Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, Summit Lakes Campground
Actually July 6. Woke up, ate more bacon and eggs. I'm a superb cook. Was going to stay but decided to leave. It was 11:30. Wanted to be out of there by 12:00. Missed by 2 minutes.
Headed down for Redding again, there to turn off for Lassen Volcanic National Park. Figured I'd be there at 6 P.M. Was right - that's an average of 50 MPH. A lot of time though I was going 65 MPH. Stops and mountains and slow speeds really cut into you time.
Got to Redding and decided to buy some pitch pipes so I could tune the guitar properly. Also to cash my first travelers cheque. Still had $60 in cash. That would be for reserve if I'm not near some place where I can cash a cheque. Had no trouble at all cashing it. My Eastern accent helps I suppose.
Got back to car - it started but then died out - too high speeds for too long and the wrong starting procedure. All my fault. Got stuck for 1/2 hour. Then it started and I was on my way again.
This is a very, very dry hot country. Was driving without a shirt on until I got way up into the mountains. Grasslands are all dried out and brown. Trees are a dull green (like a cactus) and rather scrubby. All hill country. Could still see Mt Shasta.
Lassen Peak, the big active Volcano here also has snow on it. On one side of the Mt - the Northwest, there's very little snow - campgrounds are open. The other side, Southwest, is still full of snow - they get a lot here, too. Lassen is very much like Yellowstone but many, many times more mountainous.
I climbed from 100 ft above sea level at Redding to 8,500 ft at the pass here from one side of the park to the other. Went from one side to other looking for a cheap campground. The Park fees are $2.00 a night - some camps here are only $1.00/night - you have to walk to them however. I'm always going back and forth to the car to get food and other things so I traveled back over the switchbacks to a camp that was open and you could drive to your spot - Summit Lakes.
All the valleys here are swamps and/or lakes. This is one of the drier swamps. There are big trees here but just about no ground vegetation. It's an open camp - has young people and big families. Was glad I brought firewood along (they asked where it had come from at the California Agricultural Checking Station) even though I didn't build a fire.
I saw a silver fox along the roadway - the first wild fox I've ever seen. Deer came into the camp.
Now that the journal is finally up to date (probably temporarily only) I'm going to go to the men's room (there aren't too many of them here) and then I'm going to go to bed with my already tired bedfellow, Mortimer.
Got sick last night - went to men's room and threw up. Was cold. Used blanket from car to keep my feet warm - was plenty warm then.
Odometer, July 6th: 61,206 (5,082 miles driven from Amityville)
