July 16, 2012 - Mill Creek, CA - Gurnsey National Forest Campground,

The weather turned very cool overnight at Collier SP.  The temps were in the 80’s when we stopped, and dropped to 34 degrees when we woke up.  It was damn cold.  We ate, packed up and took off for Lassen Volcanic NP. 


We had both forgotten about Mt Shasta on our way.  We didn't stop at the mountain, but were pleased to be able to see it without clouds obscuring it.

Great View of Mt Shasta

A Plaque Describing Mt Shasta

We had plans to go beyond Lassen and onto a southern destination. 

We arrived at Lassen around 2:00 and toured the visitors center.  We were hoping to camp in the park, but most of the sites were taken.  The open sites were not the best, and besides that, people were packed in pretty tight.  Additionally, there is a bear problem there and we didn’t feel like dealing with the bear lockers and everything else.

Entrance To Lassen Volcanic NP

We charted a course towards our original destination and hoped for the best.  We found a national forest campground about 30 miles outside the park.  It is just what we needed.  There were maybe sixty sites and only a dozen or so occupied.  We have to come to really like the national forest campgrounds.  They are big, open, not crowded and usually well off the road.  We also like the dead-and-down policy of gathering firewood.  This campground had plenty of downed wood for us to build a nice fire.

Me Next To Some of The Firewood Don Had Gathered

We had discovered a bolt missing on the camper.  It is holding the folding bed, support poles and frame together.  We had stopped to pick up some replacements.  At the campground, we successfully replaced the bolt and checked all the others.  Everything else was OK. 

We will most likely have a short day tomorrow.  We want to go to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia NP next.  Our plan is to camp outside Yosemite, then tour it and the other two.