Lassen Volcanic National Park

 Are you planning a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park this summer? Read this post before you go.

Make sure that your car is ready for your trip, especially if you are pulling your RV. Read our post, Getting The Car Ready For A Road Trip, to see the checklist we use before we hit the road.

Lassen Volcanic National Park was the 9th stop of our 14 National Parks road trip. We knew we were close when we looked out the car window and saw this landscape.

When we arrived at the campground we would be staying in for two nights, we thought we were led to the wrong campsite when we saw this huge, paved luxury site. Turned out we did reserve the premium KOA site. We found that out when we looked at our receipt and saw the huge price tag. We still don't know how we managed to screw up this reservation but we made sure we sat outside A LOT and got our money's worth :)

The following day was our one day to explore Lassen Volcanic National Park. 

There were plenty of interpretive signs throughout the park and we were able to learn a lot about the history of the area. This sign told us about a huge rock avalanche that happened here 150 years ago.

We learned that this enormous rock was named Hot Rock because it stayed hot for weeks after it landed 5 miles away from where it was hurled out of Lassen Peak during an explosion on May 19, 1915.

 

We learned the story behind the 1915-1916 eruptions of Lassen Peak after reading the interpretive signs along the short 1/2 mile trail at Devastated Area. 

Our next stop was Kings Creek Trailhead. All of our stops were off Lassen Volcanic Hwy which was convenient.We went a short way to see Kings Creek but didn't do the 3 mile uphill hike to see the 30 foot Kings Creek Falls. We will put that hike on our list if we ever get back to this park again.

We spotted Lake Helen as we were making our way to our next stop. It looked so beautiful from above that we had to pull off the road for a few minutes to enjoy the view.

The view was equally as beautiful when we got up next to it. We had to take a couple more pictures.

There was a parking spot across the street from the lake. We decided it would be the perfect time and place to have our picnic lunch. The parking spot was also near Bumpass Hell Trail, the next stop on our list.

The Bumpass Hell Trail is rated easy to moderate and is 3 miles round trip.

The trail elevates to more than 400 feet so we enjoyed a gorgeous view as we hiked.

I sent Soko up to stand by this enormous rock that a moving glacier transported to this spot.

There were some narrow parts of this trail and I held my breath until the trail got wider again but overall it was a pretty easy trail.

At the end of the Bumpass Hell Trail is a hydrothermal area. We could smell the sulphur and hear the gurgling of boiling water way before we got there.

Bumpass Hell Trail was named after explorer Kendall Bumpass who filed claim to these boiling springs intending to mine here and turn it into a tourist attraction. That was until his leg ended up in the mud and he was severely injured. We did not go off the path here!

The path was a boardwalk type walkway that took us around this very cool, or actually hot, area.

And then we were out and on the trail back to the car. Although we were on the same trail as we were coming in, it looked completely different going the other way.

Our next stop was Sulphur Works.

It was a short walk from the parking lot to this paved bridge where we got an up close look at a very big and active mudpot and also learned more about them thanks to another interpretive sign. 

Our last stop of the day was to the Kohm-Yah-Mah-Nee visitor center where we watched a movie to learn even more about the park. 

We didn't know this park existed until we started to plan our 14 national park road trip. We hadn't expected much from it and were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful, interesting and fun it was!

Read about our stop 8 here.

Pinnacles National Park

Have you been to Lassen Volcanic National Park? We would love to hear what you thought about your visit!

Pinnacles National Park

Is Pinnacles National Park on your bucket list? Read on to see if you think it should be.

Then read this post if you think you will be traveling here in your RV - 10 Things You Should Have On Your RV Camping List.

We always need to replenish our supplies in between stops on our road trips. While we are traveling to our next stop, I Google to find the closest Walmart to our campground. Besides for the convenience of Walmart being a one stop shopping store, we can count on them to be pretty much laid out the same so it makes it easy for us to navigate. It also helps to have the app for a map of the store. We are in and out of the store in no time.

We passed the official national park sign on our way to the campground in Pinnacles National Park where we would be staying for the next couple of days. It's always nice to be at one of these signs with people who have also pulled over to take pictures so that you can take each other pics!

We saw this flock of wild turkeys on the way to our campsite. 

We settled into our campsite and then walked over to the visitor's center to get the maps and information we needed to plan our time in the park. It was so convenient to be this close to the visitor's center. We were in a couple of times buying souvenirs and asking questions.

We had a little time before it was time to start preparing dinner. The sun was beating down on our site but it was nice and shady in the empty site next to us so we dragged our chairs over and relaxed for awhile.

After dinner, we were treated to a sky full of stars like we had never seen before. I wish the pictures I took came a little closer to showing how amazing the sky looked.

On our first morning in Pinnacles we took a short drive to the Moses Spring Trail parking lot. We passed these colorful Acorn Woodpeckers on the way out.

It only took about 15 minutes to drive to the trail. (It is really convenient to camp in the national parks we are visiting but many of the them only have primitive camping. We don't need glamping but we do need some of the conveniences of home like water and electric.)

We knew we were in for a treat within a few moments of stepping on the trail. The huge boulders that surrounded us were an amazing sight to see.

We thought the hike to the cave would be longer. I was very excited to see the opening to the cave after such a short walk. It was pretty hot out.

But we soon found out that this was not the cave! It was just a tunnel through a huge boulder that was blocking the trail path.

We did eventually get to the Bear Gulch Cave. The cave was created by boulders that fell into canyons here at the park. .

We had read that we would need a flashlight for our walk through the cave and we found that to be true.

We were in total darkness in some spots but otherwise there were enough crevices with light shining through that the cave didn't feel claustrophobic to me. 

There was a lot to navigate throughout the cave including a couple of staircases.

And lots of boulders that were so close together that there was barely enough room to get through them. We found ourselves having to crawl in some spots.

At the end of the trail through the cave we found a long and narrow staircase that led to the Bear Gulch reservoir.

This little guy greeted us when we got up there.

The reservoir is one of Pinnacles iconic sights and was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935. The more state and national parks we go to the more we learn about this group of young men who constructed thousands of miles of trails throughout the parks.

It was a gorgeous spot and a nice place to relax for a while.

As we sat, we scanned the skies for a glimpse of the endangered California condor and thought we saw it but once we zoomed into our photo, we realized it was a vulture which is very similar looking. We learned from a video we watched at the visitor center that the California condors have silver-gray flight feathers on the edge of their wings. This was definitely not a condor.

After catching our breath at the reservoir we followed the Rim Trail back to our car. We were now above the canyon and cave. I couldn't look down in spots.

To make things even more hairier was the narrow paths we had to navigate to get around some boulders. I held onto the boulders for dear life :)

There were also many boulders we had to squeeze through. We found a way but at certain points, we (or I, I should say) thought getting through to the other side of some boulders might be impossible.

Once we got closer to the ground, I relaxed and took in all the beauty around me. Despite all my complaining, I really enjoyed this hike a lot!

When we got back to the campground, after our 2 1/2 hour hike, we saw a bird we hadn't seen before, the California Quail, California's state bird.

The following morning we made our way to the Old Pinnacles Trail.

It was an easy, flat trail.

We passed this bridge along the way. We never pass a bridge on a trail without me wanting to hop on it and have Soko take a picture of me or visa versa.

The fluffy white "cotton balls" on this bush caught my eye. I tried to research them but I'm still not exactly sure what they are. Any idea?

We hiked 45 minutes before turning around and heading back to the car. 

After we got back to the campground, we set off on our second hike of the day. There were two ranches nearby. The first was the Bacon Ranch. It was a short 1/4 mile hike to this ranch established in 1852.

The Butterfield Ranch was further down the trail. We looked down the flat, dusty trail and didn't see any hint of the ranch at all.

It was getting very hot out and decided we would be much happier swimming in the pool at the campground rather than looking for the ranch.

We saw this California Scrub Jay as we relaxed by the pool.

We had the best time hiking and bird watching at Pinnacles National Park. It is a park, and campground, we would definitely consider going back to if we ever have the chance.

Read about Stop 7 here.

Exploring Channel Islands National Park

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Have you ever been to Pinnacles National Park? What was your favorite trail to hike.