TRAVELOGUE

McARTHUR-BURNEY FALLS - Driving up the 5 from LA has to be one of the worst places to travel. It’s a long straight piece of nothing that seems to go on forever. After about 8 hours or so of this torture we finally got to Redding and headed northeast towards Burney. Our destination was McArthur-Burney Falls. As soon as we made the turn the scenery change dramatically as we started climbing into the mountains. Shasta Peak was visible and immediately the long road behind us was forgotten. In just a few minutes we were surrounded on all sides by a thick forest. It only took about an hour to get to the state park that bears the name of the falls. As soon as you enter the park you can pull over into a parking area, look over the edge and see the falls.

When we arrived it was getting to be late afternoon and the day crowd was just leaving. I took a few nice shots and we went back to our campsite. The next day we went back to the falls and hiked down the paved trail to the bottom of falls. The falls are pretty big. Over one hundred feet tall and covers a very wide area with large portions of the falls seeping out directly from the surrounding rock faces. At the bottom, it is quite cold as the falls makes its own air conditioning. The forest is thick and it is well shaded. We walked along the trail that follows the creek below the falls. The trail goes to a lake but we took a bridge over the creek and walked back up the other side towards the falls. You can then view the falls from above and there is another bridge to get back to the civilized side.

We then took the Cemetery Trail that went through a drier part of the forest and was not remarkable in any way. There is a small, but not very interesting cemetery with few markers. Most of the original markers were made of wood and have long since disappeared. The names are recorded on a single monument at the entrance. The trail continued a short distance to the lake.

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK - The next day we drove down a very scenic highway that leads to the north entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park. As soon as you enter the park the road becomes even more beautiful. We drove slowly through the park pulling over at various displays. We went almost halfway through the park before pulling into the Summit Lake campground. The campground is in a quiet serene forested area next the small but pretty lake. We took a leisurely stroll around the lake and relaxed.

The next morning I awoke just before the sun came up but there was still plenty of light. I saw large amounts of mist rising from lake and took some very nice photos. We left the campground and continued south through the park. We stopped and took a hike to some falls. The trail went through a very beautiful area mixing dense forest with green open meadows alongside a nice creek that eventually went down a steep tight gorge and then to some roaring falls. We walked back and continued driving.

The road tops out at around 8500’ under Lassen Peak, which is over 12,000’ before heading back down. We then came upon the Bumpass Hell turnout and then took the hike to this thermal area. The hike is stunning offering spectacular views of the surrounding area before going up and over a ridge. Once over the ridge you smell the rotten egg odor of the sulfur steam vents. Soon you are in an alien area of multi colored dirt and rock, steam vents sounding like jet engines and bubbling mud pots. You walk on a raised wooden platform because it is dangerous to walk on the ground. The area is named after Mr. Bumpass who lost a leg after falling through the thin crust into a mud pot. We hiked back and continued driving south. We stopped at a couple of other roadside steam vents and then drove out of the south entrance of the park.

WARNER VALLEY - We stopped at small town called Chester and got a room. The next day we went back into the park on the more remote southeastern side to an area called Warner Valley. A paved road heads out of Chester for some miles and then becomes dirt for a few more miles before entering the park. We pulled into a dusty little campground and spent the day relaxing. The next day we hiked to another thermal area called Hells Kitchen. It is smaller than Bumpass Hell, but easier to get closer to the vents and mud pots. We hiked out on a different trail and then took another turnoff and went to Boiling Springs Lake. The lake is scalding and has a strange emerald color to it, and is surrounded by steam vents and bright yellow mud pots with gray-blue oily water inside them. We walked around the lake and headed back to camp.

SACRAMENTO - The next day we drove out of the park back through Chester and down a scenic but busy highway leading out of the mountains and back to the dreaded 5. About 3 hours later we pulled into Sacramento and got a room. It was Labor Day weekend and they were having their big Gold Rush Days festival. During the festival they fill the old town streets with dirt and have a lot of people wearing period costumes walking around. It was good fun and the old town area is a nice place to visit. That night I took some interesting photos of store windows.