Manzanita Lake, Lassen NP (2)

This was a wonderful stay in a spectacular national park. And boy, if you want to get out of the heat, just climb a couple thousand feet. Climb is exactly what Richard did on his bike. He rode from campground to campground, from McArthur Burney, and we were super smart about how to arrange that. Knowing it would only take me an hour to drive the distance, but more like four hours for Richard to ride it, we wanted to avoid having me get to the campground too much before check in, but still give him a good early start. We figured out that if we do all the dumping and hitching up together in the morning, but then put Dory right back into the site, I can blog and be leisurely while Richard starts his trip. That way, I’m not stuck with hitching and dumping by myself and I’m not dealing with the unknown of where to park Dory if I can’t get into the new site early. I couldn’t remember if there was a good day use area at Manzanita Lake with trailer parking, and for the record, there is not. We were quite self satisfied about how it all worked out.

There are only a couple of short pockets of cell service in this area. Richard hit a couple of places and sent me progress texts along the way. I could use Siri to answer back sometimes while driving, but you never know what exactly Siri thinks you said. There were some funny miscommunications, but mostly we understood where the other one was. Eventually, I passed him on the road and pulled over when I could. As I was waiting, another Alto passed going the other way! I later got a message from an Alto friend saying hi. That will forever be fun. Hi Terry! Hope you liked the tacos!

The timing of the ride could not have been more perfect. When Richard finally arrived just after 1pm, after a grueling climb of 3,414 feet, the skies were just beginning to crack thunder and let some rain fall. Instead of him getting soaked at the end of an epic ride, he got to change and get into the car so we could roll into the site together. Chef’s kiss on the logistics of that campground move.

We did a little loop around Manzanita Lake with thunder rolling continuously in the background. Well, Richard tells me there was continuous thunder. That is a frequency even my hearing aids seldom pick up. I heard a few rumbles, but he says it was surreal. I made a nice Turkey and Shawarma rice stir fry with fresh parsley for dinner and we tucked in for the night.

The next day we drove all the way through the park to the Visitor Center on the south side. This drive takes you through volcanic spectacles in all forms. From mountains of piled rocks created by a series of eruptions, to acres of devastated forest, to stinky gurgly sulfur spewing mud pots, to wildflower covered peaks, this park is a feast for the eyes. We both agree that biking up from the south to the summit is more scenic, and also a lot shorter. We started from the parking area and I got to stop and take my fill of pictures along the way.

The summit is located just beyond the trail head parking area for the Lassen Peak trail. Before we had even left for the summer trip, Richard warned me that the peak trail was going to be on the ininerary. We had been told that much of the trail is still under snow, and therefore requires something called microspikes on your shoes. We do not have these, but saw that they could be purchased from the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center store. Before committing to the purchase, Richard was interested in doing little test walking to see if he still wanted to do the hike. He scoped out what it would be like to hike through snow, decided the strap on cleats seemed like a reasonable purchase, and put the peak trail back on the agenda for the next day.

After reaching the top, we coasted back down the road, seven miles without a single pedal stroke. I noticed that I didn’t mind the cliffy edges of the road while on the bike. I did mind it going uphill in the car. I think you can see the edge better on a bike, so you know you’re not close to falling off. I realize I’m never actually in danger of driving off the edge, but it picks up my heart rate and makes me death grip the steering wheel when I’m driving those dropoff roads. Downhill on the south side is fine because you are almost always against the mountain side. We celebrated back in the Visitor Center with wifi and Bon Appetit chocolate donuts. We decided for sure at that point that we were going to try the peak trail the next day, so we purchased two pairs of micro spike cleat thingies to put on our shoes.

We drove back up over the summit and stopped for the King’s Creek Falls hike. I highly recommend this one, especially for the uphill-only loop section that takes you up through a canyon next to a long cascading river fall. We passed a couple that had bailed on the one way part because they said it was “way steep.” They instead turned around and just did the trail as an out and back, skipping the canyon. I thought that was the prettiest part. Yes, there are steps all the way up, but they are easily traversed and very nicely done steps. There was no scrambling whatsoever and you get to be immediately next to the river all the way. I would do that one again for sure.

The next day was the biggest hike I think I’ve ever done. The Lassen Peak Trail says it is 2.7 miles to the top, but Strava clocked 3.4 for me, so almost 7 total. It is a climb of just over two thousand feet. What makes the trail trickier right now is that it is still partially under snow. There are places where (I imagine) the snow track follows the buried trail, but there are also places up in the switch backs where you sometimes vere off the normal route on the snow, and then come back to dirt and have to scramble up to rejoin the trail. I did not like these parts. In all, I think there were three places where we had to scramble up or down short stretches of loose dirt and rocks. Doing this at such a high elevation was nerve wracking for me. I didn’t particularly mind the snow walking, but Richard did. He has discovered yet another form of water that he really does not like.

Besides the challenges presented by the snow, there is the fact that it is just a really long trudge up. They have helpful signs letting you know how many miles you are from the top. I do still get affected by elevation and I could feel it making each step require just a little more effort. I went slow, took breaks to catch my breath, and drank a lot of water.

Once I finally rounded the last corner and got to the top, I felt euphoric. To top it off, the summit was swarming with hundreds of butterflies. Do you say swarming when it’s butterflies? There was an informational sign about the phenomenon and Richard had read reviews about them being there, so he knew to expect this. They seem to be Californian Tortoiseshell butterflies and are able to be carried up to this elevation for their migration because of thermal lift.

There was a funny/not funny thing that happened though to some poor woman. Not too far from the top, a party of six or seven people had stopped and seemed to be discussing whether to go on. A couple left the group and began heading downhill, looking serious. Richard thought maybe the trail was impassable and asked them about it. One of them simply said, “It’s nothing to do with the trail.” Richard then approached the larger group to see what was going on. They explained that the woman had a butterfly phobia and couldn’t go on. Can you imagine overcoming a challenge like climbing to the top of a ten thousand foot peak, only to be stopped right before the finish by butterflies? I mean, how random is that?? I know there were reviews that talked about the butterflies, but as someone who doesn’t read trail reviews, I would never have thought to worry about that, even if that was my phobia. I felt bad for her. Apparently it only happens sometimes, but boy was it ever happening on that day.

The views from the top are simply awe inspiring. You can see Shasta on the horizon, and all the Lassen park lakes down below. It was quite windy, but no threat of storms. Richard went over to the “true summit” just a little bit away. I had no interest in “level 3 rock scrambling” to get to the tippy top, but Richard says I could have done it no problem. Don’t care, no regrets. I was content to break out my super ultra favorite treat in the world: licorice bridge mix.

I buy myself little presents of this when I have something really really hard to do. It is my super special reward and I love it very much. Back when Richard first warned me about this hike, I had initially ruled it out for myself, but slowly adapted enough to the idea that by the time we were at the candy store in Ashland, I decided there and then I was going to give in a shot. So I bought a packet. Later, when we were told the trail was not a good idea unless we had special equipment, part of me was bummed. Because of the bridge mix, you see. Finding that we could buy the cleat things at the Kohm Yah-ma-nee Visitor Center got me excited again to do the trail. I savored those little black licorice delights while Richard and I took pictures of each other from the peaks.

Heading down was mostly easier than going up, but I will say walking in slushy snow, even with microspikes, is no fun. There is a lot more slipping and sliding when you’re going downhill. At the bottom of this thing, when finally arriving back at the parking lot, I looked down to see that somewhere along the way, one of the microspike thingies had fallen off my shoe. I was mad. I had just paid for the stupid things the day before and already lost one. Richard said not to worry about it and that I could have one of his since he’s decided snow hiking is not his thing. I was still annoyed, but didn’t have the energy to go back much further than the first couple of switchbacks to see if I could find it. We even stopped the next day on our way out of the park to see if someone had turned one in. No luck. So now I have three rubber snow spike shoes covers. Annoying.

I was completely exhausted at the end of this day, but we made it back to the Manzanita Lake store to get the last soft serves of the day before they closed. Richard made dinner that night, for which I was grateful. Yes, in retrospect I will say this epic hike was worth it. But man, I couldn’t say those words at the time. I was clobbered.

What an incredible stop. I was able to do so much more than on the previous two visits. I credit the e-bike for the beautiful ride up the national park road, but I credit my own damn legs for getting me up a two thousand foot trail. I loved the site we got in the Manzanita Lake campground and would come again and again. There is so much to do and see. It does get old not having cell service after a while, and there are only a couple places in the park where you can get a signal. One of those spots is #14 on the audio tour: Chaos Crags Viewpoint. Another is at the top of the Crag Lake trail, but that’s a five mile commitment. Richard took that on the morning we left the park, so he could get exercise and I could leisurely get up. The wifi in the south Visitor Center is very good, but that’s a long drive. Great stay in a phenomenal national park!

Total miles from McArthur Burney: 44.6, 13.8 mpg, 1 hour 58 min with sagging. Site A20. No hookups, no cell, no wifi. Good dump with potable water. Good campground store with soft serve. Awesome site at end of loop. Some solar.