bit lighter, they gave him some meds and he is doing better now (thank you Lord!).

The roads between Lassen and Crater were just beautiful! We had good weather and bright blue skies but...we must have hit a hatching of something... Phoebe was covered! Given we had to stick around camp to make sure Noodle was ok, we had plenty of time to hand wash all those bugs off (yuck).

With the north entrance (closest to the campground) closed we had to drive about an hour and 20 minutes to the west entrance. It was another scenic drive and boy, if we thought Lassen still had snow it was nothing compared to when we got to Crater Lake!

Going to the visitor's center was a hoot! There was so much snow still, it was taller than Dave!

We hiked around part of the rim (the whole way is 30 miles and darn, we forgot our snow shoes!). The views were amazing; not only of the snow, but the bluest water you've ever seen! Crater Lake is the most pristine and deepest lake in the country at 1943 feet deep. Formed when the volcano inside Mount Mazama erupted, the center collapsed in and snow and rain have filled it over the years. Not one stream runs into or out of the lake, which is also why it is one of the purest in the country. The campground there isn't opened yet but they do have a lovely lodge. I can only imagine how busy this place must be in the summer with all those visitors!

Speaking of visitors, mom and dad were here too in 2004. Not as much snow in September but still enough to throw a snowball. Right back at ya, mom!😄

The views were amazing! At 55 degrees it was cold but the sun was bright and that made it seem a little warmer. You could tell the winter must be brutal from the tree "skeletons" that remain.

It really is a magical place. In the summer you can take a boat ride to Wizard Island (seen to the right) and do some hiking there too. This one might have to go on the "need to come back to list".😎

Another scenic drive takes us north further to Washington state and our Harvest Host for the evening. This farm had a special resident who really liked our motorhome.😏 "Kevin" kept going around & around us "honking" at us. I spared you the honking but check him out. Until next time, thanks for following and for your prayers along the way.