Blogs from Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, United States, North America - page 2

I’m up before the sun and it’s cold. The sky is starting to show colors and I break out the Pocket Rocket to boil water for some tea. Freezing. I make my tea, and cozy up in the hammock to watch the sky lighten. It’s a quick, cold breakfast of hardboiled egg, a slice of cheese and a banana. Time to prep my day pack. I’ll take 3 liters in the platypus with some magnesium powder mixed in, a little smoked salmon, jerky and cheese for lunch, plus an extra Guayaki yerba matte power shot, thank you very much. Time to button up camp, change into my hiking gear and I’m down the road. Today I’m hiking Brokeoff Mountain, which is ultimately why I decided to stay in this half of the park. It’s the second ... read more

Geo: 40.4938, -121.407Made it to Redding Friday evening and checked into the Quality Inn. There was a Bike Weekend festival going on that weekend so lots and lots of motorcycles in evidence that evening and the next day. Drove on to Lassen NP on Saturday AM. Since we had no reservations anywhere for the night we drove on into the community of Old Station and checked out the Hat Creek Resort. This one more closely resembled what one might consider a resort. We had a nice room, large enough to be a suite though only one room. Had TV, refrig, microwave, coffee maker, WiFi, and two queen beds. Very nice but in a pretty isolated area, what our son referred to as BFE. If you don't know what BFE is - Google it. We had to. ... read more

Well last weekend I finally did some sight seeing around this area. Although every week I write from the "Lassen Volcanic National Park" location, I don't actually work there. I work for the forest service of Lassen National Forest. It's different, but this site doesn't have Chester as a location option, so I could request it, but who has time for that? Anywho, my roommate, Shannon, and I went on the hike through Bumpass Hell. Some name huh? Bumpass was this guy's last name who found the place. He called it hell because he thought this place would be similar to what Dante experienced going through hell. Man was this place neat. The entire park is beautiful (well the parts that we saw). We did about a 4ish mile hike through the boiling mud pits and ... read more

Well forest fires are abound here in Northern California. It feels like war time, not that I would know how that actually feels, but we have firefighters everywhere. They are eating lunch behind our barracks and in our lawn chairs, not that I'm complaining... but it's just a whole different atmosphere to see people just lying around waiting to be told where to go and what to do. Ok I know it's Tuesday, but I have about an hour before the library closes and I have so much to share and I just can't wait until tomorrow! Well this was my first weekend of work. I found out last week my supervisor is moving to Idaho soon so Barbara is my new supervisor, but she went out to San Fran this past weekend and Dave went ... read more

3rd day since I've landed in California. Gosh where do I start? Well I live with the archaeologists currently, but there was talk of moving me so I get my own room. I currently share a room with a girl from Ohio, go figure. Ohioans are everywhere I look, I swear. But everyone has been really nice. And the barracks aren't that bad either. It's like a little house with 3 rooms, 2 baths, living room and kitchen. No internet which is bummerirrific. I don't have pictures of the place yet; I'll wait till I find my permanent home. This whole 3 hour time difference thing is not as easy as I thought. This is my first major time zone switch, so give me a break, but last night I went to bed at like 7pm ... read more