Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Lassen Volcanic N.P.

Wednesday

While at Red Bluff we made the decision to strike East to visit a lesser known National Park - Lassen Volcanic N.P. Essentially it is a large volcano, with other smaller volcanoes and volcanic phenomena thrown in as well. By now we have worked out that the whole of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are the product of igneous activity, as opposed to the Rocky Mountain Range, which is mainly old sedimentary rocks thrown up to make mountains by the meeting of two tectonic plates, although it too has more than its fair share of volcanoes and igneous rocks.
Anyway, on Thursday morning we set out, having called the N.P. to find thestate of the roads and campgrounds, as we are now moving more into winter and there is the possiblility of closures due to snow. We were reassured by the taped messages that campgrounds were open and had water, so we did not fill our on board fresh water tank, to reduce the weight of the trailer. Although the drive is only about 50 miles it took us nearly a couple of hours as was quite a twisty road, climbing up to 8000 ft in the park.
We arrived at the N.P. and admired the beautiful setting of numerous volcanoes and lots of coniferous trees, only to be told at the park entrance that although some campgrounds were open the water had been turned off for frost protection. There was nothing we could do apart from register our displeasure that they could not get their messages right on the phone, for which they apologied, but did nothing else. So we were now 17 miles from the nearest water! Fortnuyately there are a number of lakes in the park, filled with sparkling clear mountain water, so we stopped at Emerald Lake and used gallon water bottles to slowly fill our fresh water tank, inconvenient but workable. We continued to drive through the park trying hard not to see the volcanic wonders there, as we iontended to return the next day to explore further. We eventually pulled up at Summit Lake South Campground, a campground right in the middle of the park, found a site with a view of the lake and set ourselves up. It was very nice and peaceful, as there were only a couple of other campers there.
Posted by fastrak at 8:58 AM

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