Film locations

We finally got to visit a couple of areas that we didn't get around to the last time we were here in California.

Last week we went on a 5 mile hike in Malibu Creek State Park which is where the TV series M*A*S*H was filmed from 1972 - 1983.

There were a few props and information boards and it was amazing to see how small the filming area was - the cinematography made it look much, much bigger.

Yesterday we went to Vasquez Rocks. Formed by uplift about 25 million years ago and later erosion and exposure by activity along the San Andreas Fault, they are named after Tiburcio Vasquez, one of California's most notorious bandits who used to hide out here. As the location is within the "Thirty-mile studio zone" for Hollywood, many movies and TV series have been filmed here. These include Star Trek (TV episode and movie The Final Frontier), Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Blazing Saddles, The Flintstones, Paul, The A-Team, Planet of the Apes, just to name a few as well as many Westerns

Tomorrow we head further south...

Lakes and Volcanoes

Two years ago we visited Crater Lake National Park in the Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon, and the views were breathtaking. The lake was formed by the now-collapsed volcano, Mount Mazama. This is what we saw then:

At the time we couldn't drive all the way around the lake as part of the road was still closed thanks to the winter snow. We made it around his time although the smoke from all the wildfires hindered our views somewhat: 

From Oregon, we traveled south into California and the insane heat that was around at the end of August. With over a week of 100F+ / 40C+ temperatures, we were so glad to have the aircon in Badger. We visited Lassen Volcanic National Park and the drive through was amazing.

We hiked through an alien landscape littered with rocks from the last eruption to Bumpass Hell and the bubbling hydrothermal pools and mud pots

At 7,000 feet there was a cool breeze off the mountains and it was a mild 68F/20C so a lovely day for hiking. As we descended into the valley we could feel the temperature rising to 106F/41C, so a dip in the pool finished our day off nicely. 

We've been in Sacramento for just over a week and now its time to move on again and head further south