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Manzanita Lake

Lassen Volcanic National Park. Sept 3 - 6, 2004.

(top, down) Driving up from the valley we had a fabulous dinner at Casa Ramos in Redding. We observed the succession of tree species as we drove up the hill from Redding (600 feet elevation) to Lassen (5860 feet elevation). We camped at the Manzanita Lake campground near the west entrance to the park. We got our tents set up in time to make a short hike to Lake Manzanita for sunset.

Jim & I both took all of our pictures on this trip with our Olympus Stylus 300 digital cameras.

Manzanita Lake area map

(top, down) Lake Manzanita is in the north-west corner of the park.

Manzanita Lake at sunset

(top, down) Gangs of mallard ducks were busy working the shoreline for a bedtime snack. (photo by Jim)

Lake Manzanita

Manzanita Lake

(top, down) And the occasional fish made a splash when snatching a fly from the surface of the water. (photo by Jim)

Lake Manzanita

(top, down) These are the kind of pictures that I probably wouldn't have tried with my old film camera. With the digital camera I'm more inclined to experiment because there are no film or developing costs. So even though it wasn't an epic sunset I took 8 pictures here and I'm glad I did.

Then we went to the ranger's slideshow presentation on Lassen geology. We got lots of great information there and in the brochure that we got at the park entrance. This park has examples of all 4 types of volcanoes. "Roadside Geology of Northern California" (ISBN 0-87842-055-X) also has a good chapter with more in-depth geological information about Lassen and the surrounding area.

(Advance to Crags)