Lassen Peak
Bumpas Hell. This is where you can take a 2 mile hike and see fumeroles and mud pots and geysers.
Chuck and I stopped at a little store in Old Station to get a refreshing drink before the long ride home.
Chuck and I arrived back at the fairgrounds and more people had arrived. This is a lovely fairgrounds and we had 332 people camped here.
That is our little group camped behind this building.
Bikes and cars and tents everywhere. They had vendors and seminars and lots of good friends. My friends Burt and Lisa from Ontario California were there and Greg the fellow I traveled with to St Paul along with Dennis were both there. Gregg brought his wife and unfortunately she is not well enough to ride a motorcycle so they were in the car. They brought a big pot and they and Jim and Cathy Benge and Dianna and her husband made a big pot of stew Friday night and invited all their friends over. Greg got out his guitar and played and sang and I interspersed with a few jokes I know.
The temperature was perfect, there was no wind and I looked up at the stars and said it does not get any better than this. My friend Fred was there from Susanville as well. Saturday Fred and Lanny and Bob and I went to Frazier Falls. Fred made a wrong turn and we stopped at Pumas County Ranger station. It was a great detour as they have a wonderful museum there. Would love to take my cub scouts there.
This is one of the rangers at the museum.
Then we got on the right road and headed for Frazier Falls.
There was not a whole lot of water coming over because of the drought conditions but it was pretty impressive and I can only imagine what it would have been like in full flood.
It was 1/2 mile in and here are Fred and Lanny taking a rest.
Lanny has the same bike and sidecar I have.
This is the lovely little creek above the falls. Not a whole lot of water right now.
I have been fascinated for a long time at the vision of trees growing straight out of a rock. Seems impossible. That is one of the things I saw a lot of in Yosemite and it continued on here as well.
Fred and I in front of some incredible rock formations that were all along the path to the falls.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at a little resort town called Graeagle. There is a small lake there and a store where you make your own sandwiches. Out fron there were these boy scouts selling scout popcorn which I am in the throes of right now.
Back at the campground Turk was taking a much needed rest from his adventures getting there. He high centered his bike getting off the ferry at low tide in Port Angeles and ripped off his center stand and sidestand and broke his transmission. Then he had to drive a fourteen ft Uhaul to Chico Calif where a mechanic at Ozzies said he could fix it and then he rented a car and on Sat hit a deer.
Poor Turk
Behind him is Tim whom I was speaking off in my previous episode.
All to soon this wonderful rally was over and I had to move on. I stopped at Topaz lake for fuel. If this sounds familiar it is where Fred and I stayed on the way home from Mariposa.
That is the motel we stayed in.
Then I stopped at Mono Lake because I have my own passport for National Parks and I wanted to get a stamp. This time I went thru the museum at the Visitor Centre and watched the movie which I did at Lassen as well. They tell you so much about the area.
Those formations I talked about last time are called Tufa
Then Fred told me of another National Park on the way at Manzanar just north of Lone Pine. This is one of the camps the Japanese were sent to after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. I went to the auditorium and took in the movie. What a tragedy. This historic site is preserved as a memorial.
Then on to Lone Pine . I stayed in the Portal Motel and had a delightful dinner at The Grill and the next morning headed for Palm Springs early as It was to be 112 degrees there.
I would be remiss not to have any picture of the Sierra Nevadas It is an impressive mountain range and the last time I saw them they were snow covered.
This last picture is of the sunrise to the east. Looking towards Death Valley.
So till my next adventure
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