Mt. Lassen National Park to Great Basin National Park

Sorry for the radio silence, this has been the worst trip, or best I can't decide, for lack of wifi, cell service, internet, telegraph, telegram, television and general contact with civilization as we know it.

Anyway, where were we?  Oh, Mt. Lassen or as I came to call it, Mt. Less Than.  As in, less than Yellowstone and really less than any other national park I have been to.  It's not that it's not scenic, it is.  But, I have never been in a national park that I didn't round a corner and say "Wow, that's amazing", except this one.

Why is this place a national park anyway?  Well, in 1914 Mt Lassen volcano erupted and a dude, B.F. Loomis, and his wife who lived there got some shots of it.  They appeared in all the papers and since no one in the United States had ever seen an eruption, it was a really big deal.

But, here's the thing, since then it's been dormant.  And nothing in nature elicits the comment "Wow, that's amazing"quite like the word dormant.

ZZZZZZ

That's not really fair, it is a great area for hiking and there aren't a ton of visitors so it's a nice place to snap some photos and spend a couple days.  But, beyond that it just didn't ring any bells for me.  Now if it was constantly erupting like the volcanoes we have seen in South America, then it might be a different story.

Wouldn't this be better if molten lava was running down the sides?

There were a couple of pretty, deep blue, lakes 

And some stinky, bubbling, roadside mud pots

Nice warm mud baths

Some meandering mountain streams

Wow, that's amazing

I think this is our 38th or 39th National Park, I'm gonna check

But then as we were leaving, I ran into this guy and he made the whole trip here worthwhile.  That's an old Astro van that's been covered in plastic jar lids.

Don't ever change California

After leaving Mt. Lassen National Park, we spent one night in the biggest, little city in the world.

I lost, Fred won, nuf said

As we approached Reno, it got smokey.

Really smokey

Out of control wildfires in California made it pretty hard to breathe but it did make for some nice sunsets.

Great Basin National Park

Isn't it in the middle of nowhere?  Yes, it is.  Is it worth it?  Most definitely.  I mean what's not to like 3,000 year old trees, a brilliant night sky, caves, and some cattle rancher landowners next to the park with a quirky sense of humor.

But first, I made Fred pull over on the side of a mountain road because I had spied these:

Those are coulter pine cones and they are huge, like 2 lbs each huge.  They are also called widow maker pines for obvious reasons and they produce the largest pine cone of any pine tree species in the world.  They can weigh as much as 10 lbs and I love them so I risked widowhood by having Fred collect a bag full.

As we drove in to Great Basin National Park we were greeted by this ominous sign:

Uh-oh

Yep, we picked the one weekend that proved to be the most crowded of the whole year.  You know what that meant, no camping spots available in the park. Not one and your choices outside the park are really pretty limited.  We ended up getting the last spot at a privately owned RV/dive bar/tent camp/motel. 

At least the location was good, right outside the entrance road to the park so early the next morning we took one of the best hikes in the park.  The trail up to see the bristlecone pines.

You have to drive up to the trailhead which starts around 10,000 ft, but what a drive.  

The aspens were on fire

The trail itself is a little rocky

Ok, maybe more than a little

Then you start to see the pines:

These trees are between 2,000 and 3,000 years old

Even the dead ones do not decay for 300 to 400 years

 They are the oldest living things on the entire planet

Since we left for the hike early in the morning, we had the whole grove to ourselves for awhile.  Fred hiked further up the trail toward a glacier to get some better mountain shots and I sorted rocks and contemplated the age of the universe while I waited for him to come back.  There was no shortage rocks and you are required by law in Utah to have deep thoughts here.

A bit further along the trail the mountain expresses its opinion of my deep thoughts

If you read Game of Thrones you will know this is really a weirwood tree

This is my favorite hike this trip, it's just beautiful and serene

I'll leave you alone for a moment while you contemplate these two ancient life forms

Look how teensy the cones are compared to the coulter pine

Meanwhile, back at the Bambi, I'm closing things up cuz it's about to rain and you know why that's a big bummer?  Because we had planned on doing some of the astronomy stuff that second night and the whole thing was cancelled.

The next morning we headed back to the park to tour some caves which turned out to be pretty great but you know what's not great about caves?  The ability to get decent pictures of drippy rock thingees .  They just never turn out that great, so I'll spare you.

The land that borders the park is owned by cattle ranchers who I think take all this newly created tourism with a grain of salt based on the art that tacked up to fence posts around the park.

Like so:

This one was my favorite, complete with horse head skull and hooves propped on the steering wheel, but these little art gems were all along the road to the park.  Someone has a twisted sense of humor that I love.

Next up, two more national parks Arches and Canyonlands and then we skeedaddle home.