Tuesday September 10, Manzanita Lake Campground, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Found this wild flower on my morning walk in the middle of an arid field.

The temps cooled overnight to a pleasant 17 degrees and this morning I took myself off for a pleasant walk through the camp park and down to the river, after the heat of last night it felt so good. Also no sign of last night’s fire thankfully, obviously it was under control but heard about 30 homes had been destroyed.

Not a lot of exciting stuff to report for the rest of the day as we spent several hours at the garage waiting while they checked out our brakes, and good news that all was okay, peace of mind.

Pleasantly surprised with Redding, it had a really clean feel to it and had the Californian look to it with all the palm lined streets. There was a big Sportsman’s Warehouse store in town that Ian felt needed to be investigated, he had a ball and I was happy to meander around inside in the stores air-conditioning. Ian had managed to lose one of his slides so found a footwear store in the mall, then found Barnes and Noble, our favourite huge bookstore. Also popped into Costco again and topped up on fresh fruit and veggies, the quality is superb and bought a tray of 12 huge nectarines for $8, they are packed so they don’t bruise and keep really well.

Heading East towards Mt Lassen

Finally left town mid afternoon with the gauge showing 44 degrees, interesting though with the very low humidity it doesn’t feel as hot as you would expect, but can’t imagine how anyone could work outside in it. Guess they acclimatise.

Destination was the Lassen Volcanic National Park about an hours drive east and we are camped at 5000 feet…and best of all the temps are in the mid twenties, so pleasant to be able to sit outside tonight.

Lake Manaznita