Lassen Volcanic National Park & Lake Almanor Trip

We are just back from a week in Northern California. We split our days between Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lake Almanor. Both were new territory for us. We were in this area in 2021 but had to detour around the park and lake due to the Dixie Fire. We saw lots of devastation from the fire, but also much rehabilitation and recovery.

After a quick overnight with The Tomsics in Danville we drove to Lassen. The drive was marked by beautiful views but also many stops (thankfully, most quick) for road work. We finally made it to Chester where we had a late lunch and then headed to the park.

We got a recommendation for a hike from the visitor center. We took the Mill Creek Trail to a fall and were out about two and half hours. I look ok in the pic below, but I think the altitude and a bit of hypoglycemia took their toll and I was wiped out by the time we got back to the car. I recovered quickly with some food and downtime.

We stayed at the Village at Highlands Ranch. It is out in the middle of nowhere, so had few amenities (no internet, no phone service, limited food options) but we were very happy with our room and loved the fairly short drive to the park. The across-the-road views of ranch land were beautiful.

Before further exploring the park, upon a recommendation from the Tomsics, we headed north to see Burney Falls and the Subway Cave. The falls are self explanatory and spectacular. Subway Cave is an underground lava tube. It is a one third mile long cave, pitch black inside (strong flashlights are essential) with a very rough lava floor. Pictures do not do it justice.

We spent the next day and a half exploring and hiking around the park. You look one direction and see total burned devastation and in the other direction, green meadows. We saw beautiful lakes, hydrothermal areas and snow on Lassen peak. There were no bugs, few people and lots of water in the lakes and streams.

We hiked a fair bit but had some nice relaxing moments as well. We found delicious blended iced lattes at the visitor’s center and cooled down with some creek foot soaking.

We left Lassen and headed to Lake Almamor. Our friends, the O’Briens, have a place on the lake. We rented a small cabin nearby and spent the next few days with them.

We hiked at Walker Lake and Chris got a little fishing in. We took a couple of boat rides and had a short swim in the lake (not too freezing, thankfully). We boated to lunch one day and had very, very good dinners at local eateries and at Suzy and Pat’s place. These were a couple of very relaxing, enjoyable days.

And to end, a story… We were having a dinner at Il Lago, on the patio, when a couple drove up in a vintage VW bug. Pat and Chris commented on the car’s beauty to the owner. He tossed the keys to Pat and told him to take it for a drive. They hopped in and Pat took it for a little spin. This was memorable. Our dinner was also memorable.

We left Lake Almanor with the intention of staying overnight in Mammoth. We got to Mammoth early and decided to head further south. We ended up driving all the way home – a little over eleven hours (a unusually long day on the road for us). We were well fueled along the way.