After spending two days in a full service RV park, we headed further north to Lassen National Park. On the way we did a food pickup in Sacramento that my wife had previously ordered, restocking the van for the next week. After almost 20 years of camping in my Chevy Avalanche, the luxury of a fridge, standup room, shower and furnace is still sinking in. The Solis has a pop top with a 77" long bed, which is where my daughter slept every night. I would get up and pass up hot tea to her while the van was heating up from the morning cold....I find setting the thermostat to 65 keeps it from getting too chilly. We were staying in a NP campground so no services except running water; I made a few trips schlepping a 5 gallon container to keep us topped up over 4 days. The Butte Lake campground is plenty roomy, with lots of space between sites and nestled in the woods.

Day 1 We got up, not too early, and headed out on our loop right out of the campground. First up and close was a climb up Cinder Cone, very interesting with nice views, and we managed to be the first up....this is THE hike out of Butte Lake, so everyone in the campground plus day hikers were right behind us. However, once we exited the cone, we spent the rest of the day, in August in a National Park, with the trails essentially to ourselves. We headed for Rainbow Lake, then Snag Lake, and finally the east side of Butte Lake for about 17 miles, depositing us back at our campsite late afternoon. To be fair, we did run into two horseback riders and 3 backpackers when we were towards the end of our hike....so crowded! The day was warmish but we were unburdened with small day packs, so very manageable. Back at the campsite we were making pasta in the van and partaking of a big bottle of wine.

*Lone tree on top of Cinder Cone, Lassen NP*

*A little color along the Rainbow Lake/Snag Lake loop out of Butte Lake Campground, Lassen NP*

Day 2 We decided to day hike again out of the campground and save the 1.5 hour drive to do Lassen Peak for day 3. East Prospect Peak was on the agenda, pretty lonely but we did cross paths with a group of 4 close to the top. Strava had us hiking 8 miles and climbing 2300' over 3.5 hours on this one, just right for a leg toner but back early enough to beat the heat.

*Shasta to the north from East Prospect Peak, Lassen NP*

Day 3 The alarm was set for 5:30, as we had a long drive and some construction delays to contend with to do Lassen Peak, plus we wanted to start fairly early. When we finally arrived at the parking lot (8500') there were a fair number of cars and hikers, but the lot wasn't even half full. We found this popular hike rather enjoyable, as the trail is graded well with plenty of switchbacks to make the going fairly easy....it climbs 2000' in 2.5 miles to 10,500'. There is some easy scrambling to get over the snowfield to the summit proper, and we were early enough to have a little time on the summit to ourselves. To this point the majority of hikers were wearing masks, but as we descended the later crowd was a majority of UMJs (Unmasked Mouth Juicers). Is it so hard? Our descent was fast and we were glad to get this done earlier rather than later, but indeed it was a very enjoyable climb with fantastic views, well worth the trip over. From here we proceeded further into the park to enjoy amazing views of the old Caldera, stretching from Lassen Peak to Broken Top Mountain. We proceeded towards the southwest entrance and stopped for a foot soak at Emerald Lake and witnessed the bubbling gray fountain of Sulphur Works. A few times we pulled over to enjoy the very interesting and varied views on this side of the park. We wanted to hike the Bumpass Hell trail (who wouldn't?) but the parking lot here was overflowing with...you guessed it.....UMJs. Maybe next time. This time it was back to Butte Lake and the bumpy 6.4 mile final stretch to the campsite, where we once again relaxed. I cleaned up while Cassie swam in the lake, I cooked dinner, finished off the wine, and generally relaxed and talked about the sights we had seen that day, and how surprisingly beautiful Lassen NP was. As I write this I am back at Cassie's apartment, after driving 2 days taking the scenic Route 1 through Big Sur (gas, $6.59/gal!). Soon I will depart and head north again, during the worst heat wave in CA in 10 years, to hopefully the cooler climes of the Seattle area. Happy Hiking!

*A section of the Lassen Peak trail, Lassen NP*

*Daughter on the Lassen Peak summit (10,500’)*

*Part of the old Lassen caldera, Lassen NP*