For this year's vacation we decided to return to Lassen National Park where we had a fabulous time back in 2011.
Lassen is a wonderful, uncrowded National Park with miles of spectacular hiking trails, beautiful high mountain lakes, and wonderful views everywhere.
As in 2011, we stayed in one of our favorite campgrounds, North Summit campground. Here are Hannah, Caleb, and Christy in front of Summit Lake soon after arriving.
Lisa and Hannah having a good time in our perfect little camp.
Hannah and Caleb putting the finishing touches on their map of the Summit Lake to show Dad all the fun places they'd discovered.
The picnic table at our camp hand sunk in the ground so Dad showed Caleb how to straighten it out using the truck jack.
Caleb and Hannah paddling around in our new boat, "The Navigator."
Caleb, the floating log motor.
Mom and "Captain Christy" out on the lake.
Lisa out for a hike.
Beautiful Summit Lake in the morning.
A family of ducks out on the lake.
Two views of Lassen Peak.
Lisa and Hannah hiking the Lassen Peak trail with Brokeoff Mountain behind them.
Caleb happy to be out hiking.
Lisa getting re-energized.
Unfortunately the trail to the summit of Lassen Peak was closed for maintenance. Here Caleb is "sneaking" his arm past where he was not supposed to.
You can see the trail crew working on the trail beyond Caleb.
Our family on Lassen.
Even though we didn't make it all the way to the top we still had spectacular views of the Northern California landscape.
The little lake directly below us and just beyond the parking lot is Lake Helen. The big lake in the distance on the left side of the picture is Lake Almanor.
Caleb and Hannah with the parking lot and trailhead far below.
After returning from our Lassen Peak hike, we decided to take another short hike to Terrace Lake where another trail linked up for a six mile hike back to our campground. Lisa and Hannah went as far as Terrace lake and then returned to the trailhead to drive back to camp; Bob and Caleb continued on to walk into camp.
This is a picture of Hannah, Caleb, and Lisa at Terrace Lake.
Caleb with Shadow Lake, another Lassen gem, behind him.
One of the beautiful views Caleb and Bob got to see on their hike.
The next day Bob took another 15 mile loop hike which left and returned to our campground. It included part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
More beautiful Lassen backcountry views.
Shooting Star Columbines along the trail.
Lower Twin Lake in Lassen's backcountry.
Just on the other side of this lake is the boundary of the 2012 Reading Fire.
Because Lassen doesn't see huge crowds and has over 150 miles of hiking trails it's estimated that every hiker has roughly one square mile to themselves. This is a picture of what it's like.
We had a great time in Lassen and we'll be back again.