I decided to take a short road trip to Lassen Volcanic National
Park and Whiskeytown Shasta Trinity National Recreational area in my
newly bought 
Toyota
RAV4 (license plate: RAMDOM :) and JVC Digital Video
Camera/Camcorder. I arrived there in the evening; it was 
storming
heavily and I stayed for the night in the Mineral Lodge.
Bright and early the next morning, I headed off to see the Sulphur
Works (about one mile), one of the active geothermal areas in the
park. I then moved on to bigger and better things by hiking down to
Bumpass Hell (three miles) which is the largest geothermal area. Both
Sulphur
Works and 
Bumpass
Hell offered bubbling mud pots, steaming fumaroles, and boiling
water. Some of these thermal features are apparently getting hotter,
perhaps making Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta as the most likely
candidates in the Cascades to join Mount Saint Helens as active
volcanoes.
Speaking of bigger and better, my next hike was up to the Lassen
Volcanic peak itself (five miles) a somewhat strenuous (and
relentless!) uphill climb. But the 
views
from the Summit at 3,187 metres (10,457) feet were worth it.
I then headed off to 
Kings Creek
falls (three miles) which was pretty scenic and I got close to
some 
wildlife
who were obviously not threatened by my presence.
One of the cooler things about Lassen are the number of very
beautiful and serene lakes in the park, including Emerald Lake, Lake
Helen (which is visible as you climb up and down Lassen), 
Summit Lake,
Mananzita Lake, and Butte Lake. If you visit, make it a point to stop
along these lakes. As I drove through the park, I had the company of
two cool hitch hikers who climbed Lassen Peak from the other side and
were exhausted.
My final hike of the day was to climb up the 
Cinder
Cone (four miles), which was active a couple of hundred years ago
and the trail up was pure gravel ("two steps forward/two steps back").
Getting to the Cinder Cone involved driving out of the park and back
in on a dirt road, and my RAV4's supsension stood the test
brilliantly. Hiking up Cinder Cone as it was getting dark, however,
was not the wisest move (albeit better than my Grouse Mountain hike in
Vancouver in the winter in tennis shoes close to dark) but once
again, 
the
view from the top was immensely beautiful and worth it! I got to
watch the 
sun set
along the Cinder Cone, alone at what felt like the top of the
world (poor man's Everest :) as dusk set in. Breathtaking and
existential, considering that I just seen The Blair Witch
Project just a week ago.
Fifteen+ miles overall hiking. I felt pretty good! I stayed for
the night at a Motel 6 in Redding, and then headed out to the 
Lake Shasta
dominated Whiskeytown Shasta Trinity national recreational area. I
found a couple of cool spots to go off-roading (there's a specific set
of dirt roads designated for this purpose), including one which was
right next to the lake after you cross the dam and was slanted toward
the lake, so I was driving leaning away from the water (like it would
make a difference!). A fun experience!