Two Big Feet: Lava Beds to Lassen

Saturday, June 9, 2012

When we put the fire out last night and crawled into the rolling caves there were a few campsites left in the loop we were in. They filled up through the night with a chorus of car doors and trunk lids banging, however that didn’t seem to detract greatly from the amount of sleep we got.

When we left the Indian Well campground in Lava Beds National Monument, we checked at the VC to see if they had power, and yes, they did. So we went in to watch the video. It was very good. Usually you should see the movie before seeing the rest of the park, but this time we entered from the north, and the VC was at the south end. The road through the park was very good, but the road out the south end of the park was a little unusual. It is not a heavily traveled road – you could tell by the weeds growing up in the cracks near the edge of the black top and the lack of a center line. There was a sign not too far from the VC that said “road not maintained in the winter” and another a little farther on that said “rough road”. The picture was taken after we left the worst of the potholes behind, but you can see the weeds encroaching on both sides.

After 10 or 15 miles it intersected with route 139 which we took south to a shortcut to route 299. The shortcut was 91, and it was the best yet, probably because it wasn’t heavily traveled.

We had already passed the agricultural inspection station wondering what they would take, but it was closed, so we still have all the veggies and fruit.

When we came to the end of 91 and joined 299, we took a pit stop at a convenience store. Wilma was sitting innocently in the Flintstone mobile when a lady from the car next to us started pointing her fingers to and from her eyes, and wanted Wilma to watch her daughter in the car while she ran inside. It was funny because Wilma had no idea what she was trying to convey. Oh well, Wilma is just naive, but so was the lady for thinking she could trust total strangers. She really was never out of sight though.

.As we traveled west on 299 we came around a curve that gave us a view of a wide open valley and Mt. Shasta proudly standing clear. It was just gorgeous.

We could also see Lassen Peak to our left. We soon came to a view point, and thought it would be wonderful views of both mountains, but turned out to be a waterfall. The viewpoint was high above the falls, and a pretty good distance, but you could clearly hear the roar. Another very nice stop.

299 took us through Fall River Mills, CA then we turned south on 89 and on to the turn off on route 44 to Butte Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Route 44 is actually outside the park. We stopped at a viewpoint that gave us clear pictures of Lassen Peak, then continued on to the campground, the final six miles on a washboard gravel road.

The campground is a forest service unit at 6100’ and has 101 campsites in 2 loops, complete with flush toilets and bear-proof food storage boxes and trash containers. We found nice camp spots and you can see the bear box beside the Rubblemobile. Not a problem for us, but there are lots of tenters here who have to store all their food in them.

After we settled in to adjacent sites we started looking for the passport stamp that was supposed to be in the camp hosts bear box or in the ranger station. Unwittingly, Ashley, a young ranger came through checking the restrooms and collecting the trash. She was accosted by Wilma and Betty with questions about the stamp. Ashley told them she would look for it in the ranger station and report back to them. The only stamp she was able to locate was one that said “Lassen Volcanic National Park Butte Lake Campground”, which was stamped in the books. She wasn’t sure if that was the “official” stamp tor Butte Lake and that we should ask a ranger with a Smokey Bear Hat when we see one. Ashley was a very nice and helpful young lady.

We walked down to see the lake. We could only see a small part of it, but behind the tall mounds of lava rock off to the right, the lake extends quite a way.