Day 10 - Lassen Volcanic National Park

For Monday, September 12

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I woke up in Lassen Volcanic National Park. My son David had recommended this place for me. He had visited a few years ago. So I ventured out to see what made this place unique.

The place is quite interesting with a variety of volcanic activity all over. The trail to the top of Lassen volcano is temporarily closed. But there were plenty of other things to see. It was strange to see so much constant activity in the ground around me.

Even in September, there were flowers blooming.

Some trees were full of pine cones (or were they cedars? Some evergreen...)

The trail is certainly wide enough to meet people. But, still, it is a good place to ignore fear of heights and focus on the trail rather than the drop of a few hundred feet just off the trail.

It's hot and dry. But why not choose to bloom anyway?

Even in September, there is snow from last winter:

Bumpass Hell

A Little Volcanic Action

They have a boardwalk that keeps people from damaging the fragile areas. And it keeps people from accidentially breaking through and falling into steaming water.

A few of the mountains here are tall enough to create their own weather. So even if there isn't any particular weather front moving through, they often accumulate clouds and develop rain and thunderstorms. I saw it quickly get more and more cloudy, primarily around one mountain. So I headed back.

The view down below with the small stream looked intriguing. But I think the climb back up may be a little tough. Perhaps another time...

It is a big park. The road through the park, with stops and a hike along the way, took quite a while. I wanted to get back to the visitor center since that was not open yet when I left in the morning. I thought it might be quicker to take some non-park regular roads to get back down that way. It turned out they were very curvy also, although with smaller drop-offs on the shoulders. One road in particular was filled with 10 M.P.H. curves. It was fun (if I hadn’t been in a hurry). And I missed any deer or cattle near the road. Some of the terrain was unusual (for a Midwesterner) with large dark stones dotting the landscape. Crop farming would be a challenge here.

After my stop at the visitor center, I left for Redding. Along the way, I was delayed by some road construction. They were widening the road in a couple spots for slower-car pullouts. This is extra complicated on the edge of a mountain and when large trees must be removed. Since the road was still open, they had to continually move logs and brush around to keep one lane open as they took down trees and loaded them on trucks. Through my trip I was learning to appreciate some of the civil engineers and others who dealt with problems here that we did not face in the relatively flat lands with wide shoulders and ditches.

There were two destinations for me in Redding. One, I hoped a city that size would have a Mazda dealer to finally fix my car. And second, I hoped to get a very short visit to Bethel Church there. I listen to some of their music and messages. And my church has a close association with them.

In Redding, I wandered around several roads looking for car dealers and hoping to stumble upon a road named College Drive, or something like that, where Bethel is located. I didn’t find any of that. But I did see parts of the city prospering with many new retail businesses. Eventually, at a gas station north of the city a ways, I got some help from a local person. I found some auto dealers on a road I had not tried. But there was no Mazda dealer. It is getting dark. I decided to get a motel room with Internet access.

I checked out a local Mexican fast food place for dinner. Before the Internet connection got extremely slow, I was able to learn about some Mazda dealers in northern California. There were none near Redding. But at least I now had some leads.