Lava Beds National Monument

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

 

 

Got off to an early start yesterday and headed to California to the Lava Beds.   We made a stop in Susanville for breakfast.   I had checked on line for several restaurants the day before calling to see if they were open and what their menus were like.   Many have on line menus too which is a great thing about the internet.   Three of the places I called the phone number was out of service.  I found another that had reviews from rvers and that there were places for rv parking.   We pulled into Susanville and the Hart's was closed and out of business.  We went to Lumberjack's, which I highly recommend.  Service is okay but the food is great.   I asked about the other restaurants and I was told they had gone out of business.  I guess Susanville is suffering the economic downturn still.

Once we arrived we found some great primitive sites for $10 a night.   The park entrance fee is $10 also.   As you can see from the picture below, we picked a good one.   We made a pot of chili last night at my sister's place, had a drink and talked until 10 pm.  Off we went to bed only to wake up to snow.   It keeps coming and going and it's pretty cold out.   We are headed off to the caves this morning to do some exploring.  The caves were formed from lava tubes and one that we will visit has a cavern over 80 feet high.



 

There is an issue in the park with the White-nose Syndrome which is affecting the bat population to the tune of over 7 million killed so far.   As you register at the visitor's center you are given a short talk on the problem and then asked about where you have been.  This fungus was brought by a couple from Europe who had been exploring caves there.  Brought to the East coast of the U.S., it has now spread to the Midwest and they are trying to stop the spread.   The common bat here is the Mexican Free-Tailed.   We saw an oriole on our way to the visitor's center.   Yesterday many deer were along the Hwy 193 on our way up.   Truly exciting to see a herd of deer heading up the mountainside.

Me standing among the pines where we pulled over for a rest stop on our way.   We arrived to the park around 3 p.m., not bad considering we only drove 50 to 55 mph and stopped for breakfast.