Sunday was a much better day. We recovered from our exhaustion by sleeping in until 9:15, so, except for the hour or so that the storm had kept us awake, we slept for 12 hours. There is great joy to be found in not being in any rush, or on anyone else's timetable, completely out of the commuting rat race. We were enchanted by the tranquility of the scenery as we boiled water for breakfast. We talked about seeing the hikes that we came to see there and then spending the night in a motel and seeing the caves the next day (even though I had left my DSLR at home!). But Eric thought it would be difficult to get a motel on the holiday weekend. We were able to get enough of a phone signal to check that there were no thunderstorms planned for the coming night (and keep up our Duolingo streaks!), and so we decided to spend another night in this incredibly peaceful environment.
We took our time getting going. As we had not expected a thunderstorm, we had left all of our kitchen equipment out, and our damp aim 'n' flames were working only intermittently. But Eric managed to light our one sad little burner, and our water slowly boiled. We drank tea and coffee and ate chicken sausages, and I was able to clean up a little more of the ubiquitous chicken grease. Eric prepared some iodinized water to take hiking, which didn't taste quite as bad as we had been afraid. The solar shower was still heating up, but the campsite, while so far from the boat launch and potty, was so very private, completely out of sight of the others, that we were able to wash up a little with some of our hot water.
The park map showed three volcanic features: lava tubes, spatter cones, and a conic depression. The lava tubes and spatter cones were on one loop hike, and there was also a terrain 5 geocache (needing special equipment such as a boat, climbing gear, or SCUBA equipment) in that area. The conic depression was off in another direction. Since we didn't get started hiking until after 13:00, it looked like we would have to save the conic depression for the following day. But we did have quite an amazing day of hiking, in incredibly exciting features, and saw no one else on the trail all day.
We missed an unmarked turn and so went the long way around the loop. While the other trail had been a fire road on which the rangers obviously drove vehicles (although non-rangers are not allowed to do so), this path was extremely overgrown, often with poison oak. We had to fight our way through very carefully, wishing we had machetes, and it was impossible not to touch the poison oak a little. Fortunately, I think neither of us is particularly sensitive to urushiol, but we try to be careful since you can become more sensitive with exposure. And it's hard not to get exposed as a northern California hiker.
Soon, we came back to the main trail along the fire road, and the going was easier.
Recall that lava tubes are formed when the upper part of a lava flow, exposed to the air, cools and hardens, while the lava below, remaining hot, continues to flow through, eventually leaving an empty cavity. Many lava tubes are large enough to walk into, and one, at Newberry National Volcanic Monument, goes on for 1.6 km/1 mi and, at the widest part, is large enough to drive a train through. These lava tubes were nothing like that. But, as we went along, they got a little better.
At last, we emerged from this otherworldly experience back into the bright sunlight outdoors.
We found the cache! One of very few terrain 5's we have found. It had not been found in more than a year. It was a very high-5 moment.
We corrected our navigational error and arrived back in camp around 17:30. There was still one more volcanic feature of the park to see, the conic depression, but that would have to wait for the following day. As it was, we had hiked about 10 km/6 mi. I began the slow process of boiling water for spinach tortellini while Eric set up our solar shower.
It's amazing how much being cleaner will improve your mood. Just a little solar shower felt absolutely incredible. The bag holds four gallons, and even between the two of us, we only used about half of it and had the rest for cooking and cleaning. But being able to pour even that much water over our bodies was a wonderful thing.
Cleanup was less messy than it had been the day before. My skill at managing the grease was improving, and there was still a little bit of light in the sky. I marveled again at the fabulousness of not being on any time schedule but that of the rotation of the earth.
Jim came out and offered some wine, but I was afraid it would make me sleep badly, so I thanked him and turned it down. We talked about the stark beauty of the Modoc Plateau and the tranquility of our surroundings. We discussed our fascination with watching the same scene, seemingly so static, all day, and how the scenery was actually quite dynamic, with the changes in the light and different flocks of birds passing through. We talked about volcanoes, Eric's and my trips to Iceland and the further north Pacific Northwest, our encounters with octopuses, a whole gamut of amazing things. Eventually Chuck came out, too, and Jim told us that he only brought Chuck along on camping trips because of his skill at catching trout.
It would have been fun to have stayed up late chatting, but I had lost so much sleep with my sore neck that I was ready to pass out before 21:00. No further thunderstorms ensued, and we had a lovely night.
On to Part 4: the Denouement, and Appreciation.