After exploring the Redwoods, we headed east to see the largest plug dome volcano in the world, Lassen Peak! Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the few areas in the world where you can see all four types of volcanoes, plug dome, shield, cinder cone and stratovolcano. Due to the volcanic activity in this area, there are hydrothermal features similar to Yellowstone National Park. We spent two days hiking through this park.
Bumpass Hell
On our first day in the park, we began our hike at Bumpass Trailhead to see Bumpass Hell, the largest hydrothermal area within the park. This 2.7 mile hike features bubbling mudpots, sulfur vents and boiling hot springs. Even though hiking through the area smells like rotten eggs, the views of the hydrothermal features paired with the surrounding subalpine terrain were worth it! We learned that this area is named after Kendall Bumpass, who explored the region in the late 1800’s. On his first visit to the area he stepped through the thin crust and severely burned his foot. A few visits later he broke through the crust again and burned his leg so badly it had to be amputated. Talk about horrifying! There is a boardwalk in place now, so Alan and I didn’t have to worry about stepping through fragile areas. Phew!
After Bumpass Hell, we decided to continue on the trail to Cold Boiling Lake. The views on the way to the lake were spectacular! Once we arrived at the lake it didn’t seem to be boiling but it did have one small bubble that kept coming up every once in a while. The actually contains a small hot spring which causes it to bubble.
Lassen Peak
On our second day, we hiked to the tallest peak in the park. The Lassen Peak trail is 5 miles long with an elevation gain of 2,000 feet and tops out at 10,457 feet. When we made it to the top, we had fantastic views of Lake Helen and surrounding cinder cones, mountains and lava flows from the last volcanic eruption in 1915. We could even see parts of the Cascade Mountain range to the north of us and the Sierra Nevada mountains to the south. Pretty cool!
Takeaways
After being blown away by the geothermal features in Yellowstone National Park, we were excited to see more at Lassen Volcanic National Park. We had an awesome time at this park and loved that it was not as busy as other national parks we have been to. Besides the the volcanic and hydrothermal features, the park also has a handful of beautiful lakes right of off the main road which made for a very scenic drive. This is definitely an underrated national park over shadowed by it’s California cousins.
Thanks for reading!
-Ashby
The pictures are fantastic!! Y’all have seen so hm many beautiful places. Thanks for all the pictures and journals.
Love you both so much!!
LikeLike