Finally, A Visit to the Mountains - November 2020

We just returned from our long weekend visit to Shingletown, California. This trip was originally scheduled for early October but high winds and area fires caused us to put a hold on the visit. The trip was our first overnight outing since February 2020. 

During our first day trip from our cabin, on Friday, we soon learned that October rather than November is a better time to visit Lassen National Forest and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Subway Cave, in Lassen National Forest, is officially closed for the winter after October 31.  Luckily, the parking lot was still open and, along with other visitors, we were able to explore the cave over a third mile walk and depart the cave area on a short outdoor trail. 

If you visit Subway Cave, be sure to bring a flashlight, sturdy shoes and a warm jacket. The cave floor is uneven and rocky and not great for flip flops unless you enjoy stubbed toes. There are no lights in the cave and temperatures remain cool - even during the hot summer.

On the drive back from Subway Cave to the cabin, we stopped at Lassen Volcanic National Park. We were informed by the rangers that Highway 89 through the park was temporarily closed due to light snow and ice. This left us with about a two mile walk around Manzanita Lake and the closed campgrounds. We had originally planned to take a hike in the middle of the park on Saturday but that area was now inaccessible to vehicles and much too far to walk.

Nonetheless, the walk around Manzanita Lake allowed us to enjoy seasonal Fall colors. This was our first trip to Lassen during this time of year. Note that just about all the people we passed on the trail either wore face coverings during their entire walk or when passing others.

Our cabin was well-furnished/equipped and had three bedrooms and two baths. The cabin was about nine miles from the commercial area of Shingletown. With COVID-19 infections running high (purple) in Tehama and Shasta Counties, we decided to bring all of our dining supplies with us and avoid any grocery shopping or dining out. This was a good idea as when we stopped for gas in Shingletown, we noticed that just about all customers walking into the retail area were not wearing any face coverings nor following social distancing.

Given the inability to drive through the park, we enjoyed a relaxing Saturday in the cabin. The well stocked firewood pile and effective wood stove kept the interior cozy, if not a little too warm, 

The weather turned cold Friday and Saturday nights, in the low 30F range. We even had a small amount of snow this morning. For this reason, we had decided to drive our Honda hybrid with all season tires on this trip. Our other car has summer performance tires that can be slippery under 40F.  The four cylinder hybrid struggled climbing elevations but really enjoyed going downhill (recording 30 mpg uphill vs 190 mpg downhill). Overall trip mpg averaged about 45 mpg.