Retirement Road Trip #8: A Quick Trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park and McArthur-Burney State Park, June 2021

 

Brought to you from the summit rim of Cinder Cone

I'm not sure if that's Shasta in the background

Before we took off on our half-way-across-the-country Oshkosh Road Trip (#9), Janet scored two cabins, one in Manzanita Lake in Lassen, and one in McArthur-Burney State Park, in early June no less.  Neither of us had been to either park in a long time, and since she was able to score the two cabins, we were on our way.  We were leaving on the Oshkosh trip from Incline Village, so we thought we'd circle north to Lassen and then head east to US395 down Incline, since neither of us had driven on US395 north of Tahoe/Reno.

June 1, 2021: Lassen isn't too far away for us from either house, just 200 or so miles from Incline up US395, with a turn west at Lake Almanor on CA36 then CA89, where we stopped at Kohm Yah-mac-nee Visitors' Center, where we learned our favorite feature, Bumpass Hell, was closed due to trail damage.  Bummer.  We checked out some mud pots and fumaroles burbling up at various turn-outs, then slowly made our way up to Manzanita Lake and our cabin for a couple of nights.  

Driving south to north we a little sad, as a wildfire had burned a good chunk of forest in the National Park.  I thought Lassen was a traditional volcanic peak, but it is actually four types of volcanos: plug dome, shield, cinder cone and stratovolcano...essentially it kind of blew (last in 1914-1917) in several ways, and Lassen Peak is what's left of a much bigger mountain, though it's still  a massive peak in its own right.

After checking in to our (very spare) cabin, essentially a bunk bed with a small table--no insulation, no nothing, we hiked around Manzanita Lake and were treated to a bald eagle circling overhead then swooping down and snatching a fish out of the lake.

June 2: we drove out CA44 and out Butte Lake Road (12 mile dirt road) to the Cinder Cone Trailhead.  It's a rather stark and pumice-strewn landscape, and when it came to climbing up to the rim of Cinder Cone, you're climbing on deep, loose pumice (about the consistency of pea gravel), so the half-mile climb up was HARD.  One step up, a half step back...it was a tough half-mile.

On the left, Janet before the ascent, on the right, Janet mid-ascent.  Tough and hot!

Once on the rim, there's a trail that winds down to the bottom; I chanced it, and it was a firm trail rather than loose pumice, Janet opted to stay on the rim.

June 3: Today we popped back down the length of the Lassen road, and decided to hike the Kings Creek Falls Trail, a nice 5 or 6 mile loop.  But wouldn't you know it, as we were coming back to the trailhead, we ran in to some Tourons!  Two young girls were leading a little white dog (LWD, no doubt named Fluffy or some other heinous name) by a leash, and I was about to say something when their parents were following behind, after just passing a large "No Dogs on the Trail" sign.  I said, "you realize there are no dogs on the trail..." to which I got blank stares as mommy and daddy kept setting a wonderful example for the two daughters ignoring the rules.

June 4: We moved on to a next "rustic" cabin at McArthur Burney State Park, about fifty miles north on  CA89.  

Just past the entry, you are greeted with a beautiful wall of falling water, 129 feet tall Burney Falls.  It ain't Niagra Falls but they are quite spectacular as Burney Creek meets a volcanic dislocation on its way to Lake Britton.  After settling in to our (similarly sparse cabin as in Lassen) cabin, over the two days we were there, we explored th little town of Burney, picnic'd out at Lake Britten, and hiked along the very verdant Burney Creek.

The bridge over Burney Creek above the falls

After two nights in our rustic cabin, we backtracked a bit to CA44 to Susanville, witnessing a lot of the burn that we saw within the National Park, then picking up US395 back to Incline.