Friday, June 26, 2009

Volcano Hopping!!

As you may know, we went camping last week for our yearly Anniversary camping trip. This year we stayed at the beautiful Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. It was such an awesome place with so much to offer. We stayed at Manzanita Lake, which is at the north end of the park.







I so look forward to this trip every year. I call it my "Sanity Trip". That's because for this one week we're out in nature, rejuvenating our spirit by being more in contact with mother earth minus the daily distractions of anything electronic or draining otherwise. I always come back from this trip feeling so new again! It's kind of hard to explain, but I tell you...I've been a fish out of water where we are currently living so it's nice to be out there at one with nature. I'm a fire sign, so I need that balance. What can I say?

We were only able to stay for four days, but that's all I needed to get that feeling back. We also went to Mt. Shasta on the last day, but I'll tell you more about that later. The first 2 days we did get some hiking in. It seems like every five miles of the park would be completely different than the rest. Like this here lily pond...

Right next to this...





next to this...





Then there was the "Sulphur Works"-delightful smelling area-NOT REALLY! Thank goodness we were camping about 30 miles from that area. It smelled like...you guessed it, rotten eggs!


There were barriers keeping you from getting to close, because it was boiling out of the mountain.



There was so much to take in, all on one mountain area! It's amazing...mother earth never ceases to amaze me with all that she has blessed us with!



On our 3rd day, we took what we thought was a seemingly short hike...3.2miles. The first 1/4 mile was fine, but then we started having to climb some steep areas along the cliff. This would've been fine, if I didn't have Zoe in my front carrier. My goodness, my legs felt like they were going to give out by the end of the hike and Zoe gained something like 100 lbs. -lol!

We hiked to this remote waterfall...


Our 4th day at the park was great! Tyler became a Jr. Chipmunk Ranger - I'll tell you more about that in our next post!
We then left for Mt. Shasta. Did you know that Mt. Shasta is considered a sister mountain to Mt. Fiji? I had not a clue until we arrived. It is actually a spiritual mecca of sorts. There is said to be many vortex's in the area. We ventured around the town for part of the day, then decided to head back home once it hit dusk. It would be much easier to drive home, when the little one's would be asleep.
I can't wait to go back and venture the mountain! I tell you, there's so much there that it'd have to be a trip on it's own. I'm very interested in finding out more about Shasta. It's also claimed to be a place of great healing strengths, and so much more. Hopefully, we'll get to go within the year. I'm very curious about that place.
All in all, it was a great stay. We are definitely going to return before the summer's end to hike those trails that were closed -Boiling Lake from Kings Creek trail, and Bumpass Hell.
We are soooo looking forward to it!

5 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! What a great trip. I grew up in Chester which is near Mt. Lassen, so I know all of the places you visited. I'll be up there later this summer with my family, hiking in the Drakesbad area (Boiling Spring Lake, Devil's Kitchen, Dream Lake). So many amazing things to do in Lassen National Park. It's great to see you and your family enjoying the area!

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  2. Look at you cute mama! : )
    What gorgeous photos of your trip, I know exactly what you mean about finding your footing and feeling refreshed in nature!

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  3. looks fantastic - we can't wait to visit that area!

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  4. Hee Hee! Love the pee eww picture!

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