San Francisco to Lake Almanor


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Published: July 21st 2014
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Friday 11th

We leave site nice and early and as we get out of the gate disaster strikes, the van dies on us. It just won't start ! I call the rental company who call a tow truck. Half an hour later it arrives and tows us the the garage up the road and departs. I ask the garage owner how long it will be to get it fixed and he says “ I'll look at it on Monday or Tuesday !!”

I call the rental company who say that they'll get us towed to another garage and give us another van. Forty five mins later we're back on the road to SF where we're given a newer van. This one's painted in street art and looks great.

By lunch time we're driving back over the Golden Gate Bridge again and stop for a quick picnic before at last continuing north.

The drive's on a 3 lane road with traffic nose to tail for ages, progress is slow as we drive through the Napa Valley. There are vineyards all around us for ages.

By 4.30 I've had enough of driving and we stop in Ukiah for the night. It's small town and the only saving grace is a Macdonalds where we get an ice cream .

The camp site is pretty bare of grass and is close to a race track which has cars zooming round till 11pm !

Saturday 12th

We can't wait to leave and get on the road by 8.15, a record ! We stop at the local supermarket and buy lots of local wine at very cheap prices.

After an hour or so the boring scenery changes to wonderful densely wooded hills and is a great relief. The landscape is beautiful and goes on forever. This is the America we've come to see.

We turn off the 101 for The Avenue of the Giants. A 32 mile road through ancient giant redwoods. They're ever where, huge redwoods reaching up 150 and 200 feet.

Our first stop is at the Log House. A house built out of one piece of tree in 1946, it is 2100 years old and is 7 feet high inside and 32 feet long. It's been refurbished and looks good but no bathroom !

We also pop into the Indian gift shop and look at various indian moccasins which are beautifully made but far too expensive at over 100 pounds a pair.

At the same place is the Grandfather tree. This one's even larger than the others. 1800 years old, 265 feet high and 55 feet in circumference.

When then pull in at the Chimney Tree. A burnt out redwood that has a history of being used as a dwellings. It's ok but not that impressive.

Our next stop is at the Humboldt State Park camp ground. We've been told it's full but when I enquire I'm told they have one space available for the night. We take it and pull into our spot. The camp ground is set amongst all the redwoods and it's a fantastic place to spend the night. We have huge trees all around us.

We then go off for a walk along the river, or what's left of it. There's a drought and the river bed's virtually dry. We walk along the edge of it and into the forest where we see more huge trees. Many are groaning as they rub against each other in the breeze. Some have fallen over and the root ball is massive. It's a nice 4 mile walk in the shade as the day's sunny and very hot.

In the evening we sit around our fire pit having a bbq and keeping warm until we run out of logs. Bed by 9.30 another early night !

Sunday 13th

We drive for only a few mins before stopping at the Founders Tree. It's 345 feet high and 53 feet round. Another giant !

We then turn off the main road and head into the forest about 6 miles and pull in at a car park and see a baby deer waiting until it's mother appears with another sibling. They feed and stroll away. We then drive to another car park and get ready for our hike.

We choose an 8 mile circular hike through the forest and partly along the river. It's a great walk and we again see massive trees, dead straight and shutting out the sunlight. We stop for a picnic by the river before returning along the opposite bank. There's a strong smell of pine everywhere.

We arrive back after about 3 hours and drive to the nearest camp site.

I book in and the woman's a bit odd. I then go across the road for more ice and the shop keeper appears fairly strange too. The whole place reminds me of Twin Peaks.

Monday 14th

First thing we stop to see the Immortal Tree, a massive redwood that has defied cutting down, lighting flooding. On the road again and our next stop is in Ferndale. A wonderful place full of Victorian timber clap boarded houses and shops. Most of the shops sell antiques and there are some good things to be had, if you can afford it.

We stop at a family owned coffee shop for a cup and buy two slices of homemade crumbles for later.

Our next stop is in the town of Eureka and we park down by the water front and take a stroll.

There are some interesting Victorian buildings and particularly Carson Mansion. It's huge and really impressive.

We head north to Arcata and turn onto route 299 heading south. We decide to stop for lunch at Blue Lake but when we pull up there's no lake just a casino !

The road now is the most attractive we've been on. The scenery is huge tree covered mountains and valleys everywhere. It's a beautiful drive. We stop off at view points over the valleys and it's a wonderful sight.

It's getting hot and when we look at the van's thermometer we see that it's 106 outside !

Finally we pull in at Big Bar for the night and the site is alongside the river. We're in Big Foot country now !

Early evening we go paddling in the river to cool off. For the first time we have mosquito problems !

The days are just getting better and better.

Tuesday 15th

It was a pretty sticky night as the temperature remained around 70 all night.

We continue east on the 299 running alongside the Trinity river with small rapids and a winding road. It's a wonderful sight.

We reach Weaverville, a small town with a few interesting buildings and a large Sporting shop selling lots of guns. A typical small town !

We then reach Redding a much larger town and we turn onto the 5 heading north towards Lake Shasta our intend stop for the next couple of days. However when we reach our proposed site we find that there's no water in the lake. It's bone dry ! It's a huge lake but most areas are either dry or have less than 10% capacity. We've driven 25 miles for this !

After lunch it's time for a rethink and we drive back to Redding and onto the 299 heading east. The landscape at first is fairly boring but after a while we start to drive alongside woods and up and down steep hills. It's pretty again. It's a cool 96 degrees !

We're 9 miles from Burney our stop for the night when we get a flat tyre. I call the camper van emergency service, I'm on first name terms with them by now and they send someone out to change the tyre. I'd never have got the wheel nuts off !

By now it's getting late and we stop at a casino in town but don't fancy the site. On we go and Christine calls the nearest State Park site and they're full. We pull in at the Rainbow RV site. It's pretty run down and full of permanent vans. Reluctantly we book in and are the only touring van. As we make dinner the residents keep looking out at us and give us a spooky feeling. Most look like they have come straight out of the film Deliverance ! We gonna make sure all the windows and doors are locked tonight !

Wednesday 16th

First thing we call into the tyre garage and get told there's a problem with a replacement. They don't have one suitable. I call the rental company who are very good and say replace both tyres to match. So the two girls go ahead and fit them.

On our way we stop off for more ice ! We're using nearly as much ice as petrol.

We turn onto the 89 scenic drive and run through thick pine forests. It's another lovely drive.

Only a short drive today after yesterday's 6 hours and we pull into the Lassen Volcanic NP. We go through the entrance and I show them the 1 year pass given to me by a dutch couple we met a couple of weeks ago and we save the entrance fee.

We go to the camp ground around Manzanita Lake and find a nice spot amongst the trees for shade. We choose a big plot with a fire pit which we may need later as we're now at 5900 feet.

It's a lovely hot and sunny day so we go off for a walk around the lake and see wood peckers, chipmunks and a small snake.

After lunch we courageously hire a double kayak and go off for a paddle. It's only taken us a year to be able to paddle in a straight line with out arguing. We're making progress !

After our successful voyage we sit around the lake in the sun and fall asleep.

In the evening we BBQ on the fire pit swordfish steaks, garlic bread and serve with salad. We agree it's a great place, all it needs is hot water and electric ! It's been a much better day than yesterday !

After dinner we take a walk and get talking to a couple from Switzerland who have a larger Escape van than us. By the time we leave it's pitch black and luckily they lend us a torch otherwise we'd never have found our way back.

Thursday 17th

Only a short drive this morning of about half an hour to Summit Lake North camp ground where we check in and then drive to a car park for a walk.

We choose to hike to Echo Lake only 2.2 miles each way. The walk is uphill for about a mile through a mostly dead pine forest and then a mile down to the lake. It's not the most attractive hike we've been on and the lake is quite small and has a lot of dead wood floating around the banks. On the way we see lots of chipmunks feeding.

The walk back's ok and we see Lassen Volcano in the back ground through the forest.

After a quick lunch we drive to the Devastated Area. An area where most of the trees were knocked down when the volcano exploded in 1915. We see lots of volcanic rock but the trees have now regrown and the area doesn't look that “devastated” any more.

It's another hot day and we decide to go back to the camp site and take our chairs down to Summit Lake where we paddle to cool off before sitting and reading for a while. Try as I might I can't fall asleep !

Later we take a walk around the lake and get good views of the volcano and forest.

In the evening we have another BBQ, slow cooked pork chops, I just can't get any heat out of my charcoal ! We then sit around our fire pit burning anything insight.

Friday 18th

We drive for only a few minutes before passing Lake Helen and parking up for a 3 mile round trip hike to Bumpass Hells. The walk gives us the best views since we've been in America. The Lassen Volcano and surrounding area is stunning. Sheer rock faces and tree covered hills in the distance. It's very dramatic.

We reach the “Hells” which are a number of boiling sulphur mud pools and steaming fumaroles which make an incredible noise. We haven't seen anything like it since Rotorua in New Zealand.

We make our way back as the day heats up and glad we did the walk early.

We drive along route 89 which is very scenic with trees on both sides before finally parking up for the night on the shores of Lake Almanor. It's another great place for the night but boy do they charge !

It's so hot that we spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade before taking a late walk along the shore. Another good day.

Saturday 18th

We take out a double kayak early morning, flush from our last success ! We take ages to get out into the lake. The water level's so low we keep grounding. We paddle around for an hour scaring all the birds and then it's time to come in.

We load up the van and get ready to move off site as the place is fully booked for tonight. Like every weekend we have trouble finding somewhere to stay.

I speak very nicely to the manager and she says we can park near the cabins on our own with electric and water, all for the price of a tent site ! It's a nice quiet spot and we can pick up on the wifi hot spot which no one else can.

It's another very hot day, over 90 and we take a drive around the lake but can't see much because of all the trees. We spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade.

In the evening we join an American couple for drinks around their van.


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