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| Mount Shasta in the Distance (her head above the clouds) |
We had a wonderful day today (how many blogs have I started like that for this trip?) We woke up on a crisp cold morning--it was bright and sunny, but the temperature was around 32 degrees. Knowing we were heading for a park with an even higher elevation (Lava Beds is at about 4,000 feet), I made the bed up into a complete sleeping bag. I forget the brand name of this bedding, but I bought it when we got Mo (our first RV) and didn’t have a real bed. It is basically a double sleeping bag, but it is lined with real sheets, which attach via velcro. One bag is labeled “summer” and one is “winter”, and they are different weights, so you can flip the bag depending on how cold the weather is.
Ever since we got Sam (our current RV, that is), I’ve used real sheets on the real queen sized bed, and we’ve used the bedspread/comforter when we need an extra layer at night. When we left New Jersey in August, it was so darn hot that we could hardly bear to have a sheet over us, and I would stash the comforter at night. We had the air conditioning running the entire night too! A few weeks into the trip, when it became consistently cooler at night (maybe when we were in the Black Hills?), I took down the summer-weight sleeping bag, and we’ve used that as a quilt on us, in addition to the comforter. This morning when I made the bed, I took out the winter-weight bag, zipped the two bags together with the sheets inside, and tonight, we’ll be snug as bugs in a rug! (Well, in a bag.)
We were able to leave before 10:00, which was good, because we stopped at a number of the exhibits and views in Lava Beds NM on our way out of the park. The most interesting was Captain Jack’s Stronghold, which is a natural fortress used by the Modoc Indians during the Modoc Wars. I mentioned this in yesterday’s blog, but we read a lot more about it today; we also stopped at Gillems Camp, which was the camp area of the American army. Captain Jack (as the chief was known to the white settlers), along with 60 Indian warriors as well as women and children, were able to hold off the troop of 600 soldiers for months. Finally the soldiers cut off the Indians’ water supply, and they left the the “fort” at night and took refuge in another part of the park. Joey and I thought of this area as the Indians’ Masada, since they’d been driven there from their hereditary lands in another area of the lava fields, because they didn’t want to be relocated to a reservation up north in Washington. The fundamental cause for the wars was, of course, because the white settlers wanted to take over the land, and it’s hard not to feel compassionate toward the Indians when you walk around this area. It seems so inhospitable in many ways, but they were forced to give it all up anyway.
Our final stop inside the park was at Petroglyph Rock. This is a huge cliff which originally was an island in Lake Tule. Now it’s located a little way from what is left of the lake, near the Wildlife Refuge. No one knows what the ancient petroglyphs mean or were intended for--the early residents of the area had to get to the walls of the cliffs in canoes to make the symbols. Of course there is a lot of modern graffiti also, sadly. But it’s interesting to contemplate what makes one set of carvings in the wall a cultural and archaeological artifact, and another one graffiti. Presumably in 1,000 years, the initials from the 20th century will be cultural artifacts too!
We left the park and headed south toward Lassen Volcanic National Park. The GPS said it would be about 2.5 hours drive, but I knew that basically we’d spend the afternoon driving. Luckily, the roads were almost deserted, which is what we enjoy, and some were very scenic. We stopped at about 1:15 at a town named Bieber, which was only a few blocks large. We pulled into a parking lot of a closed and dilapidated building and had some lunch. Across the road was a river, and I checked it out and decided we should do tashlich while we were there. So after lunch, we took a piece of bread and tossed our sins into the water. I looked at the map, and it was called the Pit River, which was pretty funny considering what we did there--threw our sins into the Pit! I was concerned because the river did not seem to flow very fast, and the bread representing our sins was not moving away from us very fast. I can only hope it finally got a move on. We saw the same river a little while later, when we stopped at a scenic overlook. We were expecting mountains, but it was an OVERlook, where we had to look DOWN, and there was a gorgeous waterfall! It was the same slow and casual Pit River. So if ducks didn’t get the breadcrumbs, I can’t believe our sins would survive that waterfall.
Not long after that, we came out to overlook a beautiful valley, and suddenly Joey said, “Look ahead!!!!” And WOW!! There was a HUGE mountain, just LOOMING over the other mountains in the distance. There were clouds about halfway up it, and it’s top was way above the clouds. It was Mount Shasta, which was one of the sights I’d hoped to see on this trip. We would have loved to stop and just stare, but we were on the inside of the road which was curving around the mountain, and there were no pullouts on our side. I had to get photos through the windows as we drove. But it was simply majestic. These enormous volcanoes-- Ranier, Hood, Shasta-- just dominate the landscape like you can’t believe unless you see them with your own eyes.
We were getting views of Shasta for about 30 minutes before the angle of the road shifted, but we still were seeing lots of snow-covered mountains. We entered Lassen National Forest, and were thrilled when Mount Lassen suddenly appeared straight ahead of us. Lassen, at about 10,400 feet, is shorter than Shasta, which is well over 14,000 feet, but it is really a beautiful peak as well. Joe pulled over into a pullout, ordering me to jump out and take a photo. I did so, and then realized I heard water. LOUD water. Sure enough, just at our pullout, through a few bushes, there was an incredible rushing stream going over some rocks just at that point. I hollered to Joe to get out of the RV, because he loves mountain streams more than anything. The moment he got out he said, “I hear water!” We stayed there for about 15 minutes or so, just drinking in the smells and listening to the sound of the creek (it is called Hat Creek, and originates someplace up on Mount Lassen.)
Finally we figured we needed to get going, we still had 10 miles or so before the national park and our campground. We got into the park at 5:05, just too late to go into the visitors center and get maps etc. But I saw the ranger as she was heading to the parking lot, and she told me the campground was right around the corner, and to go to Loop B. So we did, and there were actually quite a few pull-through sites. Of course the campground is mostly empty, but the most noticable thing about it is--there is SNOW everywhere!!!!! We saw snow in the trees on our way through the forest for about 15 miles before we got here, but gee! Many of the picnic tables have several inches! We were right to hold off getting here until today--obviously the rain we saw at lower elevations was snow here, as predicted. So we are going to really appreciate having the winter side up on our sleeping bag tonight. But we are expecting bright and sunny for the next few days, just like we had all day today.
We are planning to stay here for 2 nights. Tomorrow we will take the Jeep up the road through the park--it is NOT a place I’d want to take an RV, and is one good reason to have a Jeep with us. So now we’re going to have dinner, and make it an early evening. It’s either that or read a book--we are off the grid for a couple of days, no internet or phone. I am not complaining--this park is just gorgeous so far, and quiet. I suspect there will not be many folks on the road up the mountain tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to it.
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