Finding Friendly Food

We’re on a bit of a National Park kick and getting ourselves ready for a hiking trip in Cornwall England later this summer so we set out for a mini adventure at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I only came across it because I have the National Park app on my phone and I was looking for the closest park I’ve never been to. So Lassen it is. 

We set out on a hot Friday morning in June 2024. Because I almost always have food on my mind, I’ve researched a couple restaurants along the way that might work for lunch. We settle on Carlito’s Mexican Restaurant in Red Bluff and it turns out to be really good. It’s really big and the cocktails look fun, but we’re not here for that. We both order from the Healthy Veggies section of their menu. I order the Healthy Burrito Supreme, but in a bowl so there’s no need for a tortilla and I ask for it without cheese. It’s filled with tons of veggies, rice, beans and salsa and is really good. So much better than I expect for a meal on the road. My boyfriend orders a very non-Jenn friendly spinach enchilada with cheese. He says it’s really good. I have to take his word for it. 

We arrive at the cute motel we’ve booked in Mineral, CA not far from the Southwest entrance to the park, The Village at Highlands Ranch. It’s basic but just what we need for this quick weekend escape. After we unpack we head over to the park to get a feel for it and it’s beautiful. We stop in at the info center and have an insightful conversation with a ranger. He gives us suggestions for hikes and drives around the park. Oh, and keep in mind, it’s still early in the season so there’s tons of melting snow so we don’t have the whole park available to us yet. We head out of the building and go for a little warmup hike from the parking lot. We stretch our legs for around 5 miles and it’s absolutely stunning. And we have it all to ourselves. We hike to a waterfall and decide we better head back so that we don’t miss dinner at the motel’s cafe, Frank’s

We get there just in time to order before the kitchen closes. They have my go-to beer on tap, Farmer’s Brewery Valle, so we’re off to a good start. I order a burger, no bun and it’s really good. The fries are yummy too. We had a reservation for the next night at the fancy resort restaurant across the street but decide since this is so good, and relatively inexpensive, and we’re going to be tired from a day of hiking and exploring to cancel it so we can come back a second time. I order another burger, still good, and this time they accidentally give me their homemade chips which are amazing. 

The breakfast menu at Frank’s looks good, but all we have time for is instant oatmeal on our first morning. We’re on the road early to go to the Butte Lake entrance to the park and climb the Cinder Cone Trail. There’s a parking lot by Butte Lake and then the start of the hike is flat and pretty and you get to see the Fantastic Lava Beds. They’re really called that. And they really are pretty fantastic. Once you get to the cone it is steep and slippery. The ranger who told us about the hike yesterday said for every two steps forward you slip back one step. It is hard, but totally worth it. The views from the top are amazing and there are trails that go all the way down inside the volcano. We walk the perimeter and then go down the trail a little, but decide we’d rather stay up top. 

Once back at the car we opt to do a full driving loop around the park and go over to the Northwest entrance to walk around Lake Manzanita. The lake is beautiful. It’s a mostly flat trail which is perfect for our second hike of the day.

The second morning, we head across the street to their sister property and to the Highlands Ranch Resort’s restaurant and order a really nice breakfast. The waitstaff was really helpful and went to the kitchen to check on things for me. We ended up with a modified version of their daily special omelet. It was delicious as were the sausage and potatoes with it. 

Before heading home, we take a drive in through the park’s Southwest entrance and drive up to Bumpass Hell where the road is closed due to snow. We park and go for a walk on the closed road that’s been plowed. It’s gorgeous up here. And there’s so much snow!

Lassen is really beautiful and definitely one of the lesser visited National Parks in California. We can’t wait to come back and check out more trails when more snow melts. Maybe next year.