2007 08 12 – Big Trip – Day 104 – Lava Beds National Monument

KOA Campground, Mount Shasta Town. Odometer – 9748

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Skull Cave, Lava Beds National Monument, California

We left Oregon today and returned to California after more than 3 months away. After a long and lazy morning, with a tasty breakfast and plenty of frolicking in the playground, we started the long drive south. We stopped in Klamath Falls for gas and groceries, the continued to an obscure park called Lava Beds.

The 2 major attractions this park boasts are lava tubes that have become caves, and following the history of the Medoc Indian resistance to the white man. The park has 120 different caves created by the fast flowing lava erupting from various holes in this park. We visited mushpot, right next to the visitor center, and also skull cave, which has an ice floor (it’s really cold down there). Ron asked a ranger at the visitor center is the volcano here is dormant or extinct (yes, he knows the difference) and was told that since the last eruption was less than 10,000 years ago, the volcano is considered dormant.

The area has plenty of good hiding places and natural fortresses, and was therefore a stronghold for a small band of Native Americans trying to stave off a white army ten times larger. We know who won in the end.

After the short visit, we had another 2 hours of driving to reach this campground. On the way we could see Mount Shasta from north west and southeast and it is a majestic and beautiful site to see.

This campground is not as cozy as the one we had in the last 2 nights. It is also quite dusty with dirt campsites instead of gravel or grass. Nonetheless, we kept up the tradition of fire cooked meat and ate outdoors in the dark.

We are all quite bushed tonight. Sweet Dreams,

-Hemi

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