We parked the Renegade in the Green Acres RV Park in Redding, California where we stayed for six nights. We visited Lassen on June 1 which was a month or two early for optimal access to the park. The road through the park was open to vehicles for only a short distance. It takes months to clear all of the snow from the road. The road closure worked out for us because it was open for hikers and bikers. We decided our adventure in this park would be a bike ride on the closed road. We drove the Jeep to the Devastation area parking lot which was as far as vehicles were allowed.
On the ride to the park ~
What is the "Devastation Area"? ~
On May 22, 1915, a powerful explosive eruption at Lassen Peak devastated nearby areas, and spread volcanic ash as far as 280 miles to the east. This explosion was the most powerful in a series of eruptions from 1914 through 1917.
The 2021 Dixie Fire ~
The Dixie Fire started on July 13, 2021 in Feather River Canyon southeast of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The fire entered the southeast corner of the park near Juniper Lake on August 5, 2021. The Dixie Fire reached its final size of 73,240 acres within the park on September 30. On October 26, the Dixie Fire reached 100% containment with a total size of 963,309 acres making it the largest single fire in California history.
The Fire in Lassen (Stock photos) ~
From our visit ~
Smoke from The Dixie Fire traveled far eastward. We experienced the smoke 800 miles away in Granby, Colorado in August, 2021. One day it was so bad that we had to stay indoors.
The Bike Ride~
We rode our bikes from the Devastation Area parking lot 13 miles up to and past the Lassen Peak. We started at 6,388 elevation and reached the highest point on the road at 8,511 feet, an elevation gain of 2,123. We did occasionally use the motors on our E Bikes for this one! There is no way we would have had this adventure without E Bikes, especially at that elevation. Needless to say, the ride back down needed very little effort. It was also much colder.
Ken's Garmin readout - He burned 2,031 calories so there was definitely some work involved.
The link to the video of the ride on Relive ~ (Love that app!)