Tionesta, CA - Glass, Lava, & Lake

What else did we do in this area? One day we took a drive to Glass Mountain. Someone told us about this mountain of obsidian glass. For some crazy reason, I was picturing a solid block of this black rock...
But not so, it was a mountain of volcanic rocks (possibly a lava flow? sometimes we don't have a lot of information available) with a high quantity of the rocks being obsidian. Here's a picture of the edge of the flow where the volcanic rocks meet the forest. While walking along the trails here on Glass Mountain you can see much of it glistening in the sun with all of the black glass.
After that we drove over to Medicine Lake and just sat on the rocky beach, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the calm. When we got too hot, we attempted to go in the lake but could only get in up to our knees. These crater lakes are just icy cold.

Another day we drove up to the north end of Lava Beds. We got to see Tule Lake. Much of the lake has been drained and the land converted to agriculture lots. The contrast of green farms against desert bluffs and sagebush is mind boggling. Some of the area has been preserved as a National Wildlife Refuge.
We also visited Captain Jack's Stronghold. This is the area where 60 Modoc Indians held off 600 Calvary for five months. With natural rock walls and caves, you could see how they could do it. But what a harsh environment to live in.
And, of course, we squeezed in some more caving. By the end of the week we had explored all but three of the open 'developed' caves. Four were closed for bats and the other three were in more remote areas of the park. Experienced cavers are invited to walk the park and drop into any hole they can find, but we found these 'developed' ones were plenty of fun for us.

We really enjoyed our time here, but as many RVers - there's always a time when you're ready to move on...