Lassen National Park - Food, Lakes, Waterfalls

A continuation of this entry.

After we made it back to our car we decided to stop by a few more points of interest:

Summit Lake South

Stopped by Summit Lake on the way back. Summit Lake also has campgrounds here — there are 94 combined sites between the North and South campgrounds, and depending on the time of year, it may be first-come first-serve or by reservations.

What really took me aback was seeing the steaming lake — I've seen morning fog over a lake, but never in the late afternoon! I did a bit more research to find that this phenomenon is called "sea smoke".

In order for sea smoke to occur, the air has to be cold comparatively to the the water. If a bit of cold air comes in, it cools the warm air above the water, and once cooled enough the air can only hold so much moisture before it condenses into this steamy look that is shown in the picture.

The temp had dropped drastically when we got to the lake. While we were in tshirts or tanks just half an hour earlier in the high 80s, it was below 60 here.

Devastated Area interpretive trail

Round Trip Distance: 0.5 mile
Terrain: Paved loop (wheelchair accessible)

Devastated Area Interpretive Trail is an self guided walking trail that stands in the place that was once completely wiped out due to the eruption of Mt Lassen in 1915. It obviously does not look at all devastated now, but take a look at all the informational plaques they have with pictures and descriptions of the damage and it'll amaze you. There are mini boulders that traveled 3+ miles from Lassen Peak that ended up here.

A quick stop by Chaos Crag.

Love how dramatic the skies were. The weather was a bit temperamental throughout the whole weekend, but it sure made for some good shots.

Dinnertime — tacos with carne asada and carnitas.

We try to eat well during our camping trips. It’s a great time to try out new camp recipes or prepare fancier food we can’t eat while we’re backpacking.

Last Day In Lassen

We’ve been camping at Manzanita Lake the past day and a half and we haven’t even been able to go check out the lake yet! On our last day, after our morning breakfast of leftover carnitas and scrambled eggs, we decided to take a walk around Manzanita Lake. Goodbye campground!

There are a couple trails you can take that loops around the lake; we randomly chose one. The side of the lake by Manzanita campground was closed due to otter mating season, but as long as you’re on a boat or if you’re hanging out on the opposite side of the lake, you’ll be fine.

On the farther side away from the campgrounds, you’ll get treated to some pretty cool views. If you have enough time, I’d say try to do a complete loop! The more we walked, the more rewarding the views were.

There were a lot of other people out on the lake, either fishing or kayaking.

Hiking Kings Creek Falls Trail

Start: Kings Creek Falls Trailhead
Round Trip Distance: 3 miles loop
Terrain: Gradual 700 foot descent along Upper Cascades section; steep, narrow stone staircase for one-way, uphill return via Cascades Foot Trail.

*Parking is fairly limited, so try to get here early if possible.

There are two ways to get to the falls: There’s a horse loop and the Cascades Trail. The horse loop is a bit longer (about 1/3 of a mile longer, if I remember correctly), but more gradual of a descent/ascent, and the Cascades trail is on the steeper side (with stairs). At the point in time when we hiked it, it was designated as a one way trail — down the horse loop and back up the Cascades trail steps.

Lower Kings Creek Meadow

The trail follows along King’s Creek for the first part, before the fork for Cascade trail and the horse loop. By the way — I’ve seen some shots online of the upper meadows and it looks so picturesque, I wish I had had the time to hike through it.

View before the descent down to the Falls.

A little bit hazy out:

The gradual descent. We could hear the waterfall off in the distance, though we couldn’t see it yet.

King’s Falls.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a waterfall that cascades down like this. The last one might have been in Hawaii! Well worth the hike in the heat. There was no one around at the time as well, which was great. Must be because we got here around high noon and it was hot out.

Had a quick lunch down here, sitting off at side of the falls and welcoming the mist that fell our way. It was also a bit shaded where we were sitting, so that was a nice respite.

A quick picture:

The hike back up the Cascade Trails was just as beautiful as the waterfall itself. Maybe it was the afternoon light or something, but it was almost more picturesque than the waterfall we hiked here for. Unfortunately, I maxed out my SD card memory after hitting the waterfall so I don’t have any shots from my camera. I had 400+ free shots on my memory card left before this weekend, and I didn’t think I’d use it all — but Lassen sure proved me wrong.

I’ll leave it up to you guys to experience the beauty first-hand. Definitely worth the quick hike if you have a couple hours to spare, and the hike back up Cascade Falls wasn’t as steep as I had expected nor as long — if you’ve done Vernal Falls before in Yosemite, this will be no problem for you.

And thus ends my time at Lassen. What a beautiful weekend!I can’t believe it took me so many years to get here, and now I want to add it to my list of annual to-visit places.

Can’t wait to come back!