Lassen is one of the less visited national parks, and it was on my bucket list to visit because I hadn’t been there before and didn’t know that much about it.

We were able to get a site at a campground within the park, at Manzanita Lake and our campsite didn’t have any hookups so we were boondocking all 4 days we were there.

We were pleasantly surprised that the smoke cleared in this high altitude park, and the skies were the clearest, brightest blue that only seems to happen at high altitude.

We had some great hikes, one to the top of Lassen Peak and one to a geothermal area weirdly named Bumpass Hell. The drives through the rising switchbacks in the park were also spectacular.

After having a week without power in Crescent City then spending 4 nights at Lassen Volcanic Park without power and without cell service or internet, we realized just how dependent we are on those technologies. Even wayfinding without GPS mapping is a special challenge, and I grew up as the triptych map reader in the family on our summer vacation trips.

We invested in a TravelFi router that finds cell signals from multiple carriers, which is less expensive than buying a satellite system. But the remote places we’ve been to have had NO cell service from any carrier, so it hasn’t worked that well for us.

Our next week includes staying closer to civilization in parks where we expect electricity and water, and hopefully even cell and internet service. And we’re researching an upgrade to our A/C that will allow us to run it using our gas generator. That will be a step forward at least!