Lassen Volcanic National Park, 15-Jul
We did a shorter hike with the group and joined them for lunch by a lake. We then spent the afternoon in Shingletown.
King's Creek Falls
The hiking group was going to meet up a half an hour later than they had been, so we figured we wouldn't be very far behind them on the day's hike. As it turned out, we pulled up to the King's Creek Falls trailhead just as they were finishing getting things out of the cars, so we hurried up and were able to hike with them.
This trail was shorter, had less elevation gain, and was at a lower altitude, all a recipe for a pretty quick hike. We started out by King's Creek and we saw a couple of waterfalls. The first one was kind of hard to see, but we were able to walk pretty close to the second one. There were a couple of other waterfalls, then we got to the actual King's Creek Waterfall, which was quite a bit larger. We lingered around the viewing platform before continuing on.
The trail went by Bench Lake, then not long after that, started heading up. We made ourselves back to King's Creek, and chose to take a break there. Several people put their feet in the creek, which was very cold.
Once everyone had dry feet again, we finished going up to the road where the cars were parked. Everyone thought a nice view would be great for lunch, so we went to Summit Lake. While there, planning was done for the last hike of the trip, Lassen Peak. Several people decided to go up in the late afternoon, while others of us chose to stick with the original plan, going up the next morning. There were enough people that it made sense to have two different groups.
Since several of us wouldn't be seeing each other after lunch, goodbyes were said and people went to enjoy their afternoons.
Shingletown
Melody and I returned to our B&B to clean up. Then we went into Shingletown, where we found a café. The store was going to close at 3 p.m. so we started gathering our things. The woman behind the counter offered some fruit to us: nectarines from her tree and plums from a customer's tree, which we knew would make a good snack later.
Our next stop was the Shingletown Library. There was a small farmers market, so we wandered around that a bit, then went into the library. It seemed quite well stocked and pretty busy. We sat down at a table and caught up on some things for a couple of hours, watching the comings and goings of residents, kids, and visitors.
Our last stops were to fill up with gas and then go to the store to get some things for lunch. We decided to grab dinner at the grill there and were served a generous amount of food.
Back at the B&B, we contemplated how much to pack before the morning, since this would be our last night in the area.
