The past two days have been all about California’s northern national parks. On Tuesday, we explored a bit of Redwoods National and State Parks. We hiked the Karl Knapp and Foothills Trail loop which led us down an easy, 2-mile path that meandered through groves of massive redwood trees. Coastal Redwoods are the tallest trees in the nation! Below the towering canopy was a plethora of large ferns and some trickling creeks. It was a very peaceful walk. We even saw a banana slug, a big snail, and “Big Tree” which is estimated to be nearly 1,500 years old! We even saw a big herd of elk on our drive out, just chilling on the side of the road! AC was in heaven.
After our walk, we ate lunch and headed inland toward Lassen Volcanic National Park (don’t worry, I had never heard of it either, before I started planning this trip). In hindsight, we probably should’ve skipped Lassen since today brought us back to the coast and we could’ve saved ourselves about 8 hours of driving, but we’ve been telling ourselves that we probably won’t make it back out here anytime soon so we might as well see what we can, while we can. Still, it was a lot of driving.
We reached Lassen Volcanic right in the middle of sunset so we drove partway down the Park road to catch the beautiful view at some overlooks. Then we settled into our camp.
This morning (gosh, was that only 12 hours ago?!) We woke up early, packed up camp, and headed back into the park for some hiking. We considered hiking Lassen Peak because it would be so cool to look down into the volcano crater at the top, but the good folks on Alltrails.com who had completed the hike just one day prior all mentioned a good bit of snow, slippery conditions, and lots of wind. We were not prepared to hike in snow so, instead, we decided to tackle a trail called Bumpass Hell, so named because a man called Bumpass took a wrong step that landed his foot in a geothermal spring that was so hot that poor Mr. Bumpass had to have that foot amputated. Spoiler alert: no feet were lost today!
We got out of the truck at the trailhead and were immediately almost blown over by the strong wind. In fact, our National Park pass flew right off the dashboard and AC had to make a mad dash to catch it before it blew off the cliff. The moderate 3-mile trail was fairly easy. It started as a nice, though super windy, walk through the woods with a few spots for really good views of a nearby lake and an expansive overlook of the distant terrain. About ³/⁴ of the way through, we caught a glimpse of Hell: 16 acres of desolate rock with steam escaping from several spots.
We hiked down to the boardwalk and took note of the signs warning us not to step off the path, lest we end up like peg leg Bumpass. We read about the geothermal activity in the area, saw several boiling pots, an acid lake, and eerie steam vents. I’ve seen hot springs before, but never anything like this.
On our way out, we stopped by one more roadside boiling pot before swinging by the Visitor Center so I could get my water bottle sticker and my ornament–our Christmas tree is going to have lots of new stories to tell this year!
We made grilled cheese for lunch on our tailgate, then hopped back in the truck and drove back to the coast.
We celebrated our anniversary by sharing a plate of fajitas at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, followed by a sunset walk on the beach right next to our campsite. Now, we’re relaxing in the tent, listening to waves crash against the shore–should make the perfect white noise for good sleep.
Here’s to 4 amazing years of marriage and many more to come!
Until next time,
Charli
Happy happy anniversary!!
One can only imagine the humiliation that a kid with the last name Bumpass endured in middle school. Sweet pics and happy anni!