Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park 6.29.08

We made it!! We took a lazy morning to get up & around (we didn’t want to leave the nice air conditioned room!) and took off for Lassen in the afternoon. There are fires about 20 miles from the campground and we were considering just blowing off the stop, but checked it out anyways. The air quality in the campground is good, much better than it is in Redding, so we stopped. We picked out our campsite (Lassen is a first come, first served campground) and started to setup camp….just as a thunderhead decided to dump a bit of rain & sleet on us. Michael’s not a fan of camping in the rain and the little downpour put a damper on his spirits. But it passed, thank goodness & the sun came out a little while later. We walked down to Lake Manzanita to check it out & watch some kids in blow up boats enjoy the lake.

Today is a very special day!! We’ve been camping now for 4 whole weeks – we’re half way finished with our trip! Woohoo! We’ve had a great time and can’t wait for the remaining 4 weeks. Our plan is to head from here to Reno, then to Yosemite for 10 days, Kings Canyon for 5, Sequoia Canyon for 5, then to Palm Springs to visit family, then to San Diego, Los Angeles, & back in Channel Islands for the 1st of August.

We celebrated with a fabulous bottle of wine given to us by our friends Dale & George & ate a ‘heater meal’ for dinner. Haha… The campground is nice – we picked a spot that is away from most everyone, and backs up against a wooded hill. We have seen several deer & squirrel so far this evening. It’s beautiful, would only be better if there was more visibility. We’ll be here for 3 nights then off to Reno.

Our last 2 campgrounds have been ‘bear country’ campgrounds – so we have to use a bear box to store our food, drinks, & all toiletries. They’re pretty large, we can get all of our food, two coolers (one for food & one for drinks), & everything in with no problem. The saying is ‘A fed bear is a dead bear’ because bears are no longer relocated if they begin coming into a campground, they just destroy the bear. So we’re being extra careful!!

More to follow…
Rene
{GMST}40|31.549|N|121|33.743|W|Camping at Manzanita Campground in Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park|Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park!{GEND}