my sandbox

Boring post, but necessary to properly document our activities. Why is writing about travel (at least when I do it) so unexciting, as compared to actually doing it?

Victor and I went up to Lassen NP and surrounding National Forest for a few days in mid August to do a bit of camping and see the sights. On our way up, we stopped at the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge to do a bit of birding. The refuge hadn’t done their water release yet (which is what makes all the nice wetlands that attract the shorebirds and waterfowl) so it was pretty quiet, but we did see some nice stuff including a pair of willow flycatchers at the viewing platform. There were also lots of ring-necked pheasant (not surprising since they’re introduced):

We camped in Lassen National Forest, right outside the park, along Forest Road 17 if anyone’s interested. We were primitive camping rather than camping in a campground, so basically we just found a good spot in the forest and pulled the truck up. At our first campsite, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes, which we blamed on the fact that we were camped right near a pool of stagnant water. We moved to a new campsite the next night, which was much nicer. It was on the edge of a dried lake bed. It was a great spot for birds: each morning we’d wake up and there would be a bunch of hermit warblers (as well as Nashville, MacGillivray’s, Wilson’s, yellow-rumped, and orange-crowned warblers) foraging high up in the trees as they moved through on their journey south. Tons of bluebirds and chipping sparrows hung out in the middle of the lakebed, and we also saw a goshawk at the site. Here’s Victor looking at something in the middle of the lakebed:

We went for a hike up to Heart Lake on one day - saw a black-throated gray warbler on the trail, which was a nice bird to see. This was in the National Forest so we were able to bring Arty; he’s not allowed on trails in the National Park. We were hoping to swim in the lake, but it was kind of narsty with algae and such, so we just looked at it. We went for a dip in a creek on the way down instead. It was freakin’ cold. Here’s Arty at the lake:

We spent a day in the Lassen National Park. Lovely place, but as with most National Parks we didn’t really fully sample all of its pleasures because we had Arty with us and couldn’t go on any extended hikes in the park. We did leave Arty in the truck while we went on a short hike into Bumpass Hell, which I believe is what one might call a geothermal feature.

It’s got all these vents and hot springs and boiling mudpots and all that kind of thing. Good times.

We left on a Tuesday morning and got back Friday night. We had been planning on staying an extra day or two but I was fighting a sinus infection so we decided it best to curtail the trip.