I had a lot of factors to consider when I planned this trip. One of them was timing. I expected to be covering a wide area, with a climate ranging from southern California’s Pacific coast and the deserts of Joshua Tree and Death Valley to the potentially still snow-bound mountainous northern California and southern Oregon parks, that is, if I wanted to avoid the expected summer crowds.
I had gotten as good as I could reasonably expect by coming in mid- to late-April and had high hopes that the warm weather would continue with Pinnacles, but I would soon hit the cooler end of the situation with Lassen Volcanic and Crater Lake national parks. Each park had a high likelihood that at least one section would be closed due to snow. Plus, as part of my need to pack lightly for the trip, I was traveling with only a jean jacket. It had already proven insufficient for providing adequate warmth just the day before at Yosemite.
I fully expected that I would remain within the climate-controlled environment of my rental car throughout the remainder of the trip.
Pinnacles NP
The drive from Yosemite to Pinnacles National Park took me southwesterly to a region that seemed to me to be a mix of everything I’d seen so far, rather hilly with greenery and flowers alternating with sandy, desert-like conditions. The area immediately surrounding the park entrance was virtually deserted, and even the park gate was unstaffed. I was concerned that the visitors center would be closed, but fortunately, a small staff was on hand, including a person operating the gift shop where I got my normal walking stick medallion, refrigerator magnet, and passport daily stamps for the park.
In addition to the wealth of hiking and caving opportunities available at Pinnacles, there was an enormous variety of plant life on display. Had I been a botanist, I probably would have been in plant heaven. Fortunately for me, I’m not allergic, as the pollen had to be pretty heavy around there.
Unfortunately for me, however, this worked out to be one of the parks where its features or services didn’t fit those I prefer to seek out. I drove into Pinnacles and found a fairly large group of folks who were preparing for a hike. It appeared to me that the folks were quite familiar with this preparation. However, there was nothing about it that drew my attention further. Even the scenic driving got to be pretty much the same after a short while.
Also, this was one of the parks where the Shaka Guide did not offer an audio tour. I know I missed something from Pinnacles that I hope I have another chance to experience, but for now, I’ll just settle for seeing the flowers along the roadside.
Below are some of the few pictures I took during my brief visit to Pinnacles. The rest are available at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/15.
Just as I was about to leave Pinnacles and drive to San Francisco, I made my regular check-in with Gerry, my youngest brother (the one who’s put about as many road miles on his vehicles over the years as I have on mine). He reminded me that, if I intended to join him and my eldest sister, Debra, in North Carolina by the following Saturday to celebrate the 90th birthday of my second daddy, I needed to plan to be back in the DMV by Friday. The only way I could be in Portland, Oregon, in time to catch the Amtrak train on Tuesday (the latest I could leave and get home in time) was to go directly to the last two national parks that I had yet visited on my trip and bypass Redwood, which I had previously visited in 2014.
Being in Greensboro was unquestionably more important than the extra stops on the trip, so I began what would be an all-night drive to my next park.
Lassen Volcanic
First, let me address one concern one might have looking at the map to the right. The “15 hr, 811 miles” tagged on the map is the total distance from Yosemite Valley to Crater Lake, which I admit that I drove during the span from Sunday morning to Monday night. I did, however, take the rest breaks I needed to maintain good driving shape.
I reached the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center from the southwest entrance at Lassen Volcanic National Park around 8:44 a.m. Monday morning. Thankfully, I hadn’t come on Tuesday or Wednesday, when the center was closed, so I only had around an hour’s wait. After they opened and I got my usual park momentos, I found out from the ranger on duty that the park’s main road, Hwy 89, was still closed to traffic due to snow. As I had just made the drive to the visitor center on cleared roads where snow was piled along its sides, this news didn’t surprise me. I admit that I should have also checked the nps.gov page for the park before I made the drive, but I didn’t,… okay!?!
Anyway, the ranger suggested I scan their map with directions to the park’s northwestern entrance to my phone and use that to visit the portions of the park that were open. The additional benefit would be that the route to Crater Lake would be easy to access from there, too.
It was a great thing that Lassen Volcanic was one of the parks with an audio tour available on Shaka Guide. (BTW, I just discovered that NPS is offering audio guides that can be downloaded from their website. Hmm… Also, under “Accessibility Information” about Hwy 89, the site stated, “There are no guardrails on the highway, including across steep slopes.” Now, I’ve GOT to go again!!) The tour provided information about Lassen Peak, a 10,000+ tall lava dome volcano whose 1915 eruption did extensive damage to hundreds of miles of surrounding terrain. It’s part of the Cascade Range with average snowfall exceeding 600 inches annually.
Much of the audio tour described events leading to the 1915 eruption and its impact. Downed trees, rocks strewn along the roadside, but destruction with scenes of regrowth and new life. There was also Manzanita Lake and a small museum that appeared closed near the entry and a pretty large rock with a story of its own on the side of the road.
I took several photos of Hot Rock and other sites along the way, some of which are below, with the rest located at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/16.
Crater Lake
I crossed the state line between California and Oregon and immediately got the rental car refilled. One, the gas pay was more than a dollar per gallon less, and stations in Oregon provided staff to fill one’s tank. I also wanted to make sure that a minimal amount of gas remained when I returned the car, since I’ve already paid the rental agent in advance.
There was snow on the side of the road at levels that made me concerned about whether there would be closures at Crater Lake National Park. I wasn’t surprised to find that many of the roads into the park were, indeed, closed. In fact, virtually all of the road access to the lake was closed except Rim Village near the Eagle Cove part of the lake.
There were a few other visitors there at that late hour. I made some attempts to take pictures of the lake and the surrounding area. The photo at the top of this post includes fossilized steam vents at Annie Creek Canyon Viewpoint. To the right is a roadway to the park with snow surrounding
With no other apparent activities or options available, I headed out of the park and made my way towards Portland.
Some of the pictures at the lake are available below. The rest are on the last two pages at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/16.
As always, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the Silver Bullet (SB) as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzes by my windshield.
Earlier in the trip, I experienced difficulties because I didn’t have Wifi access for my phone’s GPS nor did I have my normal printed atlas, being inside SB, which was then on the East Coast.
Despite being in an area I didn’t know, I had paid enough attention to the road signs coming into Crater Lake to work my way out of the area with little trouble.
Now would begin the final dash to Portland, Oregon, the return of my rental car, and catching the Amtrak train back to the East Coast.
