Got to Red Bluff with plenty of time. Finding cheap (or any) accommodation in or near a national park at such short notice is impossible, they are normally booked out months in advance. Our options were either here or in Redding, both big towns about 45 mins from the park. In the end we decided Redding as there were more options for stuff to do in the town as well as nearby.
As we had plenty of time we decided to go into the park and take the long route to Redding. We stopped at the visitor centre where Lucas picked up a booklet to become a Junior Ranger. He has 5 missions to complete before he can take the pledge. The first was easy: to watch the 20 mins film about the park.
After a quick picnic we headed off to Sulphur Works, a small geothermal area where they used to mine for sulphur. There wasn't much to do so we continued on to Bumpass Hell, a 2h walk from the carpark to see the largest geothermal area in the park.
The kids did great and managed to walk all the way there on their own. It was a bit cold, there were even patches of snow on the trail (not great in sandals). The trail was lovely, with great views of Lassen Peak and the valley below. And then Bumpass Hell makes a stark contrast to all the greenery around it. We didn't stay long as it was getting cold and the kids were tired so we quickly turned back; for us the focus of the expedition was really walk. Had to carry both kids a bit of the way.
Got back and sped through the rest of the park to get to Redding. We will be visiting again tomorrow so we didn't feel the urge to stop anywhere as it was pretty late.
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