Lassen Volcanic National Park

We bid adieu to Trinidad this morning.  I put the sun to bed last night and I greeted it as we packed up the car.

We hit the road.  Using California 299 to traverse East, we climbed into the Sierras.  It didn't take long to find smoke from the raging fires.

At times our visibility was pretty poor.  Even though the temperature above 4,000 feet was in the low 60's I put the air conditioning on in the car and set it to recirculate air instead of bringing in outside smoke filled air.  That helped.  Periodically the road dips below 1,000 feet and any time we got to that elevation the air was relatively clean.

Unfortunately, 299 through the Sierras is pretty winding.  Lots of up and down and left and right.  Caltrans (the equivalent of NY DOT) knows this so they are re-aligning the road.  That's their description.  They are trying to make it straighter and make the climb and descent less severe.  That means we were periodically reduced to one lane and had to wait for the flag person to waive us through.  Usually we followed a pilot car.

Eventually we made it to the park.

The volcano erupted in May of 1915.  Twice.  They were major eruptions that shot rock and ash at supersonic speeds for several miles.

This very large rock traveled three mile before pulverizing the ground where it came to a stop.

Most of the impact zone looks like this.  Hundreds of rocks of all shapes and sizes that peppered the landscape.

 The culprit is that volcano, shrouded in wildfire smoke.  We probably won't get a good look at it.  No signs of an eruption anytime soon, but the park has many thermal features like Yellowstone.

It isn't all volcano and devastation, although there was a fire here a few years ago and plenty of evidence remains.  There are many parts of the park that are serene and wonderful.

Photo buffs will spot the haze in the image.  Smoke.  It's just what it is right now in this region.  We will spend a full day in Lassen tomorrow before heading to Lake Tahoe.  Our headquarters for this segment is the Bidwell House Bed and Breakfast in Chester, CA.

Chester is located near Lake Almanor, owned by PG&E.  Ring a bell?  Think Erin Brockovich.  They don't need another place to put hexavalent chromium.  Pacific Gas and Electric uses the lake to generate hyrdro power and Californians play on the shore and in the water.  Incidentally, once we head south towards Lake Tahoe we will be heading away from the fires.  I suspect there will still be some haze, but not as much as here.