Diners to Volcanoes



Lassen Peak, one of the world's largest plug dome volcanoes
It is considered still active...

From Lake Tahoe, we traveled north about 20 miles to Truckee, CA where we treated ourselves to lunch at Jax on the Tracks, a local diner that was featured on The Food Network’s show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Although Jax’s Diner was not the reason we stopped in Truckee, it did seem a good thing to try while we were there and so we did.  David ordered the pulled pork and cheddar sandwich and I tried the ‘All Day Addiction,’ an interesting mix of flavors and one of the prettiest dishes I have ever been served. 

Lunch at Jax on the Tracks, a local Truckee diner

 

You know what to expect when ordering a pork sandwich but the All Day Addiction, which was indeed served all day long, was a bit more complicated.  It started with a bed of triangle hash browns (just what it sounds like, hash browned potatoes in a triangle shape) to which Canadian bacon was stacked, then a bed of mixed greens with avocado and tomatoes and on the very top – two eggs cooked ‘your way.’  To top it all off, pesto sauce and a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce were generously drizzled everywhere.  Breakfast and salad are two of my favorite meals and this was a way to have both at once which I had never thought of doing before.  David and I were both stuffed and Maya got a few bites when we were done.  (Maya preferred the pulled pork.)

Middle Fork of the Yuba River
Hiking the PCT near Plumas-Eureka State Park

Our next stop was 40 miles north of Truckee to camp for a couple of nights at Plumas-Eureka State Park.  Less than 60 miles from Lake Tahoe, this state park is tucked into a little-known corner of the Sierra Nevada with the Pacific Crest Trail just a few miles away.  It is amazing to me that if you look around a very popular place you can usually find other gorgeous places nearby with a fraction of the number of people visiting them.  We found that to be true near Yosemite National Park by visiting the Inyo National Forest and Mammoth Lakes area and it was equally true for the Tahoe area.  It seemed that the number of people dropped exponentially as the miles from Lake Tahoe increased.




Gorgeous Tiger Lilies blooming along the trail

 

We stayed two nights at Plumas-Eureka State Park enjoying the beautiful piney woods, glacier-gouged lakes and very lovely campground.  Most California State Parks don’t allow dogs on the trails, so we only took a few short walks in the park without Maya.  We did make it up to Maya by taking her with us to hike a lovely section of the Pacific Crest Trail just outside the park. 

This section of the PCT was heavily forested – a big change from what we had experienced near Mammoth Lakes.  There were a few portions of the trail that traversed open meadows or a rocky slope or two, but we were mostly in the shade.  We crossed several creeks and the Middle Fork of the Yuba River where we saw the small but pretty Love Falls.  The trail was just about perfect – some climbing but not too much, lots of shade, water for Maya to wade in and the sunny places were filled with blooming wildflowers.  A very good time was had by all!



Leaving 'lake country' behind and climbing up the Volcano Road

 

Next we traveled a little over 100 miles north to Lassen Volcanic National Park, a gorgeous landscape created by lava flows, carved by glaciers and dotted with lakes and clear rushing streams.  All four types of volcanoes can be seen in the park.  Lassen Peak is one of the world’s largest plug dome volcanoes and its last largest eruption was on May 22, 1915.  The park also contains composite, shield and cinder cone volcanoes plus many geothermal features.  It is a geologic wonder and much less crowded than many national parks.

Lake Helen with Lassen Volcano on the right

Close up of the top of Lassen Volcano showing 'the eye'
This natural feature in the lava is said to be the eye of the god, Vulcan,
the Roman god of fire. 

Again, we weren’t able to hike that much because Maya wasn’t allowed on the trails.  So we walked the shorter Nature Trails, stopped at the roadside exhibits and enjoyed learning all about the park’s volcanic and geothermal activity plus how the forest has recovered and become more diverse since the 1915 eruptions.

Mountain Mule Ears were in bloom, 
creating fields of gold on the mountain slopes

One afternoon in our campground we saw some National Park Service workers with long poles attaching little black packets high on the trunks of Jeffery Pine Trees.  We were curious so we asked what they were doing.  It seems that the Jeffery Pines which are similar to Ponderosa Pines are being heavily infested by the Jeffery Pine Bark Beetle. 

Glacial erratic, or in this case, a boulder left behind when the glaciers melted
 

 

Many species of western conifers have been suffering from bark beetle infestations and many trees have died.  So the NPS is doing field studies in popular areas such as picnic grounds and campgrounds to see if they can save some of the Jeffery Pines.  The packets they were attaching to the trees contained synthetic beetle pheromones which would hopefully tell the beetles that this tree was already infested and ‘full’ and that they should look elsewhere for a home.  Hopefully this technique will work and some of the Jeffery Pines will be saved.

Sap running from tree that has been infested with bark beetle
The tree tries to defend itself by 'flushing' out the beetle with sap

 

We loved our time in Lassen and learned a lot.  In our campground, we met two other Texan couples, one from Austin and one from San Antonio.  We were all so happy about the Spurs winning the Championship.  Go Spurs Go!

Now it is on the Redwoods for the first full day of summer.

Lassen Volcano with one of the many beautiful, clear streams

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked      2
Total Miles Hiked       9.47 
Ave. Miles per Day      4.74
Total Elevation Gain       1,462
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   731