Lassen Volcano

We left Tahoe in sunshine and arrived at Lassen in the heaviest rain we have seen since we left Glacier Park. Not bad for a 5 week trip. I know US 50 is labeled as the loneliest highway in America but CA 89 from Truckee to Mt. Shasta has it beat. We didn’t realize how few cars we were seeing until we were several miles into the trip and so didn’t actually count oncoming vehicles – but there definitely were fewer than on US 50. But the road was beautiful. We were swinging through (I use swinging as the verb because of all the corners) ponderosa and fir forests. There were lots of little 50 cow towns along the way (I would have called them 1 horse but we didn’t see any horses, only cows). We were surprised how many golf resorts we passed. It seemed a long way to go for a game of golf.

All along the way we were seeing only a huge cloud where Mt. Lassen was supposed to be. When we actually got to the park the cloud was sitting at the same level as the Visitor’s Center. Perhaps another trip to actually see Mt. Lassen and the Park. There were a bunch of sulfur steam fumaroles right beside the road. And a giant bubbling mud pot. We weren’t able to get a photo of the mud pot because the steam covered the lens of the camera. We drove around the mountain and most of the way were only able to see about 25’ off the road. Just enough to see that there was NOTHING on the downhill side of the road. No trees, no shrubs, no earth. EEK! When we got around to the north side the cloud cleared enough to be able to see the bottom of Mt. Lassen – no top but the bottom.

CA 89 from Lassen to Mt. Shasta (on I-5) was more forests but dotted with deer. I have no idea what they were thinking! It is hunting season! And we even saw a 5 pt. buck! In the National Forest! Mt. Shasta also had its head in the clouds so no great view there. At Weed we jumped onto US 97 after about ½ mile on “Historical Highway 99” (I remember when historical was not the adjective we used for 99. @$%#^&, perhaps, but not historical.) Tonight we are in Klamath Falls and plan to be back in Seattle tomorrow.

All in all, a fabulous trip!

Dollars saved on this trip with Park Pass: $178.00 + 10 = $188.00