Volcano Road Trip

Last weekend Kevin and I took a five day trip down to Lassen Volcano National Park and Crater Lake National Park for some road tripping, sightseeing and camping. We had an amazing time. It was relaxing and fun and took me completely away from the day to day here which I was really ready for.

Lassen Volcano is very pretty but unless you happen to be in the area or are trying to go to all the national parks like we are I wouldn't recommend you go out of your way to see it. This is Lassen Peak which erupted back in 1915 and Kevin who has a mild temper and I have yet to see erupt.

The coolest part of the park is what greets you at the end of this trail.It also wins for best trail name ever. This trail leads you to a geothermal area where you get to see bubbling mud pots and large steam vents that roar like engines. It is also a place of amazingly bad stink. Epic stink. Picture if you will 100 elderly women in a hot windowless room getting old-fashioned home perms while simultaneously boiling 10,000 eggs. Bumpass Hell smells something like that. I am blessed/cursed with a good sniffer so the smell was starting to make me sick. Kevin, being the chivalrous and observant fellow that he is, kindly offered me his bandanna to hold over my mouth. I was embarrassed to be such a Polly Prissypants but you would have understood if you smelled this mighty stink.

We camped that night and I got to use my very first bear box. Bear Box. Ur doin it wrong!

On the way to Crater Lake we made a stop at Lava Beds National Monument in the middle of nowhere California. I had no idea what to expect but this place is filled with lava tubes to hike through and explore. We were short on time so we only got to go down into two of them but they were a lot of fun. No bats though. Dang. Here I am portraying the lava tube goddess emerging from the end of the tube. Or something . . .

I hadn't been to Crater Lake in 16 years and it was still as stunning as I remember it being. This was Kevin's first trip and he was just as blown away by the beauty of the lake as I was. This time we got to hike down the lake and take the boat tour and get to see the lake in an entirely different light than just doing the rim drive. Plus we got some additional geological information that we might otherwise have missed. If you have never been here you absolutely need to go. This place is amazing and the lake is the most amazing shade of blue you will ever see.

Two nights camping under the a beautiful star filled sky, eating all the classic camping foods (SPAM, Jiffy Pop, S'mores, PBR) while sitting around a campfire. It has been far too long since I camped and can't let that happen again.

Next time on Devil's Starchy Fingers: We have perfected the S'more! Stay tuned for our culinary revelation!