Weekend Off the Grid

home sweet, no-electricity-or-plumbing home.

I'll admit, camping per se has not been on my bucket list. Mainly it's because I wouldn't be good at it. If the apocalypse came and we'd have to use basic survival skills, I probably wouldn't be around for much longer. I still appreciate majestic views and the chance to unplug as much as the next person, though. Back in January when a group of our friends decided to reserve a cabin in a national park in northern California we said "sure!" (and then I had to order a sleeping bag). Well it was finally time to go. I took Friday afternoon off from work, told my team I wouldn't have internet access until Sunday evening, and peace'd out.


We drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park which, I have no shame in admitting, I never heard of before moving to California. I'd first heard of it a couple years ago when a coworker went camping up there, then when I read Wild last year. It's far enough from the nearest city ("city") that camping is basically your only option to make the trek worth it, and it's not as crowded as other big name parks. I think our group definitely looked like a bunch of 'city folk' but we're fairly outdoorsy and we were pretty gung ho about camping, or rather, glamping. We cooked all our meals over the campfire and used only one gas stove, mostly to boil water... and everything was delicious. My husband chopped firewood, taught our friends all about campfire-making. We had a hammock, the ultimate slow-your-roll piece of "furniture". Our phones were on airplane mode... we weren't getting service anyway... but we still used them as cameras, of course! I brought my kindle and did a little bit of reading among the redwoods, but mostly just hung out admiring nature and chatting with the friends (You know you're in good company when you don't need outside entertainment).


Aside from managing the camp, we hiked a trail on the volcano to see the sulfur vents - the trail wasn't that long, but it was at 8,500-ft elevation, so we felt it. Also, there was still snow up there... I never thought I'd be throwing snowballs in June while wearing shorts and a tank top. Later we walked the (flat, thankfully) perimeter of a 350-year-old lake. I also kayaked the lake with a friend while others did SUP and swam around. All the scenery was ridiculous - it was enough to make me forget I hadn't showered in a while.

More photos below... consider this a resounding Yelp recommendation to visit Lassen:

Manzanita Lake from our campground

camp food, so good

ridiiiiiculous view... our campsite is somewhere in those trees
[photo taken by a friend]

Overall, my mind felt quiet over the weekend. Partly it was from being unplugged, partly since I was around friends, and finally, because of the gorgeous environment I was in. The lack of building lights let me see all the stars right above me. The lack of pings from my phone helped me just be present. I may or may not have jumped right back into the digital world as soon as I was able, but I still felt gratitude all over again for being able to move out to California and see all this; it's wildly exceeded my expectations.