Day 6 and 7: Water slide park, Fishing Hat Creek, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 6, Friday, 6/19:  Water Works Waterslide park (Redding) and fishing Hat Creek

Today we woke up to the beautiful sound of the water flowing by our creekside camping spot.   A beautiful day.  After a nice pancake breakfast outside at the bench 20 feet from the stream, we drove 1 hour to WaterWorks Water Park for a day of fun and excitement.  We had a blast riding down the different slides there.  Our favorite one—called the cyclone—was more like a toilet bowl where you, the rider, get flushed out.  First you shoot out a tube into the large bowl and then swirl around it 3 times before going down the “toilet hole” and into the exit pool.  We were all trying to come up with names for the attraction.  My personal favorite was the “duty disposer.”  J  Sarah made a friend there (Anna) who had a double tube.  So Sarah and Anna spent much of the day sliding together.  Unfortunately, Sarah got stung by a bee on the back of her elbow towards the end of the day there.  That put a damper on the day and we left soon thereafter. 

At beautiful Hat  Creek, Sarah and Sam fished for about an hour (Nothing!) before dinner.  It was a great day of waterslides and fishing.

Our creekside campsite at Hat Creek near Lassen, CA

vista in Lassen, CA

Day 7 Saturday, 6/20:  Lassen Volcanic National Park

We enjoyed our morning breakfast by the creek next to our RV.  Unfortunately, Sarah’s bee sting on the back of her elbow caused it to swell a lot.  She was uncomfortable all day.  We made the 10 minute drive to Lassen Volcanic National Park—one of the only spots in the world that has all 4 types of volcanoes.  Lassen Peak—which massively erupted in 1915--is beautiful.  The kids did the Junior Ranger program and though we planned to do 3 short hikes today, we only ended up doing two.  The first hike was fascinating and also has a great name:  Bumpass Hell.  It’s only a 3-mile round trip hike where you end up in the most seismically active area of the volcano.  There are boiling mud pots, fumaroles (vents with rotten-eggs-smelling sulfur billowing from the ground), and hot springs.  It is similar to Yellowstone without the geysers.  We had a great time but Sarah struggled.  On the way out, we also did the ½ mile Devastation Area walk.  This area shows where the avalanche of lava, lava rocks, mud and melted snow ended up after the eruption.  It was powerful to see some of the giant boulders and how far they had travelled in 1915 during the eruption.   It was great to look at the rocks and then look up at Mt. Lassen’s torn open mountain face and imaging the force and destruction.  Nature is powerful. 

We cooked steaks for dinner and let Sarah and Ryan watch movies.  Andrea and I met a really nice older couple camping next door to us and we ended up sharing stories and talking until 11 pm.   The man was born and raised in East Germany and talked about how he escaped the communist country in 1961.  He got very emotional telling us about how his dad and sister were true communists but that he saw right through all the system’s lies.   It was fascinating to hear their stories.   Another fun day.

hot springs and fumaroles (sulphur gas), Lassen, CA

Colorful volcanic pool, Lassen, CA

volcanic boulders miles away and lava flow of Lassen Peak (erupted 1915)

Junior Rangers, Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

Kids, lake, backside of Lassen Peak, CA