I’m typing this up and enjoying being clean for the first time in four days. Showers are so underrated until you give them up for a bit then go on some sweaty, dusty, bug bitten adventures! It’s the Friday before Tevis and we have a packed day ahead, so I’ll get a few words down about our road trip down here and then we’re heading back up the mountain to Auburn and then Robie Park!

Thankfully the godawful noise from my front brakes was totally resolved, though we still took two hours and had them checked in Klamath Falls before heading down to the Lava Beds National Monument. We found a gorgeous, well shaded campsite and settled right in. Our campsite neighbors (two kids under ten out on a long trip with their dad) immediately glommed onto Benny and played fetch with him for hours. Kids and dog were both well entertained, and us parents got to take a break.

In the morning we left Benny in the trailer (no dogs on trails in National Parks or Monuments usually) while it was still cool, and Kade and I hiked up to the Schonchin Butte watchtower. I’m not in as good as shape as I could be, but we still managed to 600 foot climb over .80 miles up and down in an hour, not too shabby. We grabbed cave permits at the visitor center, hooked up the trailer, parked it up along the cave loop, and spent the next two hours caving. I had Kade turn off his lights and we held our breath for 1 minute, I remember doing this in school at the Lava Caves near Bend and being told “this is the most complete silence and darkness you’ll ever experience unless you go to space.” We only did two caves, mindful of Benny in the trailer, and that was enough to see some of the variety and lick a cave wall, because how can you not?

We hit the road again and after a few hours of winding through the woods and dodging cows (seems like almost everything in this area is open range) we settled in at the Cave Campground just outside Lassen National Park. This campsite was really nice, minus being right next to the highway, and oh yeah, the creek tried to eat Benny. It’s not a wide creek, but it’s deep and still really swift this time of year. It tried to carry Benny downstream after a few minutes of playing when the current caught him just right, so that put the kibosh on him in the water there. That was a really Milo and Otis moment I’m happy to avoid in the future. Our campsite here was large and good for lots of fetching and hide and seek otherwise, and cooler than the Lava Beds.

In the morning Kade made breakfast and we headed our early (for us), to drive through Lassen National Park on our way south. We dillied and dallied, stopping plenty of times and getting just a few photos. Again Benny wasn’t allowed on trails, so we really got a “front country only” experience, but it was still worth the drive. We did get to play in the snow at 8500 feet at least! I was telling Kade every time I’m in the high country like that, I always have that one scene from the first Homeward Bound playing in my head, when Shadow, Chance and Sassy are climbing a ridge and Shadow is like “last hill til home!” and they get to the top and spread before them is the entire Sierra Nevada Range, and Sassy’s all “OH, Shadow!” I want to find out where that was filmed and climb that same hill with Benny someday.

Once we had our fill of mountain views and we had put some snow in Benny’s water bowl in the truck, we cranked the road trip tunes and headed south by heading west first. The road from Lassen’s south entrance to Chico made me glad I wasn’t hauling a horse this trip (though we did get plenty of folks puzzled by the presence of the horse trailer in regular campgrounds, always a good conversation starter!) It was 25-40mph curves for the first hour, then 55mph the rest of the way down the ridgeline (holy drop on both sides Batman!) Also, why does California restrict trailers to 55mph? Madness when you hit the flat as a dang pancake and 104 degree Central Valley. I managed to keep the truck following the correct directions and we managed to arrive at our hotel in Roseville right at 4pm when I thought we would, which is a bit of a first for me. Of course we were all tired and sweaty and itchy, and faced with either leaving Benny in the hotel room (not the best choice) or a drive thru (not the best choice) I had dinner delivered via Uber Eats, tipped what I hoped was well and we were all clean and lights out by 930.

Now on to Auburn and Robie Park!