Blogs from Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, United States, North America

Sorry it's been so long since an update. Things are getting really busy as the summer winds down. This will probably be my last entry just because the next two weeks I am going to have my mind on leaving and getting ready for school. I already had a dream I forgot to pack all the things in my night stand. Since my last entry I have successfully climbed Mount Lassen, visited San Fransisco, and turned 21. These are all life changing things. We did the whole trip of Mt Lassen in about 4 hours. It's a 2,000 foot ascension and it was just neat. I don't really know what else to say about it except "I climbed a mountain". San Fransisco was awesome. I am going to try and spend some time living there. I ... read more

Life has finally settled into a "normal." I always think it's cool when that happens. You move somewhere, or go back to school and it's hard to get in the swing of things and before you know it, you have. Well I put in a picture of fire camp cause it looks really neat and I feel like it's almost overwhelming to see that many tents in one spot. The fires are becoming more and more a commonality to my life. We gage the days by how bad the smoke is. The morning it's more clear and sometimes the winds will shift the direction of the smoke and we'll have a blue sky. They say this will go through the rest of the summer. The fourth of July is this weekend. I have to work, which ... read more

My days off here are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I aim to update on Wednesdays, so I will start that regularity today. I don't have much to report as I have only worked one day, but I have some pictures of the good old outdoors to share. Last weekend I had free to get acclimated and essentially bore myself to death. Everyone I live with was out of town and I barely saw a person around the barracks all weekend. Friday I went into town and that's was when I updated last. Saturday I wanted to go down to Lake Almanor and read. Well, I made it about 8 miles before I decided I was tired and I shouldn't be biking this far on my own. Some of these picture are from that 15 mile + ... read more

(Panoramic picture above is frozen Lake Helen in Lassen Volcanic National Park) Another spontaneous trip - Shasta and vicinity. Shreya and I planned a weekend trip to Northern California while returning home from office on Friday evening. We drove to Sacramento and stayed the night at my cousin’s place and started heading further north to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen Volcanic National Park Some background about this national park - whole of the USA was surprised when a volcano erupted in Northern California in 1914. It was followed by series of explosions for three years. The latest eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens in 1980. Lassen Volcanic National Park is the southern most end of the Cascade Range. We reached Lassen National Park around 12 pm after lunch in a restaurant outside the national park. First ... read more

Lassen National Park. The name's not very familiar is it? It wasn't to me either. A park isolated by spectacular surroundings in Northern California where the Sierra Nevada end and the Cascades begin, Lassen is about halfway between Lake Tahoe and Mt. Shasta. My impressions of the park before I visited were a bit unimpressive. But within 5 minutes of passing through the Park Service gate, I knew I was visiting the most underestimated National Park in California. With a week off work, I was on my way to visit friends in Bend, Oregon. Having never visited the Pacific Crest north of Lake Tahoe, I was eager to discover its volcanic treasures! Especially considering of all the places in the Pacific Coast of North America, The area from lassen to Mt. Ranier is the one that ... read more