My biggest surprise was to find a few skiers or snowboarders at the parking. They carry their stuff up the hill, and slide down the mountain. I could say there would be a lot of rocks on the slope. Boy, these guys were extreme.

Surprisingly, I could wake up at 4:40 am without an alarm clock that I forgot to bring to this trip. When I arrived at the Mt. Shasta, it was already 5:30am and the sky was a lot brighter than I imagined. Maybe I should have waken up earlierc The parking lot faced south; I could not see the sun rises, but I could see the Mt. Shasta projected itself upon the Cascade Mountains. I could see the canyons and Castle Crags State Park where I drove yesterday lightened up with the morning sun.

Had a breakfast in the town of Mount Shasta: a steak with egg dish, of course. The next stop was the town of McCloud along the scenic CA-89. A town that offers the preserved railroad stations and a lot of cute B&Bs. The museum was not opened yet at 8:00am. Hmm, it was not bad. But I was in a hurry to the next attraction.

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park (at 352 miles): Arrived at the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial Park at 9:00am. The Burney Fall was a lot prettier than I imagined. The overlook, located just tens of feet away from the parking lot, gave a good look at the fall. A short trail brought me down to the foot of the fall. The fall looked even prettier here. The stream has abundant water flow even in the middle of summer. So, you won't miss this anytime you visit, I guess. I took the Burney Creek Trail (about 3 miles both ways) to the lakeshore. This trail offered many nice features: the pretty creek, nice cove of the lake, forest, (little) white sand cliff, and a lake beach at the end. I really liked the trail, and decided to walk more. Next, I crossed the creek to get to the Pacific Crest Trail. At the trail to my right was Canada; to my left was San Diego. I headed for San Diego and walked on the Pacific Crest Trail for about a mile. On the way back, I crossed the creek again to the Headwaters Trail that runs next to the creek. The trail offered a splendid view of the upstream. First, there were ponds at which the creek starts. Then, the creek gains more and more water as I walked down the stream. The water was very clear, and greens all over the place. Then the trail ends at the top of the fall. The Pacific Crest Trail and Headwater Trail loop was about 2 miles. I guess I would not recommend driving 5 hours from SF just to visit this fall. But if you were happened to be near by, this is certainly a nice place to hike.

At about 1:00pm, I left the park to go to the Lassen Volcanic National Park, about 50 miles away from the Burney Fall. It took me 2 hours to get to the national park. I was tired that I had to take a nap for an hour.

Lassen Volcanic National Park (at 500 miles): Anyway, I was at the gate of the Lassen NP about 3:00pm just right at 500 miles from my apartment. Lassen is the south most peak in the Cascade Mountains. The volcanic peak dotted along the Cascade from this Lassen all the way to Canada. Indeed, the Mt. Shasta is also one of these peaks. Unlike Shasta, the Lassen has just erupted about 85 years ago. The park offers not only the peak but many geothermal activities as well. The park ranger recommended me the Bumpass Hell trail that gives best examples of geothermal in the park. She also recommended Kings Creek Falls trail as the most scenic day-hike in the park. Since I already saw a beautiful fall this morning, I decided to take the Bumpass Hell Trail.

The time was past 4:00pm; the guidebook said it would take 3 hours for the entire hike. The weather was cloudy and chilly. Many parts of the trail were still covered with snow. I prepared the full pack of day-hike equipments: raingear, emergency medicines, whistles, compass, flash light, food, and a lot of water. Well, it turned out it was an easy 2 hours hike. Most of the people were in casual wear. Some were even wearing sandals. I should have remembered that this hike was probably the most popular trail inside a well-maintained national park. About the hike itself; it was a nice, easy trail with a great view of the eastern side of the park. The Bumpass Hell area was interesting as well. It had many interesting features such as mad pot, boiling pond, and such. But I would advise to lower the expectation and not to compare it with the Yellowstone NP.

Cascade to Sierra mountains: Unfortunately, my left knee started to hurt (again!). I could have stayed near the park to try the Kings Creek Fall trail but I gave up on hiking any more in this road trip. So, I headed further south to wrap up this road trip. When I passed a town of Crescent Mills, the gentle Cascade Mountains suddenly became tall and steep, and the valley got deeper and narrower. I could also see some big granite rocks exposed at the peak or the side of the mountains. These are definitely the features of Sierra Nevada. Soon, the highway CA-89 merged with CA-70, and crossed a gorge of North Fork of Feather River. This gorge and the CA-70 are designated as national scenic byways. Since it takes 3.5 hours one way to drive through this highway, I decided not to drive this time.

At a town of Quincy, I decided to stay for a night. The largest town in the Plumas County, the town also had several motels and nice restaurants. The best dinner was served at Moon's restaurants at the edge of the old-downtown of the Quincy. The Czec Salmon was one of the best and original dishes I had with salmon for a long time. It was somewhat sweet (somewhere between teriyaki and soy source). The only and biggest problem was that the salmon was completely burned to charcoal first time the waitress brought me. I could not believe anyone could eat it. Of course, I complained, and the waitress gave me a free glass of wine. But I wished if they did not bring me the dish to start with. The breakfast was good as well. The restaurant was located next to the Moon's (I forgot the namec) but had good coffee, good scramble, good service, and good atmosphere. I like starting a day like this.