Day 12 - Lassen Lazin' Day

Day 12 - Lassen National Park "rest" day.
We took an early morning walk by Manzanita Lake. It is easy to catch sunrise this time of year!

The recent rains have made the lichens really plump and happy.

Warm clothes and a sunny spot. It is about 37F this morning. 

A water bottle wind screen for the stove.

We are a jinx.  This is the second time this summer the power has been off the day we stayed at a campground.

The seismograph installed by Benjamin Loomis in 1927 to monitor the mountain.

This is the picture that Loomis took when Mt. Lassen blew its top June 14, 1914. The museum was built to showcase his photographs and it also compares volcanic events on Mt. Lassen and Mt. St. Helens

There is also a nice display of Native American basketry.

A Lassen National Park Ranger with a few of her props used for educational programs. She had an enthusiastic audience of youngsters when we first arrived at the visitor center.

It was such a beautiful day that we just  couldn't resist going on a short ride even though it was supposed to be a rest day.The lichens on these trees are really happy.

We thought we would do a little exploring on bare bikes, and look at a portion of the tomorrow's  planned route. Not many clouds today!

They were tough people!

We stopped at viewpoint #14 which the campground host had told us was one of the few spots that had cell service in this part of the park. We wanted to check the weather forecast for tomorrow. The sun also felt soooo good. While we were basking, Guido and Beth stopped. We noticed his shirt right off (Tour de Blast) and that started a delightful 20 minute conversation with them about biking and Italy and food and journeys and......

Donna checking out alpenglow locations for this evening. It was really pink last night where we could see it through the trees from our campsite. It had been so cloudy on our way into the campground yesterday that we didn't know you could see the mountain so well from the entrance.

That really is the moon and not a dust speck on the lens.

Back down to Manzanita Lake for the sunset.

While not as nice a show as last night, the mountain was still beautiful. And now that the power is back on we'll spend the next hour in the laundry room recharging our camera and cell phone batteries and reading and staying sort of warm. We are not really that wimpy but all the warm stuff we brought is not quite up to the task. We are seriously considering changing our planned route which would take us to 8500' and involve another 3500' climbing day as well. Our exploring today showed that we have to go up, then go down before the road really goes UP to the high point on the mountain. Also the campground on the other side is at an even higher elevation than Manzanita Lake.