shasta/trinity area

We had never seen a wooden suspension bridge meant to be driven on before... so of course we had to go over it.

Mt Shasta is quite awe inspiring. It is the second highest volcano in the U.S. The mountain actually consists of four overlapping volcanic cones, giving it a distinctive appearance. In addition, it isn't connected to any nearby mountain; it rises abruptly and stands nearly 10,000 feet above the surrounding area. Beautiful, isn't it?

Unusual for California, Burney Falls is spring-fed, thus the volume remains constant year-round. Another really cool thing is that the water not only pours over from the top, it also comes out through hundreds of fissures in the rock face. That's what gives the Falls such a neat tiered look.

We tried to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Well... I guess we did get there. But we could only drive a little bit of the road. Apparently this huge machine hadn't finished doing its job, and snow hasn't been completely cleared from the Park roads yet. Bummer!

oh, boy, this was not a good thing to see. Especially since it was directly where we needed to go to get back to the RV. And even more so when lightning lit the clouds. We played it safe and stopped for a while to let it blow over. We did get caught a little later by the next wave of rain, but it was only a light drip, nothing major. whew!

Our campground is a couple miles from the ocean, so we took the bike down a bumpy one-lane gravel road to check it out. What a reward to see this unspoiled coastline!