Friday, August 1 Lassen Volcanic, Burney Falls, Lassen Peak, Kings Creek

 Friday, August 18

50 degrees this morning as we continue south.   Gas is $4.89, but we expected it to be high in California (taxes).   

We decide to visit Burney Falls before we reach Lassen Volcanic National Park and are really glad we did.  It is a unique and beautiful falls in a State Park of the same name. $9 entry fee for seniors . The water flows year round through porous basalt left behind by lava flows. Twin falls thunder down a cliff but what is unusual are the hundreds of springs seeping directly out of the rock behind and on both sides of the main falls.  This creates a veil of falling water nearly 250' wide!  

100 million gallons of water fall daily, even during dry summer months and eventually form Lake Britton, a nine-mile long lake.

 There is an overlook and then a mile or so loop trail that takes you down to the foot of the falls (and back up!). This park is one of the oldest in California, created back in 1922.  It is gorgeous!

Chipmunks and California ground squirrels along the trail.  

Cave (with flash)

From here, we move on to Subway Cave, which is a lava tube from about 24,000 years ago.  The tube  has caved in at one point, allowing an entry.  We grab our flashlights and explore.  It's chilly down there and while it looks smooth in the picture the ground is very rough,  described somewhere as stub-your-toe rough.  We are sort of glad that it is only 1/3 mile long before we are back into sunshine.

Next, we enter Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Shortly after the entrance, there is a gas station, a restaurant and a building that houses a laundromat and showers.   We go for the showers, which cost $5 for 7 minutes!  But they are spotless and feel great.

We stop at the visitor's center and visit a small museum, then decide to walk the Lily Pond Nature Trail, a half mile trail that identifies trees such as the Ponderosa Pine, The Jeffrey pine, Red fir, Mountain Alder, Lodgepole pine, sugar pine and others.  I'm surprised there are so many varieties in such a small area! Interesting scattering of pinecones and we pick one or two to add to a collection we have on our hearth at home.  Funny how some huge trees have tiny pinecones and others have foot-long ones!

The lily pond is lush, but not blooming.

There is supposed to be signal by the museum, but....not today.

We continue through the park, parts of which have been decimated by fire.  Lots of dead  trees stacked - for later collection and piles of debris.  

We stop by  Chaos Crags, a group of 6 domes from old volcanoes,  and an area called the Chaos Jumble which is a result of a series of 3 rockfall avalanches, which covers miles.

More than 200 lakes and ponds are vital to the park.

Lassen Peak, 10,457'

King's Creek is a pretty area with lots of wildflowers.

The air is so crisp, clean and clear!

 Emerald Lake sparkles.

We pause at the Sulfur Works, where a short boardwalk takes you by some bubbling mud pots and vents (and a pungent sulfur smell) showing signs of continuing underground thermal activity.

We stop for the night at Guernsey Creek Campground on Rock Creek in the Lassen National Forest. $7.  Lots of cut and stacked wood throughout the campground and surrounding area.  Only a few of us campers.

This is a new National Park for our list, #53 of  63 parks... 10 to go, though I'm not sure we'll fly into some of the Alaska ones or visit Guam or Virgin Islands.  Overall this it doesn't break our top ten (or twenty!) If you are into geology and volcanoes, then yes it's for you!  Tons of information on types of volcanoes and geology.  Otherwise it is interesting, pretty with a few highlights - though granted we didn't see all of it.