Bangor to Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
Manzanita Lake Campground
Site #B19
Route: Hwy. 70 to 99 to I-5 to Hwy. 44 (via Deschutes and Dersch Rds.)
Elevation: 5,880
Distance: 148 miles
Duration: 2 nights
Cost: $13/per night (50% senior discount)
Weather: Sunny, but VERY cold at night
The gusty winds of the previous day had all but disappeared, so we had a much easier drive from Bangor (on Hwy. 70 and 99 to I-5) to Lassen Volcanic NP. Taking a trip down memory lane (I lived in Red Bluff from '68 to '72), we decided to get lunch at the old Green Barn restaurant in Red Bluff. It's now called Whiskey Kitchen and the steak sandwich was almost as good as I remember from the late 60s.
The drive to Lassen was fairly easy and we made a brief stop at the Visitor Center (on the north end of the park) before beginning our search for a campsite at Manzanita Lake CG. We drove around all the loops and discovered that many of the sites were either too short or too tight for our RV. We finally settled on one in Loop B (first-come, first-served) and had plenty of space, but not a lot of privacy. Our site was paved, but not very level, so we had to use several leveling blocks on the driver's side. Amenities include a picnic table, fire ring and bear box, which were a little distance from the site pad, but not too inconvenient. The campground has a store and gas station, although their gas pumps were out of order due to the power outage in the area. There are also flush toilets, hot showers, drinking water, a dump station and laundromat. A boat ramp and kayak rentals are also available, although I think the season had ended for those rentals. We didn't have any cell service and there isn't any WiFi, but we wanted to relax outside while it was sunny and warm and didn't need to be online.
It was so cold when we woke up on Saturday morning. 35 degrees! After breakfast and lots of hot coffee, I went on a short bike ride to scout out the area for a ride later with Rod. After lunch, we rode to the Visitor Center where we watched an informative video about Lassen before taking a walk over to Reflection Lake. It was a gorgeous day and it felt good to be out in the sunshine.
Click on images for larger view.
Enjoying the sunshine.
Not too crowded, but it filled up later with weekenders.
Beautiful trees!
Manzanita Creek
Reflection Lake
Manzanita Lake
The views of Lassen Peak during the evening "golden hour" were spectacular. I love the reflections on Manzanita Lake, and as you can see, I took photos from every vantage point on the trail.
The camp store was out of firewood, but we were told that the rangers were allowing campers to forage for their own wood (not usually permitted, but maybe because it was so cold at night and many of the visitors were tent campers it was allowed?), and we managed to find several logs in a few vacated sites, as well as kindling in the park. Not sure what the logs were coated with, but we wound up with a blazing fire!
The nighttime low was supposed to drop back into the 30s, but we didn't want to run the furnace all night (our battery was running low), so we hunkered down under our blankets and added a sleeping bag for extra warmth.
