It’s been a busy stretch, so I haven’t been posting – sorry! I’ll be doing several posts over the next week or so to catch up, so check back.
From Napa we drove up to Redding, CA. We spent a couple nights at the parking lot of the Shasta Rock Club (a Harvest Host location). We met a young couple from Colorado who was also parked/camped there and were headed up to Alaska. They had an issue with their trailer that Matt jumped in to help with and then followed them to the shop early the next morning. We found out that the shop was able to help and they were on their way later that day!
We headed up to Lassen National Park that day. It was rainy and chilly, but that’s the day we had to do it! We got warm beverages on the ride up and took a beautiful drive on some backroads since we found out that the visitor center we intended to go to wasn’t open on that day. So, we had to drive around to the south side to access the open Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center. It’s at about 6,700 feet, so the landscape was changing and the temperature was dropping as we went. We knew the road through the park was closed because of winter conditions, but we didn’t expect it to actually snow on us while we were there! After checking out the visitor center we bundled up and walked the road up to Sulphur Works – a geothermal area with mud pots and steaming vents. It was fun to walk in lots of snow (for us, but actually considerably less snow pack than they usually have at this time of year), and stinky when we go to the vents.
The next day we headed out from Redding and were working our way to Ashland, OR. We didn’t have many exact plans, but started with a pit stop in the town of Mt. Shasta. We got bread, baked goods, and coffee at Bob’s Oven Bakery. It was a small, but tasty, and friendly operation. When Claire mentioned wanting to be a baker, they gave us a tour of the bakery, and Matt had to go get his camera to check out the temperature on their wood fired oven where everything was cooked.
Then we stopped by the visitor center and the helpful woman there suggested a hike by Lake Siskiyou – Box Canyon Hike with a car graveyard. It was a beautiful hike and a surprisingly large car graveyard with numerous rusty cars and washing machines strewn across the hillside where you were hiking. She said long ago people just threw stuff over the hillside to dispose it in that particular area.
From there we drove over to Pluto’s Cave on the northeast side of Shasta. It was recommended by a guy from the company Matt had worked at in Napa. It was off the beaten path a bit, and we were just able to park the van and camper off the side of the road at the trailhead. We hiked in to check out a stinky, bird/bat poop covered, graffitied tunnel in the ground. It was gross. We walked through and out and headed back to the van disappointed. But on the walk back we were convinced that we had missed something, so we checked the online info again and headed back. This time we went under the arch in the opposite direction and went through an opening into a larger cave tunnel and it looked like the pictures we had seen online. Then we continued on through another opening into another cave that did not have another opening, but it did continue. The kids and I decided to turn back once we started not being able to see light from the entrance, but Matt decided to continue for another 10 minutes or so and the cave just kept going. It was crazy! We’re glad we went back.
We continued on towards Ashland, OR via beautiful high prairie roads with mountains in the background. Upon arrival in Ashland, we had a quick turnaround to eat dinner, change clothes, and head to a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We saw “Come From Away” – it was absolutely fabulous! (The director’s notes on the link are particularly appropriate for these days, so check it out!)
There are lots more Oregon adventures to share, so check back soon!
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