Renee, June 17: Time for some hiking

After some long days in the RV, and a day of driving to explore Lassen Volcanic National Park, we were anxious to hit a trail. It was a toss-up as to whether we would take the Bumpass Hell hike to see fumeroles and mud pots or would we hike King's Creek to see lush mountain meadows, clear bubbling creeks, and a reported beauteous waterfall. The decision took all of 3 seconds. We had decided that we had had enough roiling mud pots and stinky fumeroles from last year's visit to Yellowstone. If readers are disappointed please refer back to Micek's Great Escape 2006 blog for those details!

So off to the waterfall we went. As always when on a hike longer than 100 yards, all true hikers know that you will inevitably run across unthinking tourists that do not heed the proper footwear/gear guidelines for rocky terrain and moderately strenuous hikes. Even though this hike was only a 3-mile hike, it was clearly billed in all the brochures as moderately strenuous and rocky. Yes, we encountered other people wearing flip-flops and even high-heeled flip flops heading down the trail. As the classic t-shirt line goes: I would really like to help you but I just can't fix stupid!"



We just went on our merry way; viewed the gorgeous falls, had a picnic lunch creekside, and returned through the snow to our Jeep. We returned to the RV and took a swim in the pool before calling it a day.