Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park is in north central California. The park is named for Mt. Lassen, a 10,000 foot high volcano. Mt. Lassen is the southern most peak in the chain of volcanoes that ride the Cascade Mountain Range up into Canada, and include Oregon's Crater lake, and Washington's Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier.

Lassen Peak

Mt. Lassen sits near the ruins of the earlier Mt. Tehama. The giant Mt. Tehama collapsed in on itself, leaving a caldera filled with hot springs. Fragments of Mt. Tehama, like Brokeoff Mountain, ring the caldera, and mark the circumference of the vanished volcano, like the chimneys of a burnt down mansion. The young Mt. Lassen has grown since then to dominate the landscape, although it has not reached the size of its predecessor. Here Mt. Lassen is seen beyond the Painted Dunes.

These two photos were taken on the trail to the summit of Mt. Lassen.

The park is high in the Cascades, even the valleys are at 5,000 feet. Summer is short. Mt. Lassen- at 10,000 feet- has some snow year round. It was August when I climbed the trail that leads up 2,000 feet from the parking area to the top of Mt. Lassen. The trail skirts steep slopes, and is covered in slippery snow in some spots. Boots are a necessity. Some clever people had ice cleats, and walking sticks. There was a driving wind that made me glad I was wearing a winter jacket.

These two photos were taken from the summit of Mt. Lassen.

At the summit the wind was so intense that I could only stand in it for a few minutes before retreating behind a group of boulders. Below the boulders I found a cliff that was sheltered from the wind, and had lunch, with my feet sticking out into space- while above thin wisps of cloud raced past. Mt. Lassen last erupted in 1914, and remained active for seven years before falling back to sleep. There is no crater atop the volcano, just irregular crags of rock. When, and if, Mt. Lassen will erupt again is unknown. Parts of the park have been closed to visitors, because of the dangers of landslides. Following the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 there was renewed interest in the forests devastated by Mt. Lassen at the beginning of this century. They show what the forest around Mt. St. Helens may look like in 70 years.

The Cinder Cone, and Painted Dunes

Northeast of Mt. Lassen are the Painted Dunes, and Fantastic Lava beds that surround the mini-volcano known as the Cinder Cone. This area is not reachable by the Park road system. You need to hike in. The nearest trailhead is reachable by a gravel track that branches off a local road. A short hike from the parking area near the lake, brings you in view of the Cinder Cone. The Cinder Cone is a 750 foot high pile of volcanic debris. It last erupted in 1851. Lava flowing from the base of the Cinder Cone formed the nearby Fantastic Lava Beds. There is a trail curving up the side of the Cinder Cone. The loose pumice gravel makes for tough going. But it is well worth the effort. I started hiking early, and was glad I did. The morning light is better for photography, and I had the place to myself. On the way back I passed large groups heading in.

Atop the cinder cone is a steeply sloped crater. There is evidence of several rims that were left by different eruptions. Wildflowers dot the coppery soil.

This photo was taken with the morning sun just peeking over the rim of the crater, casting my shadow down a hundred feet or more to the sharp bottom of the crater. You can see a loop of the trail that leads down into the crater.

The painted dunes are fields of ash coughed out from the Cinder Cone during one of its many eruptions. In this photo we are looking down the slope of the Cinder Cone to the Painted Dunes surrounding it. Mt. Lassen rises from the pine forests to the southwest.

This is another shot looking down from the Cinder Cone. The steep slope of the Cone is in the foreground. At the base of the Cone you can see the trail that circles it. The coppery dunes give way to naked lava fields, and beyond them is the forest, and lakes of the Cascades.

Hiking trails weave among the painted dunes. The area is littered with volcanic bombs. These are globs of lava that were tossed high in the air, and cooled into weird shapes before they hit the ground. Wild flowers poke out from the barren cinders.

Lassen Volcanic National Park also includes Bumpass hell, and area of hot springs that you can explore on wooden walkways.

Up to John Donohue's HomePage