Lassen Volcanic National Park

My good friend, Iris, just visited from Hong Kong. It was so nice to see her. I think it has been 2 years since we last saw each other, at Jiller's wedding in Hawaii. I decided to take her camping, since I know she likes to hike and I figured it would be something she normally doesn't get to do much back in Hong Kong. Apparently, there is hiking and maybe some camping there, but she says it is not very safe to do so -- there are "bandits" waiting to jack you.

I've been talking about visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park for several years now, but never end up doing it. I also considered Hendy Woods in the Anderson Valley, and a couple of other places, but as it was such a last minute trip (didn't start looking for sites until Sunday, July 1), I figured a) we'd stand a better chance of getting a site at Lassen, as they have some first-come-first-served sites; b) I've been talking about seeing Lassen for so long; c) Lassen isn't much further than Hendy.

I'm really glad I decided on Lassen. It is a beautiful park, on par with Yosemite, but less crowded. OK, granted I've only been to Yosemite twice -- only once in my adult life -- so I can't really give a complete review on either park. Can you imagine Yosemite, during the Fourth of July week, having plenty of campsites available without reservations? And to hike a trail completely alone? We didn't see one person on our hike to Echo Lake. Well, I'm exaggerating a bit; we did see some people finishing their hikes as we started ours (we left a couple hours before sunset, hoping we'd get in some night hiking). Maybe I shouldn't be broadcasting this -- it'd be nice to keep Lassen a secret. But, I think that is unavoidable, as we learned they are building a lodge there in the next 2 years. They were also building a new entrance and presumably new visitor's center at the entrance.

If you are the stay up late, drinking and hollering type of camper, then Lassen may not be the place to go. It seemed like everyone had turned in by 10pm. There was only one other group that we could see was still awake after 10. I wonder if Lassen attracts a different type of crowd. There were definitely more sites reserved after the Fourth, so maybe we just got lucky and picked a good time to go.

We weren't able to hike Lassen Peak, from which I hear you get magnificent views of the Sacramento Valley and Mt. Shasta. We could see Shasta while driving up I-5. Next time, I'll have to stay for a week. There are many other places I want to check out, like the cinder cone and painted dunes. Things to look forward to.