Where Are You Going Next?

Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA
Mt. Lassen - Lassen National Park in CA
Subway Cave outside of Lassen National Park

Somehow we managed to get five days off before our last hitch in this region.
Of course Karlena and I made the most of our days off. First we went to Whiskeytown in California. It was super hot and I wasn't feeling all that good which didn't help but that didn't stop us from site seeing. The first day we hiked to a couple of waterfalls, and explored an old gold mill site; on the second day we went to an old historical town called Shasta right outside of Whiskeytown. We went to a couple of cemeteries, an old barn, ruins of clothing, jewelry stores; a cool thing about Whiskeytown is that they offer free kayak tours and we were lucky enough to get a couple of spots for the afternoon tour. There actually only happened to be 4 of us and then three guides. Most of the guides are volunteers and one actually grew up in Salt Lake but has not lived there for 30+ years.
Fun Whiskeytown fact: "Whiskeytown got its name from the California Gold Rush of 1849. Settled by gold miners, the town was first called Whiskey Creek for the stream on which it was located, but later the name was changed to Whiskeytown. A barrel of whiskey lost off a pack mule christened the stream with the popular drink of that day.
Before heading to Lassen National Park, we stopped off at Turtle Bay in Redding which is the location of Sundial Bridge.
Our first night in Lassen National Park, we camped by Manzanita Lake. The night we arrived, we went for a walk around the lake which was a really pretty walk. People were out fishing, walking their dogs or just out by the lake.
The next day, we hiked to the top of Lassen Peak (10,457). Even though we start around 9,000 ft., it was no walk in the park. As we were hiking up, we kept passing this guy. Once at the top, we sat and talked to him while we ate lunch. His name was Luigi which I had to bite my tongue so that I wouldn't laugh because it just didn't seem like it fit him. Anyway, he had been traveling around the world for quite some time. While we were talking, he started asking "Where Are You Going Next?....Where Are You Going To Camp Tonight?" We parted ways at the top of the peak but ran into him at our next stop....Bumpass Hell which is the largest area containing geothermal features in the park, and is part of the region once covered by the ancient volcano Mount Tehama. It received its curious name from a disgruntled explorer, who lost a leg after falling into a boiling pool. After that, we didn't run into him again. Just another person you meet traveling, swap stories and go your separate ways
Interesting fact about the park: "Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the active, dormant, or extinct volcanoes that extend around the Pacific Ocean in a great Ring of Fire. This zone of volcanoes and earthquakes marks the edges of plates that form the Earth's crust. Volcanic and seismic disturbances occur as these great slabs override or grind past each other.