After attending a wedding at a winery near Palo Alto and then enjoying a day in Napa, we drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park via back roads to I-5 north. The drive via the back roads in Napa was very pretty.
It was a long drive to Lassen - over four hours. We stayed in Chester, California. We had one full day in Lassen Volcanic National Park. We drove to the south entrance and visited the ranger station. We wanted to hike to the volcano's peak, but were told we needed hiking boots and poles to do so. Instead due to our inadequate preparation, we drove to check out the thermal activity at Sulfur Works then did the Bumpass Hell hike. This was a 3 mile hike and took us about two hours. It was a scenic hike through the snow to several thermal activity zones. There was some elevation loss and gain so it was not the easiest hike (but it was not hard either). We then hiked to Boiling Springs Lake. It did not take us more than an hour (and we sat and enjoyed the view). In retrospect, the Kings Creek Fall Trail would have been fun to do as well. After these hikes, we completed the drive to the north entrance of the park, following our auto guide along the way. We enjoyed lunch at Manzanita Lake and spent about an hour taking in the gorgeous lake views. After this, we drove to the Drakesbad Ranch area of the park where we hoped to hike to Devil's Kitchen. It was about a two hour drive though so we did not get there with enough time. The following day, we drove about 4 1/2 hours back to the San Francisco Airport. All in all, a great trip.
