Oregon is the state above California. That is an understatement, because it is too damn far away! From Los Angeles to the California/Oregon border, it is a 10-hour drive without traffic. July 4th fell on a Tuesday this year, so I decided to take the Monday off and go check out the California/Oregon border area for the 4-day weekend! It was an awesome weekend spent with my new hiking buddy (I lost my old hiking buddy to her new found buddy.... this is life), and guai lo couldn't come because of work, so it's just two Asian girls into the wild.
The question you have right now must be, what is there to see? There are a bunch of national forests, national monuments, wildlife refuge, etc. So, the answer is "a lot!". We picked two places to go, which is the Crater Lake National Park and the Lassen Volcanic National Park.
The Crater Lake National Park
Since it was an awfully long drive, we powered through to Redding from LA on Friday night, and woke up early to head to the Crater Lake in Oregon the next morning. Most of the park is surprisingly still under snow (come on, it's July!), so there were not too many trails that were open. We did the two trails that were open, the Garfield peak and the Cleetwood Cove trail. The former is going up to get a better view of the lake and the latter is going down to see the lake. I guess we did the two most important trails!
The Garfield trail was not fully open, so we couldn't get to the top and because of the snow condition, we couldn't get a good look at the phantom ship (a tiny ghost ship looking island in the lake). However, the view of the lake was incredible. You can see from the photos below that there is a bigger island in the middle of the lake, and it is called the wizard island. When the park is fully open, you can hike down to the water, take the boat across to the island and then hike up to the top of the island.
I did not regret doing the Cleetwood Cove trail even though I was aggressively attacked by mosquitoes. There were more than 5 mosquitoes on one of my leg at all times, and I was fending them off with my cap like a crazy woman the whole hike. Anyways. The Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US and it has the cleanest water in the US as well. When you reached the bottom of the lake, you can find a spot, sit down and take it all in. It was truly breathtaking. I actually saw a lot of people swimming in the lake.
Note*If you want to see a nice reflection in the lake, be sure to arrive in the morning*
We decided we wanted to see the milky way with the lake, and so we stayed till dark. We thought we can see a great view because there was minimal obstruction. But guess what? The moon was CRAZY bright. We did not need any flashlight to walk around, and we could see our shadows from the moonlight. Although it was a disappointment, seeing the lake at night was still an awesome experience. No one else was around, just you, the lake and the stars.
The Lassen Volcanic National Park
The next day, after taking a last look at the lake, we drove down to a small town called Westwood back in California. We had a good night's rest before the Lassen Volcanic National Park. We were hoping more trails would be open for us to hike! Unfortunately, not much is open either! Most of the park is still under 13 feet of snow according to the park rangers. We couldn't even see the famous Bumpass Hell! You can see from one of the pictures below that the whole Bumpass Hell was under snow. Bumpass Hell is the largest hydrothermal area in the park, and temperature of the steam jetting from the Big Boiler could reach as high as 322°F or 161°C. However, we were able to see at least one geothermal area called the Sulphur Works, and you can see the bubbling mudpot and fumaroles (steam vents).
We wanted to go to the south part of the park, the Warner Valley, and it WAS open. Unfortunately, the road condition was not good enough for a low clearance car, so we could not see the devil's kitchen (apparently, the ranger's favorite geothermal area). T_T
We took a side trip to this subway cave 15 minutes north of the Manzanita Lake. It is a very short self-guided trail, but don't forget to bring a flashlight because the cave is completely dark. It is also fairly cool, so also bring a light jacket! Twenty thousand years ago, the ground broke apart close to the Lassen Volcanic National Park. The top of the lava flow began to cool and solidify due to air exposure while the molten rock below continued to flow, creating this lava tubes we see today.
We drove back down to the north part of the park - the Manzanita Lake. This was literally the only other part that was open besides the Sulphur Works. We walked around the lake and when we reached the opposite side of the lake in respect to the parking area, you could see all three peaks, with the Lassen snowy peak in the middle. We also drove up to the devastated area, which looked very devastating (hence the name). The devastated area was a result of the 1915 eruption of the Lassen Peak.
On the way back, we stopped by Sacramento to see the Capitol. Visiting the Capitol on July 4th, how fitting! We then went to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco for a couple of hours. I was going to get some delicious egg tart from the golden gate bakery in Chinatown, but the line was obscenely long. After San Francisco, we went to San Jose for dinner before heading back to LA. We broke up the drive quite a bit on the way back, so it did not feel as long, but I felt like this is really the furthest I can possibly drive for a long weekend, which is about as far as I went to the east (12 hours to Canyonlands in Utah). There are still so many places I want to go, Colorado, Wyoming, etc. If only I have the time...........
