Five days in Susanville, California…
Why we came…
To explore Lassen Volcanic National Park!
The campground…
Susanville RV Park was decent. The campground is laid out well with good-sized sites consisting of narrow but long cement pads. Many of the pads are significantly cracked and need to be fixed. There are quite a few long-termers but their sites were fairly tidy. We had full hook-ups, poor wi-fi, and a reliable 2 to 3 bar Verizon LTE signal. Satellite would work fine in most sites, but there are a few trees that would make it tricky in places. The laundry facilities were well maintained and reasonably priced. We didn’t use the bathroom facilities. Though most of the RV park was empty, the manager gave us neighbors four out of the five nights we were there. Why?!? Most RV’ers are happier when they have more space. As people come in, put them in every other space, and if more come in, then fill in the gaps!
We liked the location of the RV park. It was on the south end of town and within a mile of Walmart, Safeway, and other stores and restaurants. It was quiet at night except for Saturday. Races were run at the fairground track less than a mile away. There was a steady roar from roughly 7-10:30pm. We were half tempted to walk over and check it out!
Good sized RV sites. Both rows were empty, but the next RV was put right next to us. / Some of the cement pads need help.
Nearby towns…
Susanville, population 18,000, sits at an elevation of 4,186 feet. The town was settled by loggers and miners in the 1850s. It was named after Susan Roop, the daughter of an early settler.
Today, the town’s primary employers are a state prison and correctional facility. There is a small college as well as a small casino.
It has a basic Walmart, two grocery stores, a few different hardware stores, a decent selection of restaurants, and a hospital.
Susanville was a perfect spot to reach both areas of Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was a 60 mile drive to the south entrance, the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center. And it was a 65 mile drive to the north entrance, Manzanita Lake. It’s a good in between place during the winter when the road through the park is closed.
What would bring us to these parts again is the convenient access to Lassen National Forest plus the Caribou Wilderness and Thousand Lakes Wilderness areas which contain many high country lakes filled with trout. Then there is Lassen Volcanic National Park with 150 miles of trails including 17 miles of the famous Pacific Crest Trail.
Roop’s Fort built in 1854 / The Lassen Historical Museum was closed
Adventures…
Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail
The Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail has a reputation as one of the most scenic Rails to Trails projects. It is 25 miles long, running from Westwood to Susanville.
You and your bike can catch a shuttle bus from Susanville to Westwood and ride mostly downhill back to Susanville. The ride from Westwood starts with 5 miles of steady uphill to Westwood Junction. From there, it varies from flat to mostly down hill into Susanville. The trail crosses the river 12 times on bridges and trestles and passes through two tunnels. It sounded like the perfect first biking adventure of the year for us!
Sadly, when we called the BLM, we found out that a few of the bridges were out and portions of the trail were badly damaged. Finally, we could see as we drove near Westwood, the trail was likely still under a few feet of snow.
Strike one for a bike adventure.
25 mile long Bizz Johnson Trail
Lassen Volcanic National Park, south side…
As we were driving toward the southwest entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park, we could see snow quickly building on the sides of the road. We pulled into the visitor center and saw TWELVE feet of snow stacked up, and knew snowshoeing here would be outstanding. The Helen Lake area has 177% average snowpack. Winter still had a tight grip on Lassen NP.
It was mostly cloudy and breezy, with temperatures in the forties. We were disappointed to see the low level clouds moving quickly across the sky and obscuring Lassen Peak. Still the lower visible peaks were stunning.
First, we went into the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center. As we always do at National Parks, we got our Passport sticker and stamp.
Next, we watched the introduction film. We were a bit surprised to learn that Lassen Peak is still geologically very active. It last blew its top just 103 years ago! As our geologist hero, Mary noted, this was during the first days of World War I and the event was lost in the war news.
We also learned that there are four different types of volcanoes: Shield volcano, Cinder cone, Plug or Lava dome, and Composite or Stratovolcano. Lassen is the only place that has examples of each one!
Approaching Lassen National Park
Entering the Park / Arleen stamping her National Park passport book
Two interesting displays at the Visitor Center (Click on the pics for better detail)
12 FEET of snow at the Visitor Center!
After the film and a briefing from the kind Rangers, we donned our snowshoes and headed up the deeply buried Park road for a mile to the Sulphur Works overlook. We could smell them before we could see them.
The Sulphur Works include, “boiling mudpots, steaming ground, roaring fumaroles, and sulfurous gases”. Snow won’t accumulate in the area due to the hot ground temperature. After we hiked on, it was very easy to look back and pick out the geothermal features. Click here to see Arleen’s warning about the “liquid hot magma”. (The video will make you laugh!)
The Ranger had warned us to stay to the west side of Diamond Peak. The east side is quite steep and is avalanche prone at this time of the year. Per their advice, we took the Ranger Cuttoff.
We snowshoed up through a lovely Douglas fir and western white pine grove. The giant old trees were draped in moss attesting to the ample moisture they see each year.
We burst out of the grove onto a narrow ridge that overlooks the Sulphur Works nearly a thousand feet below. Arleen was a little nervous but I assured her that we were safe. We climbed a little more and decided to stop just short of a big cornice.
It was a perfect spot to take a break. We could see that someone had stomped out a square and had set up a tent the night before. We imagined they had been back country skiers since we could see a few ski tracks dropping off the ridge.
Suddenly, looking back at Lassen, the clouds parted and we could see the majestic 10,457 foot high peak! We rushed to capture a few pictures of the iconic volcano.
We left thankful for the rare winter view. It had been a very good day!
Snowshoe route up to Diamond Peak’s shoulder / We were enamored by the big moss covered trees
The winding texture of the deep snow along the creek was pretty / The “Sulphur Works” steams and bubbles in the background
Check out Arleen’s “liquid hot magma” VIDEO. She’s adorable and fun, and I’m a lucky dude!
Climbing higher. Brokeoff Mountain, 9,235 feet on left, and Mount Diller, 9,087 feet on right.
Felt like a bird flying a thousand feet above the valley
We love it when the grand scenery makes us feel insignificant
Lassen Peak, 10,457 feet, just made a brief appearance and it was impressive!
Posing at our turn-around point. The cornices got a bit worrisome.
Kicking up some snow on the way down.
Lassen Volcanic National Park, north side…
We woke up on Monday to a cloudy, rainy morning. We took a look at the web cams at Manzanita Lake and could see snow clinging to the trees. The plan was to bike the closed park road 10 miles to the Devastated Area.
As weather forecasters, we know that sometimes the sun will come out unexpectedly, and are usually optimistic. However, mountain forecasts are especially fickle.
We drove an hour and a half to Manzanita Lake to find almost three inches of heavy spring snow. The ranger station and the museum were closed. We had another national park to ourselves but with good reason.
The temperature was only 32°. It was windy with gusts to 30mph and while we were there the weather alternated between rain, ice pellets, and snow showers. The ice pellets stung as they bounced off of our faces.
We did a 3 mile walk around the campground after trying to find the Manzanita Lake Loop Trail. We never found it under the fresh layer of slush. We had to use our imaginations to visualize Lassen Peak towering nearly 5,000 feet above the pretty lake.
As we walked we feared the dinner plate size slush balls getting flung from the top of 200 foot tall Pondarosa trees. Splat! Splat! Thwap! We exclaimed a few times, “That was close!” as they splattered nearby. Thankfully we never took a direct hit.
Finally, we decided it was strike two on the bike riding. There was slush on the road and the weather had not improved.
So we walked a mile up the road to the Chaos Crags and Chaos Jumbles overlook. “Chaos Crags is the youngest group of lava domes… having been formed as five dacite domes 1,100-1,000 years ago… Chaos Jumbles is a cold rock avalanche which undermined Chaos Crags' northwest slope 300 years ago. Riding on a cushion of compressed air the rock debris traveled at about 100 miles per hour, flattened the forest before it, and dammed Manzanita Creek, forming Manzanita Lake.”
Though the day did not go according to plan, we did learn more about the active volcanoes in the area and we got a little bit of exercise. And once again, we had a national park all to ourselves.
Hike route near Manzanita Lake / A Canada goose on the lake
On the left is what we saw at Manzanita Lake. On the right is what we should have seen!
We love closed roads in National Parks! We wanted to bike 10 miles up, but wimped out because of the weather.
On the left is what we saw at the Chaos Jumbles. On the right is what we should have seen!
Next…
We have spent time at Crater Lake National Park OR and are currently near La Pine OR. Our next stops are Carson WA and La Grande OR. Then we’ll spend the rest of the summer in central Idaho.
Parting shots…
IS THAT SASQUATCH?!?
(166,800)
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