8/21 Tule Lake & Lava Beds National Monument

I haven't been posting because I've been taking care of some medical things, like getting a kidney stone taken care of.  All is now well, and I am on my way to California.  I spent last night at Collier Memorial State Park north of Klamuth Falls and then headed towards Eagle Lake, which is my destination for tonight. 

However, on my way I stopped at a bird observation station along Tule Lake and also drove through Lava Beds National Monument.  

First, I was not expecting Tule Lake.  It is a long way from most touristy places and absolutely full of birds.  

You cannot see it well, but the lake is dotted with birds. 

Found this photo blind and decided to stop for a walk.  

Here are some of the dots on the lake:

These big white birds are white swans, as you can see better in the next photo closeup.

The small black birds in the foreground are American coots.  These look a lot like ducks, but have a pointed bill and different feet and are rails. 

Looking back at my motorhome. 

This blind is by reservation only!  

And this is a snowy egret.  I have seen these birds in Florida and once almost hit a whole flock of them with my motorhome.  I was driving along an empty country road and the flock decided to fly up and in front of my vehicle.  All I could see were black beaks and black legs!

Not much traffic, as you can see.  

Next was Lava Beds National Monument.  Not very busy here, also. 

A lot of lava flows--some old and some fairly recent. 

Nice visitor center.  This national monument, by the way, is in the far northeast part of California, not too far from Lassen Volcano. 

I drove through the campground, just to check it out for the future, but all the spots were much too small for my motorhome.  My destination, Eagle Lake, is about 90 miles southeast of here, so I had to keep on moving. 

This is high desert.  It is desert because it gets very little rain, and high at about 5,500', which makes the air cooler than the valleys not too far away.   

Finally, in the distance is Eagle Lake.  It is one of the very few natural (meaning not dammed up) lakes in California.  

I took several pictures of the forest fire area about three miles from my campsite at Merrill Campground, but this is the only one that turned out.  I will go out driving in a couple of days and take more.  The camp host said the fire was last year and burned 18,000 acres.  They evacuated all four federal campgrounds because of the fire.  

By the way, notice how spread apart these trees are?  This is typical of the burned area, so not all forest fires burn because there are too many trees and brush.  The area on the opposite side of the highway mostly did not get burned and also had very little undergrowth.